Bio Gas: A realistic option in South Asia

While going through this week’s reading “Power to the People” I was particularly intrigued by the concepts of how Bio mass and Bio Energy were being used as alternates to conventional modes of energy production.  I was intrigued more so because I had first come across the term Bio Gas during my high school years as one of the alternates to producing energy rather than the conventional hydroelectric or thermal means that are commonly used in Pakistan. At the time it was at its nascent stages and was one of the less touted alternates in comparison to say solar or nuclear energy.

However after reading the article mentioned above I had another look at how the n the past few years, backed with a significant amount of government finance, a few NGO’s have banded together to help create significant gains in this realm of energy production under the banner of the Rural Support Program Network (RSPN) in Pakistan. Under the Domestic Bio Gas Program, over 2134 plants have been setup in over twelve districts of Punjab; Pakistan’s most populous province. The program is massive in its scope as not only does it deal with the prevailing energy crisis it also helps create trained individuals who oversee the maintenance and setting up of these plants wherever required. These “masons” are part of Bio Gas Construction Companies (BCC) that have been setup through trainings that are provided by the government funded Technical Colleges throughout the country.  Also to help attract potential customers the RSPN has hired other groups to help spread awareness regarding the need for this program and is specifically targeting women as an avenue into the household. Coupled with instant rebates and lower setup costs than before, this program is fast becoming a more than viable option in Pakistan’s energy dilemma. The exact scope of the project and how many people it has touched can be found here, http://rspn.org/our_projects/pdbp1.html.   

One drawback though right now is that the project is thriving based on government sponsored finances. Although, private sector investment has tried to be attracted through the setting up of BCC’s the amount of private sector investment is still lacking. So my question of the week is, how can we make an alternate source of energy production that is produced by processing animal dung, an attractive proposition in the mind of the private sector so as to increase the required investment?