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GEP-ABC
The US Agency for International Development is implementing the GEP Project in India in collaboration with Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), over seven years (1995-2002). The project is being implemented in association with Winrock International India.
This project is funded out of the US contribution to the pilot phase of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), a multilateral funding mechanism designed to address global environmental challenges. The GEP project combines the strengths of the Indian industry with the technological advances of the US to bring clean, long-term solutions to India's energy challenges while mitigating greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide emissions, and has two components:
The Advanced Bagasse Cogeneration (ABC) component
Cogeneration (production of steam and electricity) using biomass fuels year round in high efficiency boilers in sugar mills is being promoted under this component. India is the world's largest producer of sugar. Until recently, most sugar mill boilers were designed primarily to meet the electricity needs of the mill and to incinirate sugarcane waste instead of maximizing electricity generation. The Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources (MNES) has instituted a comprehensive National Bagasse Cogeneration Program providing a package of financial incentives to bagasse cogeneration project developers to use advanced technologies.
The ABC component, which complements the MNES program, builds on prior USAID-financed studies, (such as the report on "Advancing Cogeneration in the Indian Sugar Industry" in three mills in India conducted by USAID/Winrock International in 1992) that identified the potential for advanced bagasse cogeneration in India.
The GEP-ABC component is extending the merits of bagasse cogeneration to the use of biomass fuels year round, as many cogeneration developers use coal or lignite in the Off-season.
The ABC component is providing Financial Assistance (FA) grants to support demonstration of State-of-the-art cogeneration technologies, Technical Assistance (TA) grants to perform techno-economic feasibility studies , and Matching Grants to carry out research and development (e.g., biomass handling and storage for off-season operations.
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