STEAM
ENGINES
We manufacture the following steam
engines:-
(1) Single Cylinder double acting steam engine
of the following specifications,
bore x stroke = 2" x 3" ( 50mm x 76mm
)
HP = 2 hp at 600 rpm
Height =21" ( 525 mm)
Length=10" (250 mm)
Base = 8" x 8" (200mm x 200mm)
Weight = 25 kg.
This engine is very much useful for educational
purpose in engineering colleges and universities. 1 kw generator can be
connected with this engine. So with steam engine, boiler and generator, it
becomes tiny thermal power plant. We can supply complete tiny thermal power
plant which can be useful for home power also.
(2) Single Cylinder double acting steam engine
with reverse lever facility of the following specifications,
bore x stroke = 3" x 4" ( 76mm x
101mm )
HP = 5 hp at 600 rpm
Height =18" ( 450 mm)
Length=18" (450 mm)
Base = 10" x 13" (254mm x 330mm)
Weight = 45 kg.
This engine is useful in the farm for water
lifting, electricity generation, agro processing activities such as sugarcane
crushing, thresher driving, rice hulling, cotton ginning etc
(3) Single Cylinder double acting steam engine
with reverse lever facility of the following specifications,
bore x stroke = 4" x 4" ( 101mm x
101mm )
HP = 8 hp at 600 rpm
Height =18" ( 450 mm)
Length=18" (450 mm)
Base = 10" x 13" (254mm x 330mm)
Weight = 52 kg.
This engine is useful in the farm for water
lifting, electricity generation, agro processing activities such as sugarcane
crushing, thresher driving, rice hulling, cotton ginning etc
(4) double Cylinder double acting steam engine
with reverse lever facility of the following specifications,
bore x stroke = 3" x 4" ( 76mm x
101mm ) for both cylinders
HP = 10 hp at 600 rpm
Height =16" ( 400 mm)
Length=19 (480 mm)
Width acrss cylinders 30" ( 750 mm)
Base = 10" x 14" (254mm x 360mm)
Weight = 90 kg.
This engine is useful in the farm for water
lifting, electricity generation, agro processing activities such as oil milling,
sugarcane crushing, thresher driving, rice hulling, cotton ginning
etc
(5) double Cylinder double acting steam engine
with reverse lever facility of the following specifications,
bore x stroke = 4" x 4" ( 101mm x
101mm ) for both cylinders
HP = 15 hp at 600 rpm
Height =16" ( 400 mm)
Length=19" (480 mm)
Width acrss cylinders 30" ( 750 mm)
Base = 10" x 14" (254mm x 360mm)
Weight = 100 kg.
This engine is useful in the farm for water
lifting, electricity generation, agro processing activities such as oil milling,
sugarcane crushing, thresher driving, rice hulling, cotton ginning
etc
(6) double Cylinder double acting compound steam
engine with reverse lever facility of the following
specifications,
bore x stroke for high pressure
cylinder= 3" x 4" ( 76mm x 101mm )
bore x stroke for low pressure
cylinder= 5" x 4" ( 127mm x 101mm )
HP = 10 hp at 600 rpm
Height =16" ( 400 mm)
Length=19" (480 mm)
Width acrss cylinders 30" ( 750 mm)
Base = 10" x 14" (254mm x 360mm)
Weight = 100 kg.
This engine is useful in the farm for water
lifting, electricity generation, agro processing activities such as oil milling,
sugarcane crushing, thresher driving, rice hulling, cotton ginning
etc
SCOPE OF STEAM ENGINES IN INDIA
260 million tonnes of agriculture based biomass
is available in India. e.g.90 million tonnes of sugarcane baggasse, 25 million
tonnes of cotton stalks, 40 million tonnes of rice husk and 85 million tonnes of
wheat straw. So huge scope for small steam engines. Small oil mills, rice
shellers, sugarcane crushers and jaggery plants, wood working machines, cotton
ginning and water pumping can be operated by small steam engines of 10 hp or
smaller. Almost one million steam engines have bright scope in India. This
will bring real prosperity and happiness to rural India.
