• Tamil Nadu releases policy for ethanol blending with petrol; focus on encouraging investors to set up units

    The State government has released the Tamil Nadu City Gas Distribution Policy 2023 for the liquefied/ compressed natural gas to vehicles and piped natural gas to homes. In Tamil Nadu, all 38 districts are to be covered with the CGD network through which around 22.8 million PNG connections and around 2,785 CNG stations are to be developed.

    In an effort to encourage investors to set up units to produce ethanol for blending with petrol, the State government on Saturday said that investors can obtain almost all the requisite standard clearances within 30 days.

    The Tamil Nadu Ethanol Blending Policy (EBP) 2023, released on Saturday by the Industries Department, said that under the EBP programme, the State will encourage sugar industries to set up molasses-based ethanol plants and improve capacity utilisation. The policy also will present an opportunity for reviving the sugar industry in the State by improving the capacity utilisation of existing plants.

    Oil marketing companies (OMCs) presently source ethanol from other States, including Maharashtra and Karnataka. Indian Oil Executive Director and State Coordinator for Oil Industry V.C. Asokan, who welcomed the policy, said that at present OMCs were blending up to 12% of ethanol with petrol in the State. “Our target is to increase this to 20% by 2025 and we are increasing storage capacity in our terminals for the same. If units in Tamil Nadu supply ethanol at competitive rates, it would benefit the industry as well as the environment,” he said.

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