SANGAM

Windmills bring new rays of hope: Bills to be 50% less than NEA’s
Sangam Prasain
Kathmandu, April 3
No electricity, no work. No work, no development. Darkness is sure to dampen the zeal to work when there are no power projects in which to hinge hopes for better times ahead.
Renewable energy could be one hope against all dampened hopes. Listen to alternative energy promoters, small wind energy could light people’s homes and cut their energy bills. What’s more, they say, it protects the environment.
Small wind turbines are electric generators that utilize wind energy to produce clean, emissions-free power for individual homes, farms, and small businesses. Power of 1-kilowatt can light 12 CFL bulbs of 15 watts, 2 fans, 3 television sets and 2 computers, according to U.S.P Wind Power System Pvt. Ltd.
Similarly, 5 to 10 kilowatts of energy can illuminate 50 to 60 houses.
According to the company, one-kilowatt wind power installation costs Rs.250,000 to Rs. 300,000 and can supply 7 to 9 hours of regular power supply, adequate to one household.
Surendra B. Singh, managing director of the company, said that it would cost 50 per cent lower than the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) bills as it would continuously generate power for 25 years.
"Once the system was installed there is no need of maintenance and other types of expenses. Just the initial cost is high," he said.
He, however, said that this system was not feasible every where, it is feasible particularly in those areas where the wind velocity is at a minimum of 9 km/hr.
The areas having the minimum wind velocity can generate 121 units of electricity in one month. Similarly, it could generate 254 units where the wind velocity is 12 km/hr.
"A 40-ft high pole needs to be installed from the ground level for this system and it can be installed in the roof of any house in city or village," he said.
He said that this could be more feasible and reliable in the rural areas, which are rich in wind but people are compelled to live in darkness. "This can promote the government’s rural electrification programme, and can illuminate the whole Nepalese villages within two-years," he claimed.
Bharat Poudel, engineer at the Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC) said that air pressures need to be measured before installation of these systems. "Small plants are viable in areas where there is minimum air pressure," he informed.
He said that the minimum air pressures rotates the turbine blades and starts producing power, which is stored in a battery. The speed of the blades determines how much power it could produce.
He, however, said that the government does not have any equipment of measuring the wind pressure and it was difficult to find out the wind potential that Nepal was blessed with.
Sivaraj Udaypatnakar from Maharastra, India, who works with the wind technology system, informed that these systems were an effective means of illumination within a short span of time.
He said that the Indian government had given 80 per cent subsidy to this alternative energy in order to boost the individual power producers.
A survey undertaken by the AEPC under the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology states that Nepal has a potential of generating 3,000 megawatts power through wind.
The areas --Kagbeni of Mustang district, Ramechhap, Kathmandu, Okhaldhunga, Makwanpur, Palpa, Pyuthan, Myagdi, Kaski including more than a dozen of places have maximum wind potential. Kathmandu alone has a potential of 70 MW wind power.