We have developed one small
stratified down draft gasifier with gas filter, heat exchanger and carburetor
unit. We have purchased one automobile petrol engine to be assembled with
generator. The entire gasifier plant is being prepared for testing. We intend to
test on legnite coal and on groundnut husk brequetts.
WIND TURBINE OF 500 W
We manufacture small wind turbine for domestic use.
Specifications are as under:-
Wind rotor:- Diameter 3mt with 3 wooden blades.
Airfoil :- Go 711
Design tip speed ratio :- 6.5
Generator:- Permanent Magnet Radial Flux generator
Gear ratio :- Wind rotor directly mounted on generator shaft.
Starting wind speed :- 2.5 m/s
Cut in wind speed :- 2.7 m/s
Rated wind speed :- 10 m/s
Survival wind speed :- 35 m/s
Power at rated wind speed 500W
Tower top weight :-
Safety system is the unique design where generation of power continues even in the storm eventhough wind rotor has moved from wind direction.
Power curves at various wind speeds and electrical power curve are given below :-
fig.1 P-n curves of the Tinytech-3 rotor for Vrated = 10 m/s, optimum cubic line, Pmech-n and Pel-n curves of the generator with a modified 115/200 V winding for 26 V star and P-n curve of the generator for short-circuit in delta and star.
fig. 2 Pel-V curve of the Tinytech-3 windmill for 24 V battery charging for a modified 115/200 V winding and rectification in star
PRODUCTION OF COMPONENTS
(1)
We have developed Radial Flux permanent magnet generators from 1 kw to 7.5
kw capacity and is available for sale.
(2) We have developed
Axial Flux permanent magnet generators of 300 mm dia with 500 W capacity
with 2 magnet rotors and 1 stator and is available for
sale.
(3) We have developed Axial Flux permanent magnet
generators of 500 mm dia with 2 KW capacity with 2 magnet rotors and 1
stator.
(4) We have developed and we can supply wooden blades
118 mm chord and 1.1 mtr length non-taper, non-twisted as per GO623 air
foil section. This is suitable for 2.5 mtr dia wind
rotor.
(5) We have developed and we can supply FRP blades 312
mm chord and 3 mtr length non-taper, non-twisted as per GO624 air foil
section. This is suitable for 7 to 8 mtr dia wind rotor.
(6)
We have developed and we can supply wooden blades 200 mm chord and 1.8 mtr
length non-taper, non-twisted as per GO623 air foil section. This is
suitable for 4 mtr dia wind rotor.
(7) We can supply
triangular free standing tower of 6 to18 mtr height suitable for
small wind turbines.
(9) We have developed and we can supply
various types of guy wired pipe towers for small wind
turbines.
EXPERIMENTS
(1) We
have developed Crete type sail wind rotors of 6 mtr dia and 7.5 mtr dia.
Testing has not been done.
(2) We have developed wind rotors
with tube and wire type cloth blades of 3.6 mtr dia and 4.2 mtr dia. Both
works satisfactorily but long time testing with generator still to be
done.
(3) We have developed wind turbine of 5 mtr dia with 6
FRP blades with PMG of 2 kw. Testing to be done.
(4) We have developed auto alternator connected
small wind turbine but because of high gear ratio, it works only at high
wind speed. Suitable new design with lower gear ratio is developed but
still not tested.
ENCOURAGEMENT
TO DEVELOP TINY WIND TURBINES
Godly
help came from Mr. John Furze from Denmark. I read his article "STEALTH WIND TURBINES" in RE-FOCUS magazine and I was
very much attracted with his article. I sent him one email and promptly he
sent me 4 CDs containing treasure of knowledge of complete human survival
science and renewable energy technology including lot many technical
literature, papers, drawings and other material on wind energy. I had no
any knowledge of wind energy. Aerodynamics, blade theory, air foil designs
etc were completely new subjects for me. So I studied wind technology
deeply for 2 years.
