Need to power India from within in energy sector, government’s biofuels policies very relevant: Senior Novonesis official

New Delhi [India], August 12 (ANI): India needs to focus on powering itself from within in the energy sector and strengthen its energy security and sovereignty amid geopolitical tensions and the proposed US 100 per cent tariff on countries buying Russian oil, Krishna Mohan Puvvada, Regional President, Novonesis Middle East, India, and Africa regional division (MEIA) told ANI on Wednesday.
"It is the need for us to have India powered from within. This is where the government's policies in terms of biofuels become very relevant, as to how we can make sure that we are self-sufficient and bring in that security to some extent," Puvvada told ANI on the sidelines of India Bioenergy and Tech Expo and 3rd International Conference and Exhibition on Bioenergy and Technologies.
Puvvada said geopolitical conflicts and uncertainty in global energy markets make it increasingly important for India to strengthen domestic energy capabilities and reduce dependence on imports.
"As a country, we are surrounded by all of these geopolitical conflicts, and that is why it becomes very important that we build the whole element of energy security and energy sovereignty," he said.
He said India's efforts towards achieving Viksit Bharat 2047 should include a broader focus on energy independence and ensuring that vital components of the country's energy system are powered domestically.
"When we look at India's ambition of Viksit Bharat 2047, the country needs to ensure energy sovereignty and energy independence, while making sure that vital components are powered from within," Puvvada said.
Puvvada said government policies related to biofuels are relevant to India's efforts to strengthen energy security and self-sufficiency.
He also highlighted India's progress in ethanol blending, saying the E20 blending mandate had been achieved ahead of schedule, while the country was directionally looking towards higher ethanol blends.
"The E20 blending mandate has been achieved well in advance, and directionally, we are looking towards E85 and E100. With the engineering capabilities and the skill sets available in India, I do think that we will be able to reach that stage," he said.
Turning to the biogas sector, Puvvada described it as a "sunrise industry" that is beginning to take shape, while highlighting the availability of biomass as an important opportunity for India.
"The industry is a sunrise industry. It is beginning to take shape, but there is plenty of feedstock available in the country - around 300 million tonnes of biomass," he said.
He stressed the need to maximise the value of biomass produced in the country and leverage biological technologies to support the development of the bioenergy sector.
"It is the responsibility of the country to make sure that everything that is produced is maximised to its highest value. The application of biology in these kinds of initiatives needs to be leveraged," Puvvada said.
Puvvada said Novonesis, a Danish biosolutions provider, operates in the areas of enzymes, yeast and microorganisms, and is working on first- and second-generation biofuels as well as solutions for different substrates in the biogas sector.
"Within the biogas space, we are actively working on establishing solutions for different substrates. We are in partnerships with multiple companies towards enabling that technology. This is a new space within the biogas segment, but we are seeing some very, very interesting results," he said.
He also stressed the importance of directing capital towards technologies that can strengthen India's domestic energy capabilities rather than increasing import dependence.
"Instead of importing a lot and spending millions of dollars, can we deploy those dollars into something else that has a higher impact?" he said.
He said India needs to evaluate solutions and technologies from the perspective of national interest and its long-term development goals.
"We need to look at all of these things and look at solutions and technologies in the best interest of the nation. This is very, very important to our goal of Viksit Bharat 2047," Puvvada added. (ANI)