From its look, the non-descript Ranidhara village in Kawardha district of Chhattishgarh is just like any other Indian hamlets. But, it has etched its presence by becoming the world’s first village to use biofuel for power generation.
The village — 150 km from Raipur — meets the electricity demand by a generator that runs purely on jatropha-derived biofuel. This method of power generator is in operation since last April, bringing a streak of light to 106 homes for the first time.
The announcement on Ranidhara’s new status will be made by the Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and British High Commissioner Richard Stagg on Thursday.
The villagers, many of whom are Gond and Baga tribes, had lost hopes of ever seeing an electric bulb in their houses since the state did not have any near-future plan to connect the hamlet to the grid because of its remote location. Their long-cherished dream was realised when the Union ministry of renewable energy, Chhattishgarh renewable energy development agency, the global opportunities fund of the UK and non-governmental organisation Winrock joined hands to implement the project. Villagers now pay Rs 25 for each light point and Rs 30 for each socket.
“With the jatropha power plant in operation since April, 2007, every household has light. In addition, one household has a tape recorder and another one has a television set,” Somnath Bhattacharjee, vice president of Winrock India told Deccan Herald here.
The 18 horse-power engine — whose designs were modified to suit jatropha oil — generates 5 kilowatts of electricity every month. It can be raised to 11 kilowatts if the demand increases.
Two companies — Rajkote-based PM Diesel and Castrol India — were roped in to design the generator and modifying the oil. The changes were necessitated as pure jatropha oil has high viscosity and not fit for normal diesel generators.
The design modifications were so much that the team last month filed an application for patent on the design of the engine that runs on straight jatropha oil.
The generator consists of three six horsepower engines and one 10 hp engine. While the first three engines are used for power generation, the bigger engine is used to run a mill to extract oil from jatropha seeds.
The oil is filtered before use and the same 10 hp engine can double as a stand by if any of the six hp engines fail. The village’s monthly collection is Rs 4,500, half of which is used to pay the salary of two local technicians and maintenance.
Winrock and its partners plan to install similar power units in four hamlets in Ramgarh district of Jharkhand for which they have roped in another company, Usha Martin.