During this time, Mr. John Furze and his
hearty friend Mr. Hannu Virtanen from Finland
highly encouraged me by giving day to day guidance through emails. Then Mr
John Furze invited me to Denmark, Holland and Finland for 3 weeks and he
took lot of pain to travel with me to visit many expert persons who have
designed and manufactured their own innovative wind mills including highly
experienced design engineer Mr Adriaan Kragten in Holland. Mr Kragten is
considered to be authority in Europe in designing small wind turbines.
This 3 week trip infused high confidence in me to manufacture small wind
turbines of various designs.
WHY SMALL WIND
TURBINES ?
"To become a happy society,
precondition is that means of production of primary needs of the people
should be within the reach of common masses and it should be owned managed
and controlled by common masses."
This has been stated by Mahatma
Gandhi. It specifically implies that all the technology related to the
production of primary needs must be tiny and cheap enough to be afforded
by common masses and simple enough to be understood by common
masses.
Just as food, clothing and shelter are the primary
needs of the people, similarly, electricity has become indespensable
primary need of the people. So means of generation of electricity should
be small, simple and cheap enough so that common people can afford it and
can control it. Then such technology can create self reliant life style
and happy society.
Big and giant thermal power houses or atomic
power houses can not fit into this ideology. Similarly big and giant solar
power houses or Mega Watt size wind turbines and giant wind farms also can
not fit into this ideology. As per Mahatma Gandhi's thinking, independent,
tiny, family size or at the most village level industries can contribute
to the freedom and happiness of the common people.
So
generation of electricity also should be at tiny scale for homes, for
farms or for family scale industries. So looking to the Indian situation,
power generation schemes from 100 Watts to 10 KW should be thought
out. As I am strongly committed to tiny decentralized cheap and simple
technology (please go through MY BASIC CONVICTIONS), I am sure that
millions of such small power generating units can work in India with
strong economic viability based on renewable energy sources such as solar,
wind, biomass, micro hydro, fuel cells etc.
Wind energy is
the most appropriate permanent resource gifted by the nature free of cost
to the humanity. It works more or less round the clock irrespective of day
or night. So harnessing the wind energy for homes and farms will make
revolutionary changes in rural life of India and it will contribute to the
happiness of the society to the great extent by providing numerous
opportunities for self employment through home industries of cotton
spinning, cloth making, oil seed crushing, jaggery and sugar making in the
farms, soap making and manufacturing numerous light industrial items in
villages and towns.
SCOPE OF SMALL
WIND TURBINES
(1) About ten million small wind turbines of
250 W to 2 KW capacity for home use can be sold and installed in rural and
urban India.
(2) About one million wind turbines from 2 KW to 10
KW for farm use can be installed in rural India.
(3) About 100000
small compressor connected wind turbines can be sold and installed in
India which may be useful for running pneumatic tools in industries and in
highway garages to inflate tyres in automobiles.
(4) Above is
the scope only in India. If we consider entire world with developing
countries and developed countries also, the scope is atleast 10 times. So
future is for small wind turbines.
V.K. DESAI
updated on
18-5-2006
|
| WIND PHOTOGRAPHS
: 1 2 3 4 |
10 KW SOLAR POWER PLANT WITH
TROUGH COLLECTORS
It is
utmost essential to develop very cheap 10 kw small solar power plant using
trough collectors. If successfully designed, about 25 million such solar plants
can be installed in the world. So there is enormous scope.
If we
want to see the world without poverty, if we desire to provide
electricity to 2 billion deprived people, if we want to abolish hunger
and unemployment on this globe, if we want peaceful, self reliant lifestyle
in USA and Europe, if we want this world to get rid of terrorism, this 10
kw solar power plant will play the most important role in shaping the new world
without injustice and without poverty.
Not only
from the view point of philanthropy and mercy, but also for profit making, 25
million solar plants will generate huge business- far far more than a few
hundred big plants of 100 MW size.
Whoever is
connected with solar plant with trough collector technology, I earnestly
pray their conscience to think for 10 kw very cheap solar plant. With my
very limited knowledge and with some expert advice, I feel that joint efforts of
scientists and researchers should be applied in the following
direction.
(1) Trough
collectors should be constructed on the ground by masonry without any
steel to reduce the cost. Or bamboo strips should be used to give parabolic
shape to trough collectors.
