Having signed an MoU with the Delhi Government for setting up India’s first Compressed Biogas (CBG) plant to convert waste into CNG, Sweden is likely to sign similar agreements with two more cities, according to Mr Lars Olof Lindgren, Sweden’s Ambassador to India.
Mr Lindgren said the Scandinavian country may sign agreements with Visakhapatnam and Pune, and was willing to extend help to other cities.
Last year, an MOU was signed between Indraprastha Gas Ltd, KG Renewable Ltd, and the Delhi Jal Board for biogas upgrading and distribution with support from the Government of Sweden and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India.
“This is a very interesting project we just started with the Delhi Government....to produce bio gas from sewage and sludge and also upgrade the gas to CNG quality. We are looking into other areas to do so. We are talking with Visakhapatnam and Pune (for a waste-to-bio gas project),” Mr Lindgren told PTI.
If the Delhi project succeeded, many more Indian cities may seek to replicate it, he said.
The Keshopur sewage treatment plant in Delhi had been selected as the pilot project. The estimated gas production at the Keshopur plant was 25,000 m3/day, which could fuel a fleet of 120 DTC buses, a Swedish embassy release said.
On the tourist flow from his country to India, the Ambassador said he had requested the Indian Government to offer visa-on-arrival facility for places such as Goa and Kerala.
He also said there was a lot of potential for bilateral trade. On an average, two Swedish companies set up shop in India every month, he said. “The big companies are here already. The question is to bring small and medium companies to India. They need to be encouraged more.”
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the bilateral trade stood at $2.24 billion in 2010-11. India is now Sweden’s 19th largest export market and third largest trade partner after China and Japan in Asia.
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