Light 038; wind

THIS village has to thank its erratic power supply for a lasting innovation. Last month, assisted by a few engineers, two tribal boys of Moz...

THIS village has to thank its erratic power supply for a lasting innovation. Last month, assisted by a few engineers, two tribal boys of Mozda erected a 1200 watt windmill that will bring light to 40 homes in the village for five hours daily.

8216;8216;It8217;s a nice experience to have created something that is of immediate consequence to us,8217;8217; say Ishwar, a class XI pass- out and Chandrasinh Vasava, a trained PT instructor without a job.

It took two years for the idea to transform into action under the guidance of Michael Mazgaonkar, an engineer-activist who has been living in the village for the last decade, working through his NGO 8216;The Mozda Collective8217;.

Before the windmill idea took shape, the boys had already worked on Light Emission Diode LED torches for the villagers. With four LEDs in each torch, for a princely sum of Rs 60, the torches have been helping Mozda villagers negotiate nights for at least six months with three pencil cells.

8216;8216;This is how we keep them busy improving their skills in the bargain. The LED torches are more efficient than incandescent bulbs. As the wind is strong here, I thought of motivating them to think on the lines of a windmill,8217;8217; says Mazgaonkar.

RESTING in the foothills of the Narmada valley, the village gets wind velocities between 6 to 25 km per hour from March to August. In the September-February period it dips. Michael says they are planning a solar back up.

The funds for fabrication and installation were arranged locally from friends and well-wishers in Surat, Vadodara, Ahmedabad and Mumbai. Villagers contribute to the running costs.

The process itself was democratic. The villagers sat together to decide what they could give themselves. 8216;8216;We identified electricity as the trouble area after brainstorming at a meeting last year. It8217;s a nice feeling to have worked on the project from the beginning to the end on our own,8217;8217; says Ishwar.

The boys along with Michael went to Dhulia Engineering College where they camped for 20 days and fabricated the giant fan under the guidance of professors Shyam Patil and Ajay Chandak. Back at the village, they were assisted by other boys.

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The boys now know the process so well that they explain it in the simplest of terms. 8216;8216;The wind moves the blades generating power in an attached dynamo. From there it is sent and stored in a 2.5 kilo watt hour kwh 48 volts battery through a charge controller,8217;8217; says Chandrasinh.

The villagers would come with their smaller 12 volt batteries every third day and re-charge from the larger one. That would help them burn 1.2 watt LED lamps for upto five days.

8216;8216;We are yet to work out running costs. But as of now we are happy that they have erected a sustainable energy system for themselves and enhanced their knowledge with our assistance,8217;8217; says Mazgaonkar.

8216;8216;It was a great learning experience and fun too for the 20 days we spent there. We had worked on the LED torches for some seven months before that, so we were really excited to move ahead in the project with wind energy,8217;8217; add the two boys. The village shares their excitement.