(2)
Evidently It will be non tracking trough collectors with minimum rim
angle.
(3) Receiver pipe may be
without vacuum glass tube.
(4) Reduction of cost must be
the criteria rather than efficiency.
(5) Steam produced can run small steam engine which can directly run
oil milling, sugarcane crushing, cotton ginning, cotton spinning, cloth weaving,
grain grinding, water pumping, wood working and many such industrial
work. Electricity also can be produced with tiny steam turbine.
(6)
Efficiency may be less than 10%. So 200 sq mtr reflectors may be required. This
is just vague idea. More scientific version can be thought out. But I feel sure
that such cheap solar plant is likely to be economically viable. It will strongly
contribute to remove poverty from the
world.
MASS SUPPLY OF PARABOLIC SOLAR
COOKERS
We have developed SATVIK
parabolic solar cooker for domestic home use. Our solar cooker is of the most
modern design. It has the following specifications
and advantages.
(1) Reflector is a square of 1.2 mt
(4ft) with anodized aluminium sheets of high reflectivity. It looks
beatiful with square shape.
(2) Complete cooker is of completely folding design. Hence in one 20 ft
container, 400 cooker kits can go.
(3) Cooker kit is of the size 52"x6"x12" only.
It weighs 20 kg.
(4) After you get the cooker
kit, you can assemble it by yourself by looking vedeo CD which is sent with
every cooker. It takes 30 minutes to assemble the cooker. But tying the
sheets with reflector frame will take further one hour.
(5) Entire cooker is powder coated in elegant
different colors.
(6) You can place the order for even
one cooker. It is more convenient to transport by air. Naturally one cooker will
be too costly in transport. But for mass supply, quantity of 200 to 400 will be
convenient for economical transport.
(7) SATVIK Parabolic solar cooker can cook the food within 30
to 45 minutes.
10 KW SOLAR
POWER PLANT WITH TROUGH COLLECTORS
It
is utmost essential to develop very cheap 10 kw small solar power plant using
trough collectors. If successfully designed, about 25 million such solar plants
can be installed in the world. So there is enormous
scope.
If we want to see the world without poverty, if we desire to provide
electricity to 2 billion deprived people, if we want to abolish hunger
and unemployment on this globe, if we want peaceful, self reliant lifestyle
in USA and Europe, if we want this world to get rid of terrorism, this 10
kw solar power plant will play the most important role in shaping the new world
without injustice and without poverty.
Not only from the view point of philanthropy and mercy, but also for
profit making, 25 million solar plants will generate huge business- far far more
than a few hundred big plants of 100 MW size.
Whoever is connected with solar plant with trough collector
technology, I earnestly pray their conscience to think for 10 kw very cheap
solar plant. With my very limited knowledge and with some expert advice, I feel
that joint efforts of scientists and researchers should be applied in the
following direction.
(1) Trough collectors should be constructed on the ground by
masonry without any steel to reduce the cost.
(2) Evidently It will be non tracking trough collectors with minimum
rim angle.
(3) Receiver pipe may
be without vacuum glass tube.
(4) Reduction of cost
must be the criteria rather than efficiency.
(5) Steam produced can run small steam engine which can directly run
oil milling, sugarcane crushing, cotton ginning, cotton spinning, cloth weaving,
grain grinding, water pumping, wood working and many such industrial
work. Electricity also can be produced with tiny steam turbine.
(6) Efficiency may be less than 10%. So 200 sq mtr reflectors may be
required. This is just vague idea. More scientific version can be thought out.
But I feel sure that such cheap solar plant is likely to be
economically viable. It will strongly contribute to remove poverty from the
world.
 |
SCHEFFLER REFLECTOR
WITH COOKING
STAND |
We
manufacture Scheffler Reflectors which is the basic solar concentrating
device which can be used for various solar applications. The easiest way
is to use Scheffler Reflector as community solar cooker for cooking the
meals for about 100 people within 60 to 90 minutes. In near future,
Scheffler Reflectors will be used in thousands of quantities for
electricity generation by using dish stirling system. Similarly, Scheffler
Reflectors have wide future scope for water lifting. In numerous food,
pharmaceutical and chemical industries involving heating process,
Scheffler Reflectors have bright future. So in future, Scheffler
Reflectors will be used in millions of quantity in various solar
applications. At present, Scheffler Reflectors are used in 20 countries
mainly for community cooking.
 |
| SCHEFFLER
REFLECTOR |
Scheffler Reflector is the ingenious device for concentrating
sunshine and creating heat invented by Mr. Wolfgang Schffler in Germany.
