The reasons for such low penetration of this
technology in India are the low overall conversion
efficiency of the system to convert the heat from
external source to electricity (owing to low waste heat
source temperatures), the high system cost, the lack
of indigenous manufacturing capability and the lack of
proper incentives. In addition, most opportunities for
the deployment of the technology exists currently for waste to heat recovery than for stationary applications that use biomass or geothermal energy directly. This
is because both biomass (except bagasse based systems) and geothermal energy are not as popular in India as solar or wind energy. In the solar thermal installations, as a technology that is gaining a solid foot in the Indian energy scenario, ORC can be used
to exploit the medium to low temperature steam to generate electricity. Bagasse based cogeneration systems that are quite common in India, also have a
promising future for ORC installations in India.