In Dahod, Gujarat, Shakuntalaben has made her family of seven self reliant for their cooking needs by adopting the flexible biogas solution in 2021. Though she had acquired a new LPG connection under the PM Ujjwala Yojana, the cylinder refilling costs were too high (Rs. 900 per refill) and the family could not afford to use it regularly. This meant that Shakuntalaben resorted to cooking on her traditional firewood stove, for which the family gathered firewood from the nearby jungle.
Shakuntalaben’s Sistema 6 biogas unit produces 1.5 to 2 metric cubes of biogas everyday, which meets more than half her cooking needs in a month. She now uses both, the LPG as well as the biogas stoves, and her LPG refill costs have reduced by 50%. In addition to monetary savings, the solution has also enabled the family to minimise the use of their traditional stove, significantly reducing the drudgery and time spent on firewood collections.
Like Shakuntalaben, 30 other households have adopted the flexible biogas solution in her village. Seeing its reliable and easy operation, biogas output and affordability, many more are now interested in buying the solution. With the growing number of bio-digesters in the cluster, a centralised slurry management unit is planned to be set up to manufacture BioPROM as a fertiliser.
In Rajasthan, Sustain Plus is implementing a program to reach 120 households with biogas as a clean cooking fuel in partnership with NDDB.