There are various sizes of reflectors such as 7.5 sq. mtr., 8.5 sq.mtr.,
9.5 sq.mtr., 11 sq. mtr. etc. We manufacture only one size of 11 sq. mtr.
Scheffler reflector concentrates sunshine from 11 sq. mtr. to a small spot
of about 30 cm. dia. i.e. concentration ratio is about 125 times.
Reflector has sun tracking device by which it always faces the sun. The
specific feature of this reflector is that concentration point of the
sunshine is at the same place throughout the day eventhough reflector dish
is moving along with the sun from morning to evening. So it is possible to
cook the food or use the concentrated heat at the concentration point
which is some what away from the reflector dish.
Reflector dish is of elliptical shape 4.6mtr × 3.26mtr. made of
pipe structure on which glass mirrors are fitted in paraboloidal curves.
Alluminium channels support the glass mirrors. Entire reflector dish is
mounted on the tracking device which is fitted on the fixed stand and
foundation frame.
We
also manufacture heat storage equipment in which heat of concentrated
sunshine can be stored and this heat can be utilized during the night or
next day. So now it is possible to cook on Sunday by using Saturday's
sunshine.
|
(1) The ensuing energy revolution throughout the world will drive out most of the evils created by industrial revolution of the last century.i.e. poverty, unemployment, hunger, disparity, urbanisation, polution, terrorism, war, centralization etc will be reduced to the minimum.
(2)energy revolution is poised to decentralization of not only energy production but also of all the industrial activity in the world.
(3)Power plants up to10 kw generated by steam, solar, wind biogas or any other source is human, cheap, simple viable, managable and beneficial to the humanity. Bigger than 10 kw is unhuman, costly, complicated, unmanagable and harmful to the society as it gives rise to the exploitation and other evils.
(4) It is possible to devise all industrial activity of the world with 10 kw power or less.
(5) It is possible to create the world without grid power lines.
(6) If grid exists after 2 decades, electricity will flow in reverse direction i.e. from rural areas to big cities.
(7) Steam power is coming back very fast and all the agricultual processing such as oil milling, sugarcane crushing, cotton ginning, rice milling, wood working will be shifted on steam power.
(8) Solar thermal power plants of 10 kw or below will be millions in one or two decades.
(9) Once the technology of making Photovoltaic solar cells is known, it will be left hand job for every Indian skillful woman to manufacture it at home no matter she may be illeterate. Then real home scale industries for every primary needs will blossom.
(10) Transport will be reduced to minimum at the end of 21 century. |
MY BASIC
CONVICTIONS
Mahatma Gandhi's inspiring thinking on industries combined with my practical experience of 30 years as Mechanical Engineer has carved the following Basic Convictions in my heart.
(1) All the dreadful problems appearing nowadays in the world such as unemployment, hunger, exploitation, disparity, polution, urbanisation, war, terrorism etc. are direct result of heavy and centralized industries.
(2) The modern civilization based on wasteful expenditure of natural resources is destined to end in near future.
(3) Twenty first century is not in the hands of centralized heavy industries. Undercurrent of decentralization has already started; and by the end of first decade of new century, the world will throw away the dogma of industrialization.
(4) Idea of "Everything under one roof" has become out dated. The process of splitting the bigger factories into small units has already started.
(5) Principles of more economic viabilities for bigger units are illusionary. In fact where social cost is considered, bigger units can never be viable.
(6) Complex giant technology has given rise to complex way of living, due to which greed and selfishness have captured human minds and we have lost the way of happiness.
(7) Real happiness is possible only through simple living, which is possible through simple and small technology only. Complicated machinery makes simple thing also complicated.
