India and China are significantly advancing their clean energy transitions through innovative waste-to-energy solutions and enhanced energy storage capabilities, marking a pivotal moment in the global shift away from fossil fuels. These efforts are spearheaded by key industry players and supported by national policies aimed at maximizing resource efficiency and grid reliability.

Thermax Limited, a 58-year-old Indian engineering firm, is at the forefront of this transformation, leveraging its expertise to convert diverse industrial and agricultural waste into usable energy. Ashish Bhandari, MD & CEO of Thermax, emphasizes the company’s focus on being a partner in energy transition, stating, "The single biggest area where I can talk about is this whole waste-to-energy area." The company is actively converting palm industry waste in Southeast Asia and India's Parali grass, a significant source of winter smog, into power. Biomass now accounts for over 70 percent of Thermax's industrial heating sales, reflecting a substantial strategic pivot. Their Flexi Source systems can operate on up to 11 different fuel types, and their innovative approach includes capturing steam from potato frying to power chillers and recycling water vapor for potato washing, exemplifying a closed-loop industrial process. Furthermore, Thermax’s IIoT platform, Edge Live, launched in 2022, monitors over 4,800 assets across 200+ plants in 22 countries, delivering 2 to 10 percent efficiency gains through machine learning and real-time analytics. For the fiscal year 2024-25, Thermax reported a consolidated revenue of Rs. 10,389 crore, an 11.4% increase from the previous year, underscoring the commercial viability of their sustainable solutions.

Concurrently, China is making substantial strides in harnessing agricultural waste for clean energy. In Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, a biomass power plant processes approximately 300,000 tonnes of crop waste annually, generating over 220 million kilowatt-hours of electricity. Zhang Yunfei, director at the State Grid Xuzhou Power Supply Company, noted this saves around 90,000 tonnes of coal and reduces carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 200,000 tonnes each year. China, one of the world's largest biomass producers with 3.5 billion tonnes of annual agricultural, forestry, and household waste, enacted its first national energy law in January to encourage biomass power development. Xuzhou alone operates 17 biomass power plants with a total capacity of 335.6 megawatts, producing nearly 2 billion kilowatt-hours annually. Pilot projects in Shanghai aim to convert biomass into 300,000 tonnes of green methanol for marine fuel by 2030, while Anhui Province scales projects to produce liquefied biogas and capture carbon emissions.

Complementing these waste-to-energy efforts, Cummins India has launched its Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) to bolster India’s clean energy transition and power infrastructure reliability. Shveta Arya, Managing Director of Cummins India, stated, “Our Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) is a crucial enabler in this transition. It offers a reliable, scalable, and sustainable foundation for the energy ecosystem of tomorrow.” These BESS solutions are designed to seamlessly integrate intermittent renewable sources like solar and wind with existing grids, enabling industries such as manufacturing, data centers, and mining to maximize renewable energy use and optimize costs through peak shaving and energy shifting. Pankaj Kapoor, Vice President of Distribution Business, emphasized that Cummins’ BESS solutions are built to address evolving customer needs while supporting sustainability goals, backed by their global expertise and service network.

These collective initiatives from India and China, spanning innovative waste utilization and advanced energy storage, highlight a robust and diversified approach to achieving ambitious clean energy targets and fostering a more sustainable global energy landscape.