Short term external training and experience sharing study visit on Biogas Development for Ethiopian officials

A two-week training titled "Short-Term External Training and Experience Sharing Study Visit on Biogas Development" was organized by TERI at TERI Gram, Gual Pahari, Gurgaon from July 15-28, 2015. The objective of the training was to build the capacity of the participants belonging to the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Government of Ethiopia in the field of Biogas Technology Development.

The proposed training was designed in such a way that it met the demands and objectives of the training, i.e. building capacity and skills of the trainers in the domain of Renewable Energy, specifically in the Biogas sector. The training focused on providing the participants with an understanding of the Biogas stream using all the possible perspectives such as policies, technology, implementation, and promotion strategies. It also acquainted the participants with the overall management of the project in rural and semi-urban areas. In order to cover the different aspects of training components, TERI involved experts from different organizations across the nation. For the proposed training, key national organizations/institutes/corporate sectors were invited to share their experience and knowledge with the participants. The entire program had two major components, namely class room lectures and on-site practical experience through field visits.

Under class room lectures, around 14 lectures in five sessions (Table 1) were taken by fourteen different experts to cover all the aspects of renewable energy and biogas technology (Agenda enclosed).

Technical Class Room Sessions

• Session - A: An overview of Indian Renewable Energy Programs and the activities
• Session - B: Biogas technologies principles, design, and testing
• Session - C: Role of private sector and carbon financing
• Session - D: Biogas technology - best practices and implementation strategy
• Session - E: Economic policies and regulation

In the on-site practical experience, the participants visited the following sites (Table 2) ranging from small family-size biogas plants based on cow dung to the state-of-the-art industrial plants based on different feedstocks.

Sites Visited for On-Site Practical Experience

• Teri Gram, Gurgaon: TEAM technology (50 kg/day, two stage, state-of-the-art technology) at Gual Pahari campus, Gurgaon, Haryana
• Pune municipal Corporation, Pune: Solid waste treatment plant at Pune Municipal Corporation (5 TPD), Pune, Maharashtra
• Kolhapur, Maharashtra: Industrial waste (pressmud) based Compressed Bio-Gas plant (7000 kg CBG per day capacity), Kolhapur, Maharashtra
• PAU, Ludhiana, Punjab: Small size family biogas plant (Janta, Deenbandhu, Syntax and modified KVIC models) and paddy straw-based biogas plant at Biogas development and training center, Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana, Punjab
• Haebowal, Ludhiana, Punjab: Cattle dung-based power generation plant (1 MWh) at Haebowal, Ludhiana, Punjab

A half-day session was devoted to gather the information from participants about their learning and experience with this training program. The feedback of participants was received from time to time during the course of training. In addition to this, the final feedback was given by the participants in the form of "STAR RATING SYSTEM" (refer pictures). All the participants appreciated the structuring of the training program and clearly mentioned that it exceeded their expectations with respect to learning and knowledge up-gradation.

On the completion of the training program, all the participants were awarded with the Certificate of Participation. The training was concluded on 28 July, 2015 with the closing remarks by Dr. Suneel Pandey, followed by a vote of thanks by Dr. P Raman and Mr D C Pant.