(8) World can live in peace and harmony only if we create self sustained societies.
(9) When production is made for consumption and not for marketing, present theories of economics crumble down.
(10) Small is possible at every stage, in every industry, in every country. Small is inevitable in every industry related to primary needs of the common masses in every country.
(11) Present tax collection systems can exist only on centralized form of heavy industries. This facilitates and increases legalized robbery of people by Governments.
(12) Transport is the curse to the mankind. It facilititates spreading of evils. Worldwide transport gives rise to worldwide exploitation.
My Horror
Whenever I see any big factory or industry, I am horrified to look at it, because it looks me as DEMON threatening the existence of humanity, its culture, its liberty, its freedom etc.
My Solace
Whenever I see any tiny cottage industry, I am pacified to look at it, because it looks me as GOD's blessing enriching the life-style of mankind, its culture, its liberty, its freedom etc.
V.K. DESAI
B.E.(Mech.), LL.B.
Managing Director |
ELECTRIFICATION OF 100 MILLION POOR HOMES OF
INDIA
90 % rural homes are without electricity connection. In Assam, Bengal and Orissa, 80 % rural homes have no electricity connection. Similarly, we can safely assume that almost 2 crores of poor families living in urban areas and slums have no electricity connection. So totally 10 crores homes are without electricity connection. This becomes almost 50 % of India.
All these 10 crores homes can be electrified within 2 years easily as per the following simple scheme.
(1) No new transmission lines and new distribution lines will be necessary except the existing ones.
(2) No house wiring will be necessary in 10 crores of homes.
(3) CFL tube has come as a blessing for the poor people. It is envisaged to provide one CFL tube of 11 Watt with sealed maintenance free battery of 12 V x 4.5 Ah. One CFL tube will give equivalent light to 4 ft. tube light consuming 55 Watts. CFL tube of 11 W complete with elegant plastic cabinet with reflector and small inverter inside the cabinet to make very high frequency current is available in the market at Rs 200/-. Two wheeler small battery costs only Rs 250/- to 300/-
(4) Sealed maintenance free battery of 12 V x 4.5 Ah with only 1.5 kg. weight will be able to provide very bright light for 3 hours to CFL tube comfortably. Battery should be charged every day.
(5) Set of CFL tube and battery costs not more than Rs. 500/-. So even if Government provides it free of cost to 10 crores homes, it will be the expense of Rs. 5000/- crores which is only 1% expense of annual budget of Government of India.
(6) For battery charging, good community battery chargers are available at Rs. 3000/- to 3500/-. It will charge 30 batteries at a time. So during the 12 hours, 2 batches of 30 batteries can be charged. So one battery charger will be able to serve 60 homes. So for every 60 homes, one battery charger should be installed. Individual tiny battery charger is also available at Rs 100/- to 125/-
(7) Community battery charger can be installed by Gram Panchayat or by Co-operative Society or by any private woman in her home.
(8) Power consumption of 11 W CFL tube for 3 hours will be only 33 W. Let us assume 40 W. To charge again 40 W, electricity of 50 W will be used in the battery charger. 50 W is 5% of 1000 W i.e. 1 KWH which costs Rs. 5/- only. So 5% of Rs. 5/- is only 25 paise. So for 30 days it will be only Rs. 7.50. Gram Panchayat or any NGO can charge Rs. 30/- per month from every home for battery charging service. If private woman is the owner of battery charger, she can charge Rs. 1/- per day out of which expense will be only 25 paise. So from 60 homes, she will be able to earn Rs. 45/- per day at her home. Her annual income will be Rs. 16000/- against the investment of Rs. 3000/-to 3500/- for battery charger.
(9) So all the poor people will have good light in their home at the expense of Rs. 1/- per day at the most. No application to electricity board, no any money deposit, no meter rent, no formality, no harassment of electricity board, no house wiring. Only requirement is that electricity should be available for battery charging in the concerned village. In every village, where there is grid connection, at least a few people will have electricity in their homes. Out of them, one or two home can install community battery charger and provide the service of charging 60 batteries per day.
