Union minister Shripad Naik inaugurates 5th International Conference on Recent Advances in Bio-Energy Research at Sardar swaran Singh Institute of bio energy in Kapurthala

Published on: 06 Oct 2025 at 05:44 PM

Published by: Fact News

From PS Walia

Kapurthala, October 6: The 5th International Conference on Recent Advances in Bio-Energy Research commenced today at the Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Bio-Energy , Kapurthala, an autonomous institution under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India. The four-day event (6th – 9th October 2025) serves as a premier platform for researchers, industry leaders, and policymakers to deliberate on recent advancements and future directions in the bioenergy sector.
The inaugural session was graced by Union Minister of State for Renewable Energy, and Power, Shripad Naik, as the Chief Guest, who also unveiled the new logo symbolizing the institute’s commitment to innovation, sustainability, and clean energy transition. An MoU was also signed today between IIT Ropar and institute for collaborative research and activities in the field of biomass and bioenergy.

The event was also attended by Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Secretary, MNRE (virtually), and Prof. Rajeev Ahuja, Director, IIT Ropar, as the Guest of Honour.
In his address, Hon’ble Minister Shri Shripad Naik expressed his pleasure to join the International conference and emphasized the importance of bioenergy in the country with its strong availability potential of 228 MT surplus crop residues, 62 MMT of other raw material and significantly large livestock manure having total power potential of 40 GW and stressed on ministry’s commitment to making bioenergy a cornerstone of India’s sustainable future. He highlighted the several schemes of Government of India in the bioenergy sector including the National Bioenergy and informed the audience that the country has achieved the ethanol blending of 20% several years in advance.
Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Secretary, MNRE, joined the event virtually and emphasized the importance of bioenergy and its critical role especially in an agriculturally rich country like India. He underlined the importance of reliable energy access and carbon neutrality in hard to abate sectors which could be possible with modern bioenergy technologies. Prof. Rajeev Ahuja, Director, IIT Ropar, emphasized the role of interdisciplinary collaboration, industry-academia partnerships, and scientific innovation in developing sustainable bio-based solutions. He stressed that the bioeconomy must be central to India’s decarbonisation strategy. He also underscored how a hydrogen based energy economy could lead to a green energy transition and the important role of biomass for green producing hydrogen.
Dr. G. Sridhar, Director General of institute outlined the conference activities and sessions for the four days and welcomed the dignitaries.