Publications

The objective of the mission was to identify and assess potential organisations in China willing and capable to be engaged as Knowledge Institute or Implementing Partner Organisation in the Working Group (WG) on Domestic Biogas under the Energy for All Partnership, initiated by the Asian Development Bank; SNV leads a WG on Domestic Biogas, aiming to install one million domestic biogas plants in Asia.

Ten organisations were visited: Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), China Biogas Society, China Association of Rural Energy Industry (CAREI), Institute of Energy, Environment & Economy of the Tsinghua University in Beijing, World Environmental Institute (GEI), Biogas Institute of Ministry of Agriculture (BIOMA), Sichuan Provincial Rural Energy Office, Chongqing Rural Energy Office, Yunnan Provincial Rural Energy Working Station, and Yunnan Normal University/Solar Energy Research Institute.

The overall findings are:

• All organisations showed a medium to strong interest to be associated to the WG, especially related to networking, learning, innovation and R&D;
• It is recommended that the WG also engages - in addition to knowledge institutes and implementing partner organisations – with policy organizations and business interest organizations;
• Against the background of the huge size of the domestic biogas programme in China and the large budgets being made available by the national and provincial governments, it is not relevant for the WG to mobilise resources for the construction of additional biogas plants in China and add to ‘business as usual”. However, support to selected programmes in China with innovative approaches would be very useful;
• To effectively broker knowledge on domestic biogas from and to China, it is recommended to the WG to assign one person who will be in charge of communication.

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, with the financial support of the Netherlands Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS), organised a two-day international workshop on ' the Financing of Domestic Biogas Plants' during the period 23-24 October, 2008. The workshop conducted in Bangkok, Thailand, was attended by 68 participants from 21 different countries in Asia, Africa, Central America and Europe. 

The overall objective of the international workshop was to exchange a maximum of information about the use of financial instruments for financing domestic biogas plants among the participants, practitioners, bankers, researchers and policy makers, and to arrive at clear status of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the use of the various financial instruments among the participants. 

This brief report summarises the purpose, schedule, presentations and outcome of discussions related to the workshop. The workshop proceeding includes the summary of plenary presentations, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis carried out by the participants on different aspects of financing domestic biogas plants (e.g. investment subsidy and credit). 

Further there was a presentation of country papers by participants of China, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Rwanda. Additionally, two papers on carbon credit and financing biogas plants were presented. Finally, Country action plans were prepared by respective participants. The evaluation results clearly indicated that the workshop has been highly successful in achieving its objectives.

The International Workshop on Inclusive Planning and Financing of National Programmes on Domestic Biogas in Asia was held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, from 10-12 November 2010.

The objective of the workshop was to provide a dedicated forum for the exchange of knowledge and experience on the inclusive planning and financing of national programmes on domestic biogas between international practitioners, experts and policy makers.

This workshop report provides an overview of the sessions and the following key questions discussed:
• What is required to execute the programmes in a qualified, integrated and sustainable manner?
• What will be the required budgets for biogas plants installation, sector development and international technical assistance?
• What are the short and medium term funding sources?
• What are the opportunities to establish a regional basket fund?
• Is carbon financing truly feasible?
• Which investments are required from the side of the farmers?
• To what extent can national and local governments provide financial support?

The report includes a programme schedule, list of participants and brief country reports resulting from the sessions.

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, in association with the Dutch Directorate General for International Cooperation (DGIS), organised a two-day international workshop on 'Use of Bio-slurry from Domestic Biogas Plants' during the period 27-28 September, 2006.

The workshop was conducted in Bangkok, Thailand and attended by 51 participants from 13 different countries in Asia, Africa and Europe. The objective was to create an organised platform for experts working in domestic biogas sector in different  countries to share best practices on the use of bio-slurry at micro level and to identify potential stimulus as well as barriers to further optimise the use of bioslurry.

This workshop proceeding is intended to transfer the ideas and views of those attending the workshop to a wider audience of bio-slurry practitioners.

It is expected that this proceeding will contribute to the broader ongoing discussions about programmes and activities that will facilitate the inclusion of effective use of bio-slurry in initiatives on promotion and development of biodigester technology in different parts of the globe.

This workshop proceeding includes:

• Summary of country presentations of China, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Vietnam on the status of bio-slurry application;
• Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis carried out by the participants on the different aspects of use of bio-slurry;
• Country action plans prepared by respective participants on popularising the use of bioslurry as an organic fertiliser.

As much as possible, the issues raised by the participants during different sessions have been presented in their own words.

The seventh meeting of the experts’ network was organised in Hanoi, Vietnam, during the period April 8-9, 2009. This meeting of experts followed the internal Biogas/Renewable Energy Team Meeting of SNV Asia Region.

The overall objective of the meeting of the network of experts was to share the lessons learned, and to discuss possibilities for improvement on the training activities related to domestic biogas programmes. The discussion focussed particularly on the weaknesses/problems or evident successes of the training activities conducted so far by the different biogas programmes, and the possible solutions to overcome the problems, as well as prospects to share the success. The key
question was: how to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of all biogas and bio-manure related training activities?

This external network meeting on domestic biogas consisted of a field visit to provincial biogas office and biogas households in Ha Tay Province near Hanoi (8th April), and a working meeting on biogas training activities (9th April 2009). An overview and evaluation of training activities under biogas programmes in China, Nepal, Vietnam, Cambodia and Bangladesh was given. Further, there were group discussions, presentations and plenary discussions held.

The fifth meeting of network of experts was organised in Vientiane, Lao PDR, during the period April 3-4, 2008. This meeting of experts followed the internal Biogas/Renewable Energy Team Meeting of SNV Asia Region.

The overall objective of the meeting of the network of experts was to present and discuss possibilities for the improvements of the biogas appliances being used under the frameworks of different biogas programmes. The key question was: what are the major areas of enhancement of appliances to improve their efficiency, and what are the possible methods/mechanisms to do so?

This brief report summarises the purpose, schedule, presentations and outcome of discussions related to the fifth meeting of the SNV external biogas network.

Main activities of the meeting schedule included:
• Field visit to Vientiane Capital
• Presentation by Jeroen van Bruggen on carbon strategies for domestic biogas programmes
• Discussion, meeting and dinner with Lao biogas stakeholders and SNV/Lao PDR.
• Presentation by Dr. A.K. Kurchania, Professor and Head of the Department of Renewable Energy Sources, Udaipur, India, on the results and recommendations of the testing of biogas stoves and lamps by three institutes (Netherlands, China and India).
• Plenary discussion on the results and recommendations of the testing of biogas stoves and lamps by three institutes (Netherlands, China and India).

Group discussions, presentations and plenary discussion on functioning and possible improvement of biogas stove (including tap) and lamp, mixer device, dome gas pipe, main gas valve, water drain, pressure indicator and pipes & fittings.