(10) Where there is no grid connection for battery charging, but if wind is available, small wind turbine of 1.5 KW can be installed which will be sufficient for charging 60 batteries per day. Such wind turbine will cost Rs. 1.5 lakhs. But it will be far cheaper than extending transmission lines and distribution lines. Or solar modules can be installed for battery charging. But in that case, centralized battery charging is not essential. In every home, battery charging can be arranged.
(11) If we implement this scheme completely and successfully within 3 years, the entire world will be astonished to see that not a single home of India is without electricity. This will be splendid success eventhough we are able to provide only one light to every home. One such light in every home will be just like paradise to poor people.
But to implement this scheme completely in 2 years, the following actions are essential.
(a) All taxes such as central excise, VAT, sales tax, octroi, income-tax etc. must be abolished for CFL Tubes, inverters, plastic cabinets, batteries and battery chargers used in this scheme.
(b) Micro Finance institutions should provide finance of Rs. 3500/- for purchasing battery charger at every village or community or urban slums.
(c) 100% finance and 75% subsidy should be made available to the person who establishes small wind turbine of 1.5 KW for battery charging with the condition that he will not charge more than Rs. 1/- (or say 1.50) for battery charging for poor people.
I feel that this is most practicable and the cheapest scheme of providing at least one light in all the 10 crores poor homes of India.
V K DESAI
TINYTECH PLANTS
TAGORE ROAD,
RAJKOT 360002
CELL 09227606570
Email tinytech@tinytechindia.com
Web www.tinytechindia.com
SMALL WIND TURBINES IN
INDIA
As per official Government data of Ministry of Power, almost 8 crores of rural homes of India have no electricity connection. In Bihar and Zarkhand, Wind power has emerged as the biggest renewable energy source in the world. So far wind turbines of total combined capacity of 25000 MW have been installed in the world, Germany being the highest in the world and India is standing 4th biggest wind power producer in the world. Government of India has estimated the potential of 45000 MW of wind power throughout the country. So far about 3500 MW capacity has been installed in India. All this power is obtained through big wind turbines from 250 KW to 1250 KW capacity. The modern European trend is to make bigger and bigger wind turbines and 2 MW wind turbine has become very common in Europe and soon they will produce 5 MW capacity wind turbines. As in other technology, in wind technology also, Europe is always after giant technology.
So as a follower of European technology, Government of India promotes big wind turbines and it does not recognize the potential of small wind turbines. In fact, there is a huge potentiality of small wind turbines in India. As per my own estimate, roughly 100000 MW power can be produced in India from only small wind turbines up to 10 KW. There are bright prospects to establish about 50 million small wind turbines from 500W to 10KW capacity. Such a huge possibility exists in India but unfortunately small wind turbines are totally neglected by Government of India.
In India, land holding is small. Farms are small. There are about 100 million small farmers in India. A lot of industrial manufacturing is also through tiny and small industries consuming less than 10 KW power. So there is a possibility of small wind turbine in every farm and every small factory whereever there is a wind. So millions of small wind turbines can be installed in small farms of India making farmers self reliant in electricity for their own use for water pumping and other agricultural processing small industries. If small wind turbines are promoted in India, every farmer can supply excess power to the grid and thus power shortage can be avoided. It is not impossible that such excess power will go to the cities and big thermal power stations will be no more required.
Government of India spends about 6 crores (60 million) rupees for installing 1 MW capacity of electricity generation. This is equivalent to Rs. 60000/- per KW or roughly 1100 Euro per KW. Big wind turbines are available at the cost of Euro 1000/- per KW of installed capacity. But in Europe, small wind turbines are installed at the cost of Euro 2000/- per KW. This cost can be substantially decreased in India. As per my estimate, small wind turbines can be cheaper than big wind turbines on the basis of per KW cost. If systematic efforts are made, it is possible to reduce the cost of small wind turbines straight way up to Euro 500/- per KW i.e. half of big wind turbines. As per my own estimate, it is not impossible to reduce it up to Euro 300/- (Rs. 16000/- to 18000/- per KW). This means that investment in small wind turbines on per KW basis will be only 1/3 of investment of big wind turbines. Thus, small wind turbines will be strongly viable throughout the world and India can become biggest supplier of small wind turbines in the world.
