Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Authority and Indian Oil form major jatropha joint venture

In India, Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Authority and the state-owned oil major Indian Oil Corp. Ltd have established a joint venture to produce jatropha. The JV will invest $127 million in production. Indian Oil will hold 74 percent and the Chhattisgarh authority will own the remainder.

The Biodiesel Association of India has called for India to dedicate 12.8 million hectares of wasteland to jatropha cultivation. The Association noted that India has 64 million hectares (158 million acres) of wasteland that could be utilized for the hardy, oil-producing tree, and called for 20% of that land to be utilized for jatropha cultivation.

The Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) last month called on the government to discourage the use of edible oils for biodiesel production. The SEA called for an end to using rapeseed oil, palm oil and soybean oil. It said that converting all of the world’s edible oil production of 152 million tons to fuel would replace only 3 percent of fossil fuels.

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