TRICHY: In a move to harness and utilise alternative energy sources, biogas production commenced on the Sri temple campus in on Thursday 45 days after construction works began to install the plant. With its inauguration, the kitchen in the temple will be able to conserve 1.5 LPG cooking cylinders a day and save an equivalent cost of Rs 90,000 per month. Being the foremost of all 108 divyadesam temples, Sri Ranganathaswamy temple has been offering annadhanam (free food) to at least 4,000 people every day since September 2012. The kitchen near the dining hall has been consuming three LPG cooking cylinders daily for this purpose. It was in this backdrop that conglomerate proposed to set up a biogas plant as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme and the green temple initiative by Mangaldeep Agarbhattis. The plant would produce cooking gas from vegetable, food and animal waste generated by the temple . This was accepted by the HR&CE; department in January following which work on the plant commenced on about 200sqft area on January 22. The work was carried out at an estimated cost of Rs 25.5 lakh and completed on February 27. district Exnora, the implementing agency of the project, said that filling of cow dung in the biogas chamber was carried out subsequently, after which the desirable amount of biogas was generated in the facility on Thursday. “The 30 CUM capacity biogas plant would accommodate 70 kg of vegetable and food waste along with 300 kg of cow dung a day sourced from the kitchen and the cow shelter of the temple. Through the plant, we can ensure that organic waste which has so far been going to the bins will be recycled as biogas and compost,” C , honorary president of Trichy district Exnora said. V M Rajasekharan, CEO, matches and agarbhatti division, ITC, inaugurated the facility on Thursday. Subsequently a test run was conducted by boiling a pot of milk with biogas as source. “The amount of money saved in reusing the organic waste and cutting down the need of LPG cylinders can be used for developing the environment of Ranganathaswamy temple,” the CEO said. Representatives from ITC also added that the HR&CE; department in Srirangam was cooperative in implementing the project in a short span. Since 90 per cent of the waste generated in the temple was organic, stakeholders said that an association would be formed to sustain the working and progress of the green temple initiative.
The kitchen at the Sri Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam, southern India, has switched from bottled LPG to biomass, following an initiative backed by Indian conglomerate ITC. Under the the green temple initiative, ITC built a functioning biogas plant in 45 days, enabling the temple's kitchen to continue feeding 4,000 people daily while reducing costs by some INR90,000 ($90 per cent) per month.