Last year I got an opportunity to work with Lahmeyer International GmbH in Germany for a short period of time( www.lahmeyer.de ).This company prepares projects on power and transport sectors in all around the world. One part of ADB-ASEB power sector reform project was also prepared in the "laptop" of this company. During my short period I was assigned to study feasibility of Biofuel energy from Jatropha in the context of African continent. In parallel I also studied the possibility in Assam. In many places of India, Jatropha cultivation for bio fuel is successfully carried out. I am not aware about detail initiative of NEDFI regarding this which comes in the news during the visit of the President to Guwahati. I have been involved with remote village electrification projects for many years and I could see the possibility of rural electrification with the help of Jatropha cultivation could be great success. In Assam, ASEB has declared around 2500 unelectrified villages as "unschemed". I am attaching the introductory note of a project for generation of electricity from Jatropha oil on which I am working at present. This project, if implemented would be able to supply electricity to the rural villages and also be able to support ASEB grid. Germany and other European countries successfully implementing Electricity generation projects for grid support from plant oil. I hope interested people will offer their constructive suggestion and critics.
"Objective of this study is not only to provide electricity to the people who does not have access to reliable grid electricity but also to generate economic activities which has a direct link for production of electricity. Sustainability of energy supply system in every field is a big question and related to many aspects like primary source, technology, management and status of users. Different Renewable Energy Sources are considered as techno economically feasible source of supplying energy demand to rural and remote areas. Though the Renewable Energy Sources are sustainable as a primary source of energy, but in many cases the system or mechanism through which the energy is generated and supplied are notsustainable and that is the main reason of failure of such kind of projects. One of the main reason for failure of rural electrification projects whether it is renewable or conventional grid is very low consumption and low income of the rural people. Since electricity is not directly coupled with their income it is sometime became luxury and burden to them for which they do not want to pay the price. Low consumption of electricity helps to make Renewable Energy supply scheme more feasible and attractive but the cost of energy production is always high and people having low income can not pay for that without support from Government or other sources. It is seen that Renewable energy projects for rural people are always supported either by respective government or by some independent agencies. Most of the projects are not adequately mechanised for sustainable operation. The funding agencies generally support the projects for installation and when the projects need to be maintained people can not afford to pay. After initial support from the government or other source can help to initiate a project, but to operate and continue the project in a sustainable way one needs to develop a mechanism that could generate revenue to keep the system alive. Many example in this context can be indicated. An off grid solar PV system can give at least 20 years of service if the battery bank and other balance of systems maintained and replaced on time. In this case the battery has to be replaced at least thrice in its life time. In that case, the lifetime cost of such system is almost double that of the initial cost. If the supporting agency generally support for the initial cost of the system and the user can not pay the amount to replace the battery the system life will be reduced to 5-7 years maximum. That is why most of the solar home system exists only in numbers in record register and not functioning in the home. This role is also valid for other renewable energy systems. All kind of renewable energy supply system need some amount of maintenance, operating cost and quality input for its better performance. Whether it is a local co operative society or a entrepreneurs who is operating the system, need to make some profit against the time and service he provided. In the proposed system, the electricity will be generated by a diesel/ plant oil engine generator and will be supplied to the villagers through a local grid. The engine will be operated on pure vegetable oil extracted from Jatropha Curcas. The extraction and refining of Jatropha oil is also a part of the project. Apart from the electricity supply, the power producer will generate other business activity related to Jatropha oil and its by-products. For example, if the oil production is more than its consumption in power production, he can sale that to use as a cooking stove fuel, fuel for other diesel engine or raw material for bio diesel production. He can also sale the other by products like oil cake as fertilizer. On the other hand the villagers will be encouraged to grow their own Jatropha plants in their vacant land, boundaries of agricultural field etc and the power producer will have an understanding/agreement with the villagers to buy their seeds for producing electricity. The villagers will grow Jatropha plants, maintain them, collect seeds and will sale to the power producer. On return, they will be supplied electricity. The villagers can also sale the seeds to other source and purpose for economical benefit. The power producer will collect tariff at a mutually agreed price as per government regulation. The power producer will obtain government subsidy or other financial and incentives as per law. In this way both the power producer and the consumer will support each other for sustainable operation of the project. Since Jatropha is focused as a potential source of bio fuel world wide and many promotional support is offered by thegovernment, proposed project is expected to be successful in a sustainable way. Apart from the use of Jatropha oil for electricity production it has also diversified demand for various uses. It is a potential source of transesterified bio diesel. Jatropha oil has a very high saponification value and is being extensively used for soap making, lubricants and candles. The protein content in Jatropha oil cake may be used as a raw material for plastic and synthetic fibre. Jatropha plant has high medicinal value. The latex of Jatropha curcas contains an alkaloid known as Jatrophine, which is used in medicines. Jatropha oil cake is rich in nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium and can be used as organic manure. It can also meet domestic energy needs for cooking . Plantation of Jatropha can be considered as a additional source of household income and employment through markets for fuel, fertilizer, animal feed medicine, and industrial raw material for soap, cosmetics, etc. Jatropha protects the crops or as a hedge and control soil erosion. It is a good source of organic manure. Thus, owing to its multiple uses, simple and cost effective technology, with or without irrigation makes it promising and profitable energy crop ensuring optimum utilisation of land and manpower. It is a crop with low capital investment, short gestation period, long productive period and unlimited employment potential and a solution to sustainable energy supply in rural areas. Related websites : www.jatropha.org www.jatrophaworld.org/ www.jatrophabiodiesel.org/ Dwipen Boruah -------------------------------------------------------------- Fraunhofer Institute of Solar Energy Systems Solar Thermal Division (TAG) Heidenhofstr.2 79110 Freiburg Germany Phone +49 761 4588 5351 (O) http://www.ise.fraunhofer.de
