International Journal of Scientific Engineering and Applied Science (IJSEAS) - Volume-2, Issue-10, October 2016 ISSN: 2395-3470 www.ijseas.com Cogeneration in Indian Sugar Industry: A Review Suresh D. Mane 1 1 Principal, Girijabai Sail Institute of Technology, Karwar, Karnataka, India 581345 Abstract Cane industry is a large employment generator right from cultivation, harvesting, transportation to sugar processing in India. India has more than 500 sugar manufacturing units which manufacture sugar from sugarcane. In the past two decades after the introduction of cogeneration, most of the sugar units have opted for it and the installed capacity is 3221 MW. Plants established in recent times are all integrated complexes. The sugar units today are integrated plants which apart from manufacturing sugar, generate power and supply to the grid and also have distillery to produce ethyl alcohol. Karnataka too has 37 sugar units with installed capacity of 993 MW with ten units in the district of Belgaum. Sugar units have been set up in cooperative sector, by private sector as well as few set up in state public sector. The general trend is that the government established units and those setup in cooperative sector are not doing well and the ones managed by private sector are doing well and flourishing. This calls for study to analyse the reasons for the difference in performance which can lead way for better understanding of the cane industry. As this sector is now generating 5000 MW of power and supplying to the grid, the sector needs to be looked into properly as the power generated is ecofriendly and renewable in nature. Study of 45 research papers on sugar industry has been undertaken along with sharing the experiences of interaction with the officials of 5 sugar units in the district of Belgaum. The study can throw light on the policy implications as sustainable development demands new strategies, solutions and policy making approaches Keywords Indian Sugar plants, Belgaum District, Cooperative sector plants, Private Sector, Cogeneration . 1. Introduction The India is an energy deficit nation, as it suffers from stagnation in domestic oil production and continued increase in oil imports over the years [1]. Hence, Demand Side Management (DSM) which includes judicious energy use and enhancement in generating capacity are vital for matching the demand and supply of energy. India is perennially an energy importing nation and is shelling out nearly 7934 million USD annually in foreign exchange to import the crude oil. Central Electricity Authority vide its Load Generation Balance Report of 2013 pegs India’s annual requirement of electricity at 10,48,533 Million Units (MU). However, the supply is 9, 78,301 MU leading to a shortfall of 70,237 MU i.e. a deficit of 6.7% [2]. DSM of power can assuage the situation to some extent. Apart from DSM it’s quite imperative that India takes strides in increasing its installed capacity for power generation. India has lately started an exclusive ministry for new and renewable sources to promote and improve its share of renewables in the energy basket. Hence cogeneration is a very handy option to improve India’s power generating capability. 1.1 Indian Sugar Industry: Current scenario India is one of the largest sugarcane growing nations with an estimated production of around 300 million tons in the marketing year 2009-10 [3]. Now a days sugar-distillery- cogeneration complexes, integrating the production of cane sugar and ethanol, constitute one of the key agro based industries. There are nearly 500 sugar factories in India along with around 300 molasses based alcohol distilleries [4]. Karnataka in 2014 stands 3rd in cane crushing, cane recovery and 3rd in sugar production in India. 1.1.1 Products and by products of cane industry 30