New methodological approach for biomass resource assessment in India using GIS application and land use/land cover (LULC) maps.

India has a high potential for technically recoverable biomass, sufficient to meet part of its increasing energy needs, promote energy access in rural and remote areas, create economic opportunities at the national scale, and reduce indoor pollution. Effective utilization of surplus biomass resources is often challenged and hindered by seasonal availability, extensive distribution over vast and distanced areas, and the embedded socio-cultural factors associated with its use. Therefore, the development of reliable maps for the assessment of available/surplus biomass resources is the first key step toward the creation of a new supply chain for cost-effective bioenergy production, particularly in developing countries. In this paper, a new methodological approach that combines primary and secondary data sets, social factors, remote sensing data, and software, such as GIS applications, has been developed. The main goal is to create high-quality, land use/land cover (LULC) maps for agricultural and wastelands in India. With an acceptable level of accuracy assessment, the paper also determines the surplus biomass resources in wastelands and municipal solid waste (MSW) distribution in three Indian states: Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu. These states were selected due to the high level of agriculture production and thus high agro-biomass potential, the presence of large industrial agglomerations, and the high interest in bioenergy development in these states. The maps show that the highest surplus biomass from wastelands exists in Madhya Pradesh, while high MSW potentials exist in Maharashtra state. The developed maps considered the existing uses of biomass in order to calculate the surplus biomass resources. The presented maps are a useful tool to optimize the locations of biomass-based and/or co-generation power plants in the surveyed states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]