Green energy idea lights up Nagaland village streets, hospital during coronavirus lockdown

The coronavirus lockdown has helped Khuzama village, situated along the highway connecting commercial town Dimapur with Nagaland capital Kohima, lighten up its streets and provide a power backup to the community health centre.

As youths in the village had nothing much to do during the lockdown, they utilised the time to find a solution to frequent power cuts by installing a mini hydro power unit in the Mewoboke, a small river flowing down the hills and along the highway.

As lack of streetlights and power cuts became a worry for the villagers, Khuzama Students' Care Union (KSCU) took up a project named 'Brighter Khuzama' in order to install the hydro power unit to find a solution. "One of our union members Keseto Thakro led the project and soon we could turn the idea into reality with the help of all other members," president of the union, Leketol Nalco told DH on Sunday.

The union then requested Nagaland Empowerment of People through Energy Development (NEPeD), a government agency to provide a generator for the project, which they agreed. "After a little fine tuning, we managed to install the power generation unit in the river in July. We put up the first streetlight on a bridge on the highway situated near the village, which witnessed several accidents due to lack of lights. Many oil tankers met with accidents in the area leading to oil spill into the Mewoboke, which is also the source of irrigation for our villagers," said Keseto, who had done a diploma in mechanical engineering and also worked in NEPeD as a supervisor.

"People were happy seeing the light on the highway. But we needed money to put up streetlights in the village. We shared our idea in local WhatsApp groups with an appeal for donation. Some people came forward with donations. In the next phase, we installed another 21 street lamps in the village and provided a connection to the community health centre, as a backup during the power cuts," Keseto, who now works as a technician in National Institute of Technology in Dimapur said. He had gone back to his village Khuzama due to the lockdown and spent weeks there.

"The project has not only helped in beautifying the village but also stood bright along the highway in times of irregular electricity supply," Naleo said.

The mini hydel unit is now generating 550 watts of power but it has capacity to generate 3 kilowatts of clean energy, he said.

As the students' care union also helped school children in their studies during the lockdown, it took nearly 50 students of class IX and X to the power station to help them learn basics of hydro power generation. "This helped the students learn the benefits of green energy too," Naleo said.

The students union has 23 members, who are elected after every three year. "We also want to install more lights but we require more money to do so," he said adding that similar mini hydro power units in the small rivers on the hills of the Northeast can solve electricity problem.