issue 4 - United Nations Development Programme

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FROM THE FIELD competitive with grid supply in many states. In an industrial plant, where an existing diesel set is being used with a newly installed retrofitted gasification plant, the pay back periods in typical cases can be as low as 2 to 3 years. Feedstock supply-chain management: DESI Power principally does not promote biomass based power plants unless a sustainable source of supply is available from agricultural or plantation residues and/or energy plantations and/or agro-forestry. Feedstock management in three power plants of Araria, Bihar has evolved on this philosophy. DESI Power started its operation with Ipomoea and hardwood in “Baharbari” village in the year 2001. This was the second plant in India using Ipomoea as feedstock. Characteristics of Ipomoea are presented in Table 1. Table 1: Ipomoea characterstics Parameters Value Calorific value 3,800 kcal per kg Bulk density 160 kg per cubic metre Yield per 160 tonnes of green biomass which hectare is equivalent to 64 tons of useful feedstock for gasifier Alternate use It gives foul odour on direct combustion, so not used as cooking fuel Availability It’s a weed naturally found near nullahs and moist areas Feedstock With a full load, the gasifier consumption consumes about 70 kg per hour of feed stock (for a 100 kW plant) Fuel cost Average `2 per kWh at PLF 80% (Ranges between `1.5-3.5) backyard contour wall by the villagers. Through Combustion, Gasification & Propulsion Laboratory (CGPL) in Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, DESI power tested the potential of Dhaincha as a biomass fuel and it was found that Dhaincha, not only had good calorific value but was also found to be a nitrogen fixing plant with a small production cycle (four months). Thus cultivation of Dhaincha as an energy crop emerged as a win-win situation for both farmers and DESI Power. The current feedstock calendar in all three plants of Araria is presented in Table 2. Table 2: Feedstock calendar Months January-May June-August September- December Feedstock Dhaincha/Ipomoea (along with hardwood) Maize residue (along with hardwood) Only hardwood DESI Power is now promoting the concept of captive forestry exclusively for biomass plant feed. They are about to start cultivation of fast growing bamboos as a third substitute for biomass. Within a year, DESI Power diversified the biomass base to maize residue after a mutual agreement with farmers over price. However, the management realized that it still needs to add a substitute biomass to fulfill the increasing demand of electricity by the people. Araria used to be a major jute producing belt, however over a period of time with low cost poly-bags coming in market, jute-bag demand dwindled and farmers reduced the cultivation of jute. The apparent losing base of jute was the opportunity at hand. Locally people in Araria used to grow “Dhaincha” (Sesbania bispinosa) which is a leguminous plant and can be easily grown without much investment. This was essentially used as a material for One of the feedstocks used in the plant Load management DESI Power as a part of its strategy has focused on productive load applications instead of lighting load. Productive loads are more predictable, of higher intensity and makes collection of revenue easier. Along with this, the strategy has given the organization an upper hand in terms of managing the feedstock, operation of engines and supply of power. A summary sheet of DESI Power project’s in Araria is presented in Table 3 (next page). Magazine on Biomass Energy June 2010 8
Strategy of evolution and expansion This section briefly describes the evolution and expansion strategy of DESI Power using Baharbari village as base. Baharbari, which is ancestral village of Dr Sharan, the founder of DESI Power, was the first project area of DESI Power in Araria. The village has about 250 households. As shared in the business model section, DESI Power before initiating the power plant project in any area develops a partnership with a local institution. In Baharbari, no local NGO was working therefore DESI Power facilitated the formation of a co-operative “BOVS” which now has 19 members. The co-operative owns water pumps, chura mill and paddy mill. The power plant was commissioned after a basic survey and the power requirement from co-operative was taken as the base load. Gradually, demand for the power picked up and in the year 2004, household connections on fixed monthly rental (current rental `150/month/100 W) were given. Simultaneously, in order to give boost to the local economy and thereby substantiate the effective load demand, the co-operative was facilitated to open a fertilizer shop on an unused land. The strategy worked out and as a result in the vicinity of the fertilizer shop there are now 35 shops, all deriving power from the project. Thus, DESI Power didn’t limit itself to existing load, but created suitable conditions for evolving other small enterprises which became prospective users of the power. Cost economics Much in sync with most of the Indian villages, in Baharbari also, diesel generators were often the only source of power but experience and cost calculations of Dual Fuel system (Figure 1) installed in Baharbari reveals that power from biomass gasifier based plants are considerably cheaper. Even for dual fuel operation where FROM THE FIELD Table 3: Summary profile of DESI Power in Araria Place Year of Installed Capacity Connected Power Feedstock Number End User profile Installation & Equipment Load Supply of Staff make Duration Baharbari 2001 61 kW (50 kW at 60 kW 5 PM to Hardwood, 3 Water pumps, village the installation 10 PM husk, Chura mill, Battery time) Maize charging, Paddy residue, mill, Welding, Dhencha Evening lighting for the households Vebra 2007 61 kW (11kW at the 60 kW 1 PM to Hardwood, 3 Rice mill, Aata village installation time) 9 PM husk, chakki, chuda mill (DF- 50 kW Maize and water pumps installed later) residue, Dhaincha Gaiyari November 250kW (2PG-75 125 kW 10 AM to Average 5 15 micro village/ 2008 kW, 2DF-50 kW) 5 PM feedstock enterprises Zero Mile Engine from consum- Cummins, Gasifier ption 800 kgs/day. Hardwood (70%), Dhencha (15%), Maize/ Ipomoea (15%) Magazine on Biomass Energy June 2010 9
Page 1: Ministry of New and Renewable Energ
Page 4 and 5: BIOENERGY India is a quarterly maga
Page 6 and 7: FROM THE FIELD DESI Power - An Evol
Page 10 and 11: FROM THE FIELD CASE STUDY From Home
Page 12 and 13: C A S E S T U D Y The fuel efficien
Page 14 and 15: W O R K S H O P Workshop on New Ini
Page 16 and 17: OVERVIEW Main fuel stations from Ka
Page 18 and 19: OVERVIEW Air Boiler flue gas: Elect
Page 20 and 21: P E R S P E C T I V E Figure 2: Bio
Page 22 and 23: P E R S P E C T I V E of the substr
Page 24 and 25: INTERNATIONAL POLICY Table 2: Bioen
Page 26 and 27: INTERNATIONAL POLICY Table 5: Polic
Page 28 and 29: P E R S P E C T I V E Figure 1: Bio
Page 30 and 31: P E R S P E C T I V E Figure 4: Cap
Page 32 and 33: BUSINESS MODEL Tamil Nadu The Tamil
Page 34 and 35: R E V I E W is being run on rice hu
Page 36 and 37: OVERVIEW Indonesia (3 percent by 20
Page 38 and 39: P E R S P E C T I V E Each plant re
Page 40: “UNDP is the UN’s global networ

issue 4 - United Nations Development Programme

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