SATAT Scheme (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation Scheme)

The Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Skill Development and Entrepreneurship introduced an initiative along with the PSU Oil Marketing Companies welcoming Expression of Interest of Eol from capable entrepreneurs to build Compressed Biogas plants for production and make CBG accessible in the market to use as the fuel for automobiles.

The primary goal is to fasten up the availability of transport fuels at a more reasonable price to use them in a better way, such as in the agricultural sector, cattle dung, and to use in municipal solid wastes, plus to provide the farmers of the country with additional resources.

The scheme is titled as SATAT, which stands for Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation. This will be an initiative towards the development of the entrepreneurs, farmers, and vehicle-users, and it is beneficial for all of them as well.

It was launched on one before the last day of the current Swachata Hi Seva night, which was a mass movement with the vision of Mahatma Gandhi’s Clean India. This initiative promises a more efficient workforce at the municipal level of solid waste management. This is beneficial in a lot of ways, as it also focuses on carbon emissions, solid waste management, and to solve the challenges regarding the pollution of air in urban areas because of stubble-burning in farms. The usage of CBG or Compressed Biogas will help in eradicating the reliance on crude oil. This is also a part of the envisioned by the prime minister. This initiative will also support employment in rural areas, the stable income of the farmers, and in promotion of entrepreneurship.

What is Compressed Biogas?

Biogas is naturally produced by a process called anaerobic decomposition. It is generated mostly from cattle dung, waste, agricultural residue, solid municipal waste, press mud from sugarcane, plant waste from sewage treatment, etc. After the purification and compression process is done, Bio-Gas is produced, which contains 95% of pure methane. Furthermore, the CGB or Compressed Biogas is accurately compared to the composition and energy potential of the natural gases available commercially. It has identical calorific value, and the properties are similar to CNG gas. The Compressed Biogas can also be used as an option for renewable automobile fuels. Compressed Biogas has the capability of replacing the CNG gas in commercial, industrial, and automotive uses as our country produces a large quantity of biomass.

Benefits of CGB

• There are a lot of benefits associated with Commercial Biogas. Some of them are discussed below-
• Reliable waste management, along with a decrease in different kinds of pollution and carbon emissions.
• This will also benefit the farmers as they will receive revenue as a bonus.
• Promotion of entrepreneurship along with the development of rural economy and employment.
• This initiative also supports other projects by the government for a cleaner environment and challenges regarding climate change.
• CBG will also decrease the import of crude oil and natural gas, which will eventually lead to a price reduction and fluctuations of crude and gas oil.

Implementation

The CGB or Compressed Biogas Plants are supposed to be arranged mainly by independent entrepreneurs. The Bio-gas formed in the plants will be supplied through pipelines or cascades to the gas station of OMCs or Oil Marketing Companies. It will be marketed as the fuel alternative to the old gases. Almost 32 lakhs gas-based vehicles are currently being served under the CNG network stations of the country. To increase the profit of the investment, the entrepreneurs will be marketing other products from the plants as well, such as carbon-dioxide and no-manure. It is intended to set up more than five thousand in the coming four years to compress Biogas plants all over the country.

Government Supported Schemes

The National Policy of 2018 on Biofuels gives importance to the rigorous promotion of superior bio-fuel and CBG. GOBARDHAN or Galvanising Organic Bio-Agro Resources scheme was launched by the Government of India to alter the farm's substantial wastage and cattle dung into Compressed Biogas and compost. This scheme consisted of more than seven hundred projects from all over the country in 2018-19. The project will be given financial aid under SLWM, the Solid and Liquid Waste Management initiative, a part of the Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin, which also helps some selected houses in the villages via Gram Panchayat. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has reported Central Financial Assistance of INR four crore per 4,800 kg of Compressed Biogas for each day produced from 12,000 cubic meters of CGB on each day, with a highest of INR ten crore for each project.

Pricing framework 

The CGB will be retailed by OMCs for the next three years, as fixed on October 1, 2018. The cost will be changed or reviewed after three years only. In the official meeting IS 16087:2016, the original price of Compressed Biogas is retailed in every OMC Outlet in the form of cascades is INR 46 per kilogram. The GST applicable stands at five percent, so the total retail price, including GST, is INR 48.30 per kilogram, which will be given to the entrepreneurs.

Future Potential

The CBG or Compressed Biogas can also be formed from a different kind of cattle dung, solid waste from the municipality, plant waste from sewage treatment, biomass waste, pressed mud from sugarcane, residue from agriculture, etc. There are some other streams for garbage as well, such as rotten vegetables, cold storage rotten potatoes, poultry or chicken litter, dairy plants, horticulture waste, food waste, treated organic waste, forestry residues and waste from different kinds of industries can be used as well.

Moving forward, CBG can also be incorporated with the CGD or City Gas Distribution networks to improve the supply in domestic households and increase the number of users in the market. 

You can learn more about this scheme on its official Website.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is the SATAT Scheme?

Sustainable Alternative towards Affordable Transportation or SATAT is a scheme aimed at building Compressed Biogas plants to make it accessible in the market.

Q. When was this scheme launched?

This scheme was launched in October 2018.

Q. Who launched this scheme?

The Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas launched this scheme along with PSU Oil Marketing Companies.

Q. What is the budget of the scheme?

The budget of the SATAT scheme is INR 4500 crores.

Q. What is Compressed Biogas?

Compressed Biogas is produced by a process called anaerobic decomposition by using mostly cattle dung, waste, agricultural residue, solid municipal waste, press mud from sugarcane, plant waste from sewage treatment, etc.

Q. How many plants will be set up under the scheme?

Around 5000 compressed biogas plants will be built under this scheme.

Q. Why is CGB being produced?

CGB will be used as a replacement of crude-oil and natural gas.

Q. What is the main objective?

The main objective of the scheme is to move the country towards a gas based economy by increasing the production of Natural Gases in India.