IOC GPS Renewables — a joint venture between Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and GPS Renewables — is looking to set up 10 compressed biogas (CBG) plants this financial year at a cost of Rs 1,200 crore.
The joint venture focuses on integrating advanced biogas technologies to convert organic waste into CBG, a renewable energy source.
The country has set a target of reaching 500 GW of non -fossil fuel capacity by 2030 and ventures such as IOC GPS JV could help meeting the target.
The CBG plants will have a capacity of 15 tonne per day, or 5,475 tonne per annum, of CBG and 50 tonne per day of products such as fertilisers and biomass pellets.
The company is setting up plants in Karnal , Kaithal , Sirsa and others in Haryana; Johnpur, Sitapur , and Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh; Bemetara district in Chhattisgarh, and NTR district in Andhra Pradesh.
“We are pursuing sites to set up plants in coming years which is higher than those in FY26,” said Devendra Singh Sehgal, chief executive officer at IOC GPS Renewables.
The company has secured leases for all the 10 land parcels and looking to begin construction of the plants this month, Sehgal said. The JV was formed in June last year.
The company is looking to participate in the tendering by coal-based power plants where the latter can mix biomass pellets with coal. Currently such plants mix 5% of biomass pellets with coal and Sehgal hoped that the share will go up as in the case of ethanol blending.
“There is a huge demand now but supply is limited , that too from unorganised players. We hope it to change ,” he said.
The company is also in talks with fertilizer companies and Indian Oil to market its fertilizer products. Indian Oil has 8,000 outlets where it sells its products.
On challenges in scaling up the project , Sehgal said, “Ethanol blending has reached 20%. CBG has not reached that mark. We expect supportive policies and prices so that it can be scaled up.”
He said each plant requires a certain number of skilled manpower and availability of trained manpower is also an issue in the country . “Trained manpower is needed to scale up the plants,” he said.