But unfortunately, there is total vacuum of wind turbine technology in India. There is no any awareness about the education of wind energy. Aerodynamics is a strange word in India. There is no any course in India for wind energy at any university, any engineering college, polytechnic or even at ITI level. If Government recognizes the importance of small wind turbines, there should be degree and diploma courses and also short term certificate courses of wind energy technology in every university to every ITI. Government should encourage to publish technology books related to wind energy in all the regional languages. Then technology can spread to grass root level and even in villages, many technicians will start understanding and manufacturing small wind turbines. Government has already passed Electricity Act 2003 in favour of renewable energy and distributed generation. But it is not implemented in practice so far. It is highly essential to give free permission to connect small wind turbines with grid power. If this much is done at government level, in one or two decades, India will really become number one in the world in wind energy production and that also only through small wind turbines producing roughly 100000 MW of electricity. But it is most unfortunate that our Government is lacking this vision.
If Government permits grid connection to small wind turbines, then simple induction motors can be used as generators and thus small wind turbine will become extremely cheaper and strongly viable compared to big wind turbines and electricity cost will be far more cheaper than that of thermal power stations. So it is evident that small wind turbines have so much big potential that they may replace big thermal power stations.
Even though Government does not encourage this activity of small wind turbines, above picture can be materialized through peoples initiative. Technology of small wind turbine is not so much difficult. Stand alone wind turbine is rather complicated than grid connected system. But electronics is coming to the help. In a few years, various types of electronic controllers will be devised to control all the parameters of stand alone small wind turbines. The generators for wind energy are basically of 3 different types. Radial flux permanent magnet generator is converted from induction motors which are cheaply available in India. Technology of axial flux permanent magnet generator is completely unknown to India at present. But it is very simple technology. Thanks to Mr. Hugh Piggot of UK and ITDG of UK who have published complete manual on internet to produce axial flux permanent magnet generator. But both these types of generators require neodymium magnets which are not manufactured in India. Hence these generators become costly because of imported costly magnets. But if tiny electro magnet generators are developed, it will be very cheap. Similarly, small auto alternator technology is going to play vital role in drastically cutting the cost of small wind turbine.
There exists highly developed industrial infrastructure in India to manufacture towers, blades, wind rotors and also electronic controllers. So once people recognize the scope of small wind turbines, many engineers and technicians will start producing small wind turbines. As India is poor country and particularly farmers are very poor, small simple technology will better suit. Cloth sails wind rotors and tube and wire type blades are more suitable to Indian condition to reduce the cost of wind turbines. The most scientific air foil sections of blades are made from wood in Europe which last up to 20 years. Scientific wooden blades can be made the cheapest in India. Similarly wooden towers also will be cheaper and suitable for small wind turbines. I feel that very cheap small wind turbines will be a reality in India in a few years. Only constraint is lack of knowledge and technology of small wind turbines. Hugh Piggott’s small book WINDPOWER WORKSHOP is one of the best practical book to understand wind turbine technology in short. But many such cheaper books should be written and published in Hindi & regional languages. Then only this technology can spread up to village technicians.
It is my basic conviction that after about 20 years, electricity will flow in grid lines in reverse direction i.e. from villages to city through distributed generation only by solar, by wind, by bio mass and such renewable devices. It is my basic conviction that small wind turbines up to 10 KW capacity will be extremely cheaper and hence strongly viable. It is my basic conviction that solar cells will be produced on screen printing technology by illiterate women in every home in 20 years time. It is my basic conviction that solar thermal electricity generation will be viable and will be produced in every village. So it is my basic conviction that electricity will be surplus in India in 20 years time and it will be cheapest in the world.
V K DESAI
Managing Director
AADHUNIK GLOBAL ENERGY,
C/o. TINYTECH PLANTS,
TAGORE ROAD,
RAJKOT – 360 002. INDIA.
Tel : 91 281 2480166,
Fax : 91 281 2467552
Mobile : 91 92 27 60 65 70.
Email tinytech@tinytechindia.com
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