While renewable energy organisations have always experimented with finding optimal alternate solutions from biogas to solar and thermal, the Energy Management Centre (EMC), Kerala, has enabled the first formerly unelectrified gram panchayat to sell energy for profit.
Since 2003, EMC has been investing in micro hydro projects. And it has achieved success by harnessing a readily available resource: water.
Chandran Kani, a tribal chief at Thayannankudy village, which has 35 homes, didn’t have electricity till two years ago. The village is nestled between the Pamban and the Panthan hills. It falls under the Munnar wildlife division, about 100km from Coimbatore. The region\ is crisscrossed by many small streams.
In 2014, the Energy Management Centre went into Thayanamkudy, in collaboration with the Kerala forest department, and provided a 3KW pico hydro grid that runs on cross turbines using water diversion.
Read more of this in a report by Gayatri Jayaraman published in Hindustan Times...
Such reports in newspapers will surely encourage others to replicate and serve the society. The work done by Energy Management Centre, Kerala can be done in other state too, specially where even small streams are there. Hydel power is comparatively cheap and pollution free. -Editor
