Husk Power Systems India
Husk Power Systems (HPS) won a 2011 Ashden Award because of its success in providing electricity to villages using gasified rice-husk as the fuel.
Background
India has a serious shortage of electricity, and people living in villages suffer the most. 125,000 villages lack grid power altogether, and even where the grid extends the supply is unreliable and does not reach all households. When grid rationing takes place, villages often receive power only after midnight when ‘priority’ demand from cities and industry is low. This is of little use to rural households and businesses. The state of Bihar in North-East India has a very low rate of grid electrification and acute power shortages. It is estimated that the grid can meet only 10% of demand. The founders of Husk Power looked for affordable ways to address this shortage of electricity, and identified the potential for making producer gas from rice husk.
The organisation The first power plant that ran on 100% producer gas was commissioned in 2007. In 2008 Husk Power Systems (HPS) was registered as a for-profit company with a mission to provide renewable and affordable electricity to the rural population around the world in a financially sustainable way. Three of its founders (Gyanesh Pandey, Ratnesh Yadav and Manoj Sinha) come from Bihar, and Charles Ransler comes from the USA. Most have had education and professional careers in the USA. The growth of HPS has been helped by substantial grant funding from the Shell Foundation, which has supported R&D, strategy and training. US$1.65 million investment from six social investors (Acumen Fund, Bamboo Finance, International Finance Corp, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, LGT Philanthropy and CISCO) was secured in December 2009. In 2010/11 HPS had 270 employees. About 80% of its income comes from sales (mostly electricity, but also char products) and 20% from Government subsidies to new power plants.
The programme Power plants are installed in places where there is a reliable source of rice husk and other biomass residues within a distance of 10 km. HPS staff visit a village, at the invitation of village representatives, to assess its suitability for a plant and explain how the scheme works. If 400 or more households commit to paying a monthly fee for electricity, HPS will install a plant (rice
husk gasifier, gas engine, generator and 240 V electricity distribution system) and connect the homes and small businesses that have signed up. A village operating team maintains and runs the system, which supplies electricity each evening for up to eight hours.
The technology How does it work? Sackloads of rice husk or other biomass residues are poured into the gasifier hopper every 30 to 45 minutes. The biomass burns in a restricted supply of air to give energy-rich producer gas. The gas passes through a series of filters which clean it, and it is then used as the fuel for an engine that drives the electricity generator. Electricity is distributed to customers via insulated overhead cables. The basic connection provides a household with two 15 W compact fluorescent lights and mobile phone charging throughout the period each day that the plant runs (up to eight hours in the evening). Sometimes poorer households share a basic connection and get one light each. If a household or business wants to pay more for a higher power connection, then this can be provided. A fuse blows if the customer attempts to use more than their agreed power. Each plant serves about 500 customers, and has sufficient capacity to allow for demand to increase. About 70% of homes within the distribution area get connected.
How much does it cost and how do users pay? US$1 = INR 45 (Indian Rupees) [April 2011] Electricity fees start at INR100 (US$2.2) per month for a basic connection. One month’s deposit is required when a customer signs the supply contract with HPS. The local HPS collector goes from house to house to collect the fee each month in advance, and checks that everything is working well. All complaints are logged and followed up. Under the terms of the contract, HPS agrees to provide service for at least 27 days every month, and pro-rates the fees if this level is not met. However, average provision is now over 28 days per month (93% availability). The total landed cost of a 35 kW plant, including distribution system, is less than US$1,000 per kW. HPS is paid a subsidy of up to INR 320,000 (US$7,100) for each plant, by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. The remainder of the capital comes from
ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE |181|
CASE STUDY
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192