Crank it up
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14/06/2009
Arnab Pratim Dutta
Sugar mills have doubled up as power generators, with help from sound policies. But profits are falling now. Can states find a way to sustain cogeneration?
Deoband, western Uttar Pradesh. The fourth floor of a building in a sugar factory complex, buzzing with activity. A contraption in the middle of a room humming loudly like an aircraft engine. A man jotting down steam pressure readings from a meter attached to the contraption. Mechanical engineer R Sudhakar had a quick word with the man and moved out into a smaller room, the nerve centre of the unit where computer screens displayed colourful diagrams. He spoke to the operator and proceeded to a narrow bridge connecting the building to a steel structure with slits. Through the slits Sudhakar could see tongues of fire.
Sugar mills have doubled up as power generators, with help from sound policies. But profits are falling now. Can states find a way to sustain cogeneration?
Deoband, western Uttar Pradesh. The fourth floor of a building in a sugar factory complex, buzzing with activity. A contraption in the middle of a room humming loudly like an aircraft engine. A man jotting down steam pressure readings from a meter attached to the contraption. Mechanical engineer R Sudhakar had a quick word with the man and moved out into a smaller room, the nerve centre of the unit where computer screens displayed colourful diagrams. He spoke to the operator and proceeded to a narrow bridge connecting the building to a steel structure with slits. Through the slits Sudhakar could see tongues of fire.