The Hindu : Karnataka News : Biomass power meets needs of villages in Tumkur

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Friday, Mar 28, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Biomass power meets needs of villages in Tumkur

Nagesh Prabhu

The gasifier plants generate power by burning wood in a controlled manner

Plants at Kabbigere and Boregunte commissioned
Kabbigere plant has generated 1.12 lakh units in one year

Green energy: The A 500 unit gasifier plant at Kabbigere in Madhuguri taluk which has been handed over to the gram panchayat.

TUMKUR: The day is not far when villages of Tumkur, Madhugiri, Sira, Gubbi and Koratagere clusters will get uninterrupted power supply from biomass gasifier plants.

Twenty-eight villages, of five clusters in the district, will get decentralised electricity generation plants to meet their energy needs. It involves the gram panchayat and the people, according to Biomass Energy of Rural India (BERI) project officials.

Kemal Dervis, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) administrator and UN Under-Secretary General, on Monday, commissioned a second biomass gasifier plant at Boregunte village in Madhugiri taluk. It has the capacity to generate 250 units (kilowatt) of power. Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, developed the technology to set up gasifier plants.

The BERI project was funded jointly by UN Global Environment Facility (GEF) ($ 4.1 million) and State Government ($ 1.1. million) and India-Canada Environment Facility ($ 2.8 million).

Under the BERI project, the first gasifier plant was inaugurated lat year at Kabbigere in the district. The 500 unit capacity plant has been supplying power to 500 households in the five villages surrounding Kabbigere of Koratagere cluster. Mr. Dervis handed over the project to the Tovinakere Gram Panchayat president Siddagangamma on Monday.

The Kabbigere plant has generated 1.12 lakh units in the last one year and generated a revenue of Rs. 1.11 lakh to the gram panchayat. The farmers who supplied biomass, such as wood or coconut shells, have been paid Rs. 1.10 a kg of biomass. The panchayat has signed an agreement with the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) to sell

excess power. The cost of the power at Rs. 2.25 per unit is cheaper than the power supplied by BECOM (about Rs. 3), BERI officials told The Hindu.

The green way

Mr. Dervis said the project looks at how remote communities can have better access to power in an environment friendly, carbon neutral way.

The project not only improves their lives but also helps reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. The project gives additional income to the rural people. Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Principal Secretary K. Jairaj sought more funds from UNDP to take up similar projects in other districts.

The third plant, with 250 units in Seebirayanapalya in Tumkur taluk, will be commissioned shortly. In Sira cluster, a 686 unit capacity plant will be established with a joint venture between Chinnenahalli Gram Panchayat and the private Malavalli Power Plant.

The panchayat has 74 per cent equity in the project. Work on projects at Gubbi and Tumkur taluks would commence soon after the identification of private partners, the official said.

Burning wood

The gasifier plants generate power by burning wood in a controlled manner. The youth of the village have been trained to run the plants. In the last one year, officials have been able to motivate the village people in all the five clusters to go in for dependable energy services using locally available biomass as raw material.

Village bio-energy management committees are expected to operate and maintain the generation and supply of power, M.H. Swaminath, BERI project coordinator, said.

The projects are a win-win situation for its utility and for the village community through reduction of transmission and distribution losses, supply of reliable, timely and quality power, and improved productivity. The first project has increased the bill payment and reduced the transmission and distribution loss.

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