Naina Devi to Udupi Mutt – Temples turning to biogas solutions!

Religious institutions across India are increasingly embracing clean energy solutions, with temples in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka turning to biogas to manage waste and reduce dependence on conventional fuels as the LPG supply conundrum mar the temples’ administration.

New Story in Himalayas

In Himachal Pradesh, the Naina Devi Temple in Bilaspur district has become the first Shakti Peeth in the state to generate biogas from organic waste produced in its community kitchen, or langar. The temple, which receives a steady stream of devotees, has installed a modern pre-fabricated biogas plant equipped with solid waste management features.

The biogas facility processes around 200 kilograms of organic waste daily and currently produces about 20 kilograms of biogas in its initial phase.

The gas generated is being directly used in the temple kitchen to prepare prasad and langar meals, reducing reliance on LPG cylinders. At present, the temple uses between five and eight commercial LPG cylinders daily to serve meals to visitors. As per reports, the biogas initiative will not only cut fuel costs but also ensure scientific disposal of kitchen waste. Authorities plan to scale up the plant’s capacity so that biogas production can eventually match the temple’s full cooking fuel requirements.

The Deccan Initiative

Meanwhile, in Karnataka, the Udupi Sri Krishna Mutt is undertaking a similar initiative, driven in part by a recent LPG shortage linked to the West Asia crisis. The famous mutt is setting up a biogas plant at an estimated cost of Rs 60 lakh to meet the energy demands of its large-scale kitchens.

The 50-cubic-metre facility, being installed near the mutt’s gaushala, will utilise a mix of kitchen waste and cow dung as feedstock. With over 80 cattle providing a steady supply of dung, the plant is expected to process about 750 litres of cow dung and 750 kilograms of wet waste daily, generating 30–40 kilograms of biogas.

Apart from producing cooking fuel, the plant will also generate organic manure for use in the mutt’s gardens and agricultural fields, creating a circular waste management system. Currently, due to LPG shortages, the mutt relies on firewood for cooking, but officials aim to achieve long-term energy self-sufficiency through biogas.

Complementing this effort, the mutt has also upgraded its kitchen infrastructure with eight steam boilers capable of preparing meals for 30,000 to 50,000 people daily under its anna daana programme.

These initiatives highlight a growing trend among religious institutions to adopt sustainable practices, combining waste management with renewable energy generation while serving thousands of devotees every day.

In similar initiatives, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) of Odisha has revealed that the bio-waste generated by the temple would be turned into biogas and organic compost through a biogas project. Also, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has partnered with Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL) to establish a 40-ton biogas plant at Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh.