The aim of the programme was to promote innovative projects for generating energy from biomass based on solid organic waste. To do this, a credit line was set up for refinancing sub-loans from the state-owned Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA) for investments in exemplary biomass plants. An ideas competition was set up and five projects were selected. Depending on the degree of innovation, the winners received reduced interest rates compared to IREDA’s standard conditions. Project concepts were classed as innovative if they were not particularly widespread in India at that point or if their technological, institutional and organisational aspects were innovative. This applied to project concepts that involved sugar cooperatives, aimed to apply previously seldom used types of biomass (agricultural waste or certain types of industrial waste) or employed technology that is rarely used in India to generate power (e.g. biogas technology).
