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Cheap electricity through mini stations?

Less smoke for more power

ASHOK B SHARMA

Here, at last, is a solution to provide cheap electricity in rural areas.

Mini-power stations can now be set up to cater to a cluster of villages. A new technology has been developed to harness wind pressure for tapping billions of idle kilowatts of power through a ‘hybrid energy wheel’.

“The unit cost of power generation is cheap. It costs only one rupee,” says the innovator of the technology”, Ashok Kumar Rai, and adds that the fly wheel has the capacity of 700 to 800 HP.

The mini-power stations can work on 100% efficiency as compared to 80% efficiency in case of large conventional power plants. “The average power generated by large

conventional plants is 77,000 MW at a loss of 30% In contrast, the mini-power stations if set up across the country can generate 1.36 lakh MW. This can fulfill the government’s objective of rural electrification”, say Mr Rai.

The cost of setting up of a mini-power station is only Rs 50 lakh. To make it more affordable to the rural masses, Mr Rai has transferred the technology to Revlite Energy Solutions of which he is the technical director.

He has discussed with the government undertakings like the Power Finance Corporation, the Rural Electrification Corporation and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) for providing financial assistance to the project and subsidy for the rural consumers.

“If the government agencies do not come forward, Revlite will seek collaboration with a foreign firm for setting up mini-power stations in select five lakh village clusters in the next 20 years,” says Revlite project director, P N A Tharakan.

The promoter of Revlite, B S Sethia says: “The company is all set for venturing into the project and it proposes to create a network of resource potential to cover the whole country under the guidance and support of the Union government if it so agrees to help the cause.”

Mr Tharakan says that the project will not only help in electrifying rural homes, the farmers can be assured of regular power supply need to water their fields. Rural electrification will result in Internet-connectivity and the rural homes can view through television on a regular basis. “The low capital investment and eco-friendly nature of the technology are the main advantages, besides the direct benefit of jobs for millions of unemployed rural youth,” he says.

There is yet another benefit from this technology, points out Mr Tharakan. In the last World Summit on Sustainable Development held two years ago in Johannesburg in South Africa it was decided to set up global partnership for ensuring clean indoor air. According the US Environmental Protection Agency has announced $1.3 million funding for 11 pilot projects to seek ways to reduce people’s exposure to indoor air pollution. In this context, Mr Tharakan says “the rural electrification through this project will help to reduce the thick acrid smokes generated through burning firewood and coal in rural kitchens. The rural folk will use cheap power for cooking replacing the traditional mode.”

The Sell Foundation, set up by an oil company to promote safer environment, is also running clean stove pilots in six countries like Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Kenya and Mexico. But according to Mr Tharakan, the new project designed by Revlite Energy Solution is a better option and has multi-purpose utility.

The burning of wood and coal generates noxious fumes at concentrations up to 500 times the allowable limit. These fumes cause and bronchitis and pneumonia, as per reports of the World Health Organisation. The World Energy Assessment estimates that the amount of smoke from these fires is equal to two packs of cigarettes a day.



URL: http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=74031
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http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blnus/02051707.htm
Revlite develops cost effective wind power tech

NEW DELHI: A private firm has claimed to have developed a simple, cheap and effective technology to generate high-speed wind to propel power generators, promising a boost to the village economy.

A giant flywheel called hybrid energy wheel could artificially create wind at a speed of up to 150 km to enable wind generators produce 0.25 to 0.5 mw with a small investment of Rs 25 lakh, a press release issued today by Revlite Energy Solutions said.

The Technical Director of the company, Mr Ashok K Rai, said the technology would enable windmill generators to be put anywhere in the country using the Hybrid Energy Flywheel as attachment to produce wind at a speed up to 150 km needed for generating power.

The technology is expected to eliminate all handicaps associated with tapping energy from natural wind.

Once commercially tapped, the technology could make villages self-sufficient in power which can be put to various uses like providing drinking water and setting up cold storage plants.

The self-sufficiency in power generation would create industry, jobs and result in huge savings in subsidy provided on kerosene, Mr Rai said.

Mr Rai claimed that the product had already been patented by him. He proposes to create a country-wide network to promote the giant flywheel with the help of Non-Conventional Energy Resources Department to generate power in villages. - PTI