New Delhi, June 5 (IANS) On the occasion of World Environment Day on Friday, Maruti Suzuki India Limited announced two major biogas projects involving a total investment of Rs 150 crore, as the country’s largest carmaker strengthens its commitment to sustainable manufacturing and clean energy adoption.

The company said it will establish a new biogas plant with a capacity of 10 tonnes per day (TPD) at its Kharkhoda facility in Haryana.

The project is expected to be commissioned during the current financial year. In addition, Maruti Suzuki has expanded the capacity of its existing biogas plant at the Manesar facility from 0.2 TPD to 0.7 TPD.

The automaker said the initiatives are aligned with the government’s ‘Waste-to-Wealth’ mission and are aimed at reducing dependence on fossil fuels while promoting renewable energy solutions across its operations.

According to the company, the upcoming Kharkhoda biogas plant will help mitigate around 9,490 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually at full capacity.

The plant is also expected to meet nearly 20 per cent of the facility’s total gas requirement.

Commenting on the initiatives, Managing Director and CEO Hisashi Takeuchi said the company has been consistently pursuing measures to reduce fossil fuel consumption and dependence on imported oil.

“At a time when the world is navigating an increasingly uncertain energy landscape, such initiatives assume greater significance,” he stated.

“As the Prime Minister of India has called for reducing dependence on fossil fuels, the commissioning of our biogas project comes at an appropriate time. It enables us to contribute, in a modest but meaningful way, to the current national priority alongside several other ongoing efforts,” Takeuchi mentioned.

Meanwhile, the expanded biogas plant at Manesar is projected to generate about 3.6 lakh standard cubic metres of biogas every year.

The company estimates that the project will help avoid approximately 664 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.

The Manesar plant uses food waste, Napier grass and paddy straw as feedstock and can further increase output through the use of cattle dung.

The facility employs anaerobic digestion technology to convert agricultural and organic waste into biogas, which is used in paint shop heating processes and canteen operations.

–IANS

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