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CIL commissions rural electrification project in Kohla

BHUBANESWAR: Cumins India Limited (CIL), a leading manufacturer of diesel engines and generators, commissioned its pilot rural electrification project at Kohla, a lesser known village, in Dhenkanal district about 60 km from here on Thursday.

The project has been powered by electricity being generated by utilising locally available renewable energy. As part of its Ujjwal Bharat initiative, CIL had launched the programme August 15, 2009.

The company had collaborated with Cummins Engine Research Facility (CERF) at IIT Bombay and the READ Foundation, a local NGO, for developing a sustainable and replicable electrification model for remote villages across India.

Electricity generation is based on indigenously developed Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) technology was designed and tested at CERF. The prototype of the project was executed successfully in Kolha in August 2009. Pongamia trees grown in and around the village yield seeds for SVO, and make the model self-sustainable.

Speaking on the sidelines of inauguration of the project in Kolha, Anant J. Talaulicar, CIL's Chairman and Managing Director, said, “We believe that this rural electrification initiative using locally available, low cost, renewable energy sources is an important first step taken in the direction of electrifying remote villages and hence making people's lives better in the rural sections of our nation.”

“If the project succeeds on different parameters, we will replicate it in other parts of the country,” Mr. Talaulicar said. During implementation efforts would be made to improve efficiency of the machines and economic viability of project at village level, he said.

“Cummins is humbled to play a small, yet significant role in improving the lives of the 65 families living in Kolha. We would be delighted to partner in efforts towards the replication of the model in other villages across the country,” said Jean Blackwell, Executive Vice-President, Corporate Responsibility and Chief Executive Officer, Cummins Foundation.

The phase I of the project, which has already been executed, involves the complete electrification of the village with a 15 KVA generator set running on SVO along with the provision for oil expeller and seed decoater. The next stage which is phase II will entail establishment of dual fuel based decentralised power generating system, wherein the generator set will run on dual fuel mode using SVO and biogas.

Among others Nabin Nanda, a MLA, S. N. Girish, District Magistrate of Dhenkenal and others were present .

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