Key Details
IRENA’s November 2026 report, Scaling Domestic Biogas to Meet Cooking Energy Demand and Climate Ambitions, focuses principally on Sub-Saharan Africa, while drawing lessons from Asian experience and identifying India’s substantial installed base.
India’s installed base: An estimated 1.2 crore biogas systems, ranging from household plants used mainly for cooking to some medium-scale commercial systems.
India’s access gap: 20% of the population lacked access to clean cooking, according to an earlier IEA estimate cited in the report.
Global gap: About 2 billion people still lacked clean cooking access in 2024.
What biogas provides: A biodigester turns manure and other organic waste into cooking gas and produces nutrient-rich bioslurry that can be used as fertiliser.
What scale-up requires: IRENA identifies financing, reliable feedstock, skilled installation, maintenance and stronger links among energy, agriculture and waste-management programmes as priorities.
Biogas Addresses Cooking, Waste and Farm Needs Together
Unlike a cooking fuel that must be delivered to a household, biogas can be produced near its point of use from locally available organic material. It can reduce exposure to smoke from traditional cooking fuels, capture methane from waste and provide bioslurry for farms. These combined benefits make it relevant to rural households as well as farms and institutions with a dependable waste supply.
IRENA also notes a vulnerability in heavy reliance on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG): international supply disruptions can affect access to a fuel on which many clean-cooking transitions depend. Biogas could diversify India’s cooking options where local conditions support it; the report does not suggest it can replace LPG everywhere.
Household and Institutional Systems Need Different Models
A household digester needs a regular supply of manure or other suitable material, water and someone able to operate it. A school, dairy or food processor may have more concentrated waste and a steadier energy requirement. IRENA argues that treating these as the same market obscures their different financing, service and feedstock needs.
The report’s examples from Africa and Asia point to a shift from short-lived demonstration projects towards lasting services: consumer credit or other financing to meet upfront costs, quality installation, and repairs after the system is sold. It also identifies scope for developing ways to bottle and distribute biogas, which could eventually separate production from use. That remains a development opportunity.
India’s Installation Count Leaves a Crucial Question Open
India’s estimated 1.2 crore systems demonstrate considerable experience with the technology. The report does not establish how many remain functional, how regularly households use them, or how much traditional fuel or LPG they displace. Those measures would tell policymakers more about clean-cooking access than installation totals alone.
Policy Relevance
For India, the immediate opportunity is to connect clean cooking with farm and waste-management needs where feedstock is reliable. The practical constraint differs by setting: households may need affordable credit and dependable repairs, while institutions and businesses need viable arrangements for collecting waste and using the gas.
Progress would be clearer if programmes tracked working systems, sustained use, affordability and fuel displacement, alongside new installations. That evidence would help distinguish places where biogas offers a reliable cooking option from places better served by another clean fuel or technology.
Follow the Full Report Here: Scaling Domestic Biogas to Meet Cooking Energy Demand and Climate Ambitions