Ray of hope
For Abdul Rahim and other inhabitants of Fatehpur Taga village in Faridabad district of Haryana, power outages may be a thing of the past. No wonder they watch with rapt attention as technicians give finishing touches to a new decentralised electricity system that will use biomass gasification technology.
The joint project proposal for the new gasifier was submitted to the Union ministry of non-conventional energy sources (MNES) about two years back and the site work started a year later. The project is being implemented at the village level by the Fatehpur Taga Energy Society (FENSOC), which is responsible for village-level operation and maintenance. The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi, is coordinating the project, with funds being provided by the MNES. IIT is one of the nodal centres funded by the ministry that has been doing research on biomass gasification. "This plant has been set up under the MNES-funded project to demonstrate the commercial viability of biomass gasification for rural electrification,' says T R Rao, an IIT professor.
"The gasifier is of 100 kilowatt capacity,' reveals Atul Bhalla, president of FENSOC. The plant has been set up at Bhalla's farmhouse.
The biomass to be used as raw material will mainly comprise mixed woody matter. "During the summer, a wild and ubiquitous shrub (dhaincha in local parlance) will be utilised. In the winter, wood chips from kikar (Prosopis juliflora) are to be used,' says Bhalla. Kikar is currently supplied at Rs 1,400 per tonne. "Earlier it used to cost Rs 500-600 per tonne, but the forest contractor jacked up the price when he realised that it was an essential raw material for us,' alleges Bhalla.
For domestic connection, villagers will have to pay Rs 1,500 as initial deposit. This would include charges for meter, supply line for individual houses and security deposit. Bhalla expects the tariffs to be on a par with those charged by the state electricity board: Rs 4.50 per kilowatt-hour.
About 140 households and 23 pumpsets are currently covered by the supply line. "After successful trials, we have started receiving requests for connections,' says Bhalla. Hopefully, the villagers' dream of uninterrupted power supply will be realised soon.
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