Daily Archives: December 12, 2007

Bhilwara’s geothermal foray

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Bhilwara Energy Ltd, part of the LNJ Bhilwara Group is investing Rs. 1,000 Cr (USD 250 million) in the North East region of India to generate 100 MW of Geo thermal power..

This is the first such scheme to come out of India that I have heard of. The article has some other valuable information.

India has a geothermal power potential of 10,600MW, though the country is yet tosee a single commissioned project that harnesses this technology. Other benefits of geothermal projects include the fact that it needs much less land than a conventional power plant.

“Though the capital cost for generating energy through geothermal is Rs8 crore to Rs10 crore per MW, the operating cost is minimal. We are looking for developing such projects in Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Andaman and Nicobar islands, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand. We will also be applying for blocks in the remaining states,” said Ravi Jhunjhunwala, chairman, LNJ Bhilwara Group. “These projects will also entitle us to earn carbon credits,” added Jhunjhunwala.
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“Geothermal energy has a good future in the country. It will, however, not compete with oil or gas. Even (the) world over it is being viewed as a viable energy alternative,” said D. Chandrasekharam, professor, department of earth sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.

The only issue is that they are not predicting the cost of a KwH when sold to the consumer and also, the last statement by Prof. Chandrasekharan does not make sense. In one hand he says it cannot compete with oil and gas and on the other, it is a viable energy alternative.

In the case of India, with the possibility of earning carbon credits can make it a good economic opportunity.

Akash Ganga – Water from thin air

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Arun Natarajan points to the profile of S. Sivakumar, founder of Akash Ganga in The Mint.

All his life, Sivakumar, who looks an unlikely capitalist in his casual trousers, shirt, and bushy white moustache, has been interested in understanding what makes some people rich, and others poor.

At the Delhi School of Economics, where he completed his doctorate, his thesis was on this subject. He studied 200 families across three generations in rural India. His conclusion: “Affluence is a matter of chance.”

That discovery changed his political viewpoint…His interest in understanding the genesis of wealth did not…he was convinced that water, or the absence of it, held the key.

The idea for Akash Ganga came to Sivakumar in 2004, mainly as an offshoot of his research…The scientific basis behind Sivakumar’s air-to-water conversion is the heat exchange process: In this case, it involves sucking in air from the atmosphere and blowing it over cold gas resulting in the creation of water (in much the same way, condensate, or water, forms on the outside of the windows of a heated room in winter or an air-conditioned room in summer).

To Sivakumar, Akash Ganga, named after the tributary of the Ganga that provides water to the heavens in Hindu mythology, is more than a company; it is a mission. “I am doing this under a business format because there is no other format to take it to the people,” he says.
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By mid-2004, Sivakumar and his team worked out how to make water from air. AGL invested in a modest 3,000 sq. ft manufacturing facility and started rolling out its products. Priced between Rs9,200 (USD 235) (for an 8-litre version) to Rs42,500 (USD 1,087) (for a 120-litre one), the machines were powered by electricity, and sold through stores that sold consumer durables such as television sets, washing machines and refrigerators. The Akash Ganga machines produced a litre of water at an average cost of Rs0.80 a litre (USD 0.02c), but, surprisingly, found little success. The company was unable to sell the product as it lacked the resources to market the product on a larger scale.
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Since the process of converting air to water results in a drop in temperature (one reason why some air conditioners leak water), AGI has pitched its products as a three-in-one as the company terms it: an airconditioner, water creator, and air cleanser.

The machine produces ISO standard water for drinking and the company has sold some 400 machines till now. Considering fresh water is a major decreasing resource in the entire world and particularly in India, this innovation has some good potential if the economics work out.