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| Tuesday, 16 March 2004 |
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Develop Dendro energy to cut the power cut for ever - part 2 (Continued from March 4) by L.P. Jayasinghe The presence of oxygen is responsible for lowering of the effective calorific value. To generate electricity from coal or wood the fuel is first burnt in the furnace of a steam boiler. High pressure and high temperature steam thus generated is used to drive a steam turbine, which in turn drives an electric alternator. The important thing is that we need some kind of fuel to generate the required heat. If we use coal, we need to burn about 0.5 kg of it to generate 1 unit of electrical energy. If we use wood as the fuel we need to burn about 1 kg. of it to generate 1 unit of electrical energy. For all practical purposes, these are the only physical and chemical differences. What could be done with 0.5 kg of coal could also be done with 1 kg of wood. All the big talk about "Coal is the ONLY option for thermal power generation" is nothing but a lie. Now let us examine, how could we acquire coal or wood. As we do not have any coal in Sri Lanka we need to import it either from South Africa or from Australia - a distance of over 5,000 kilometers. To make it economically attractive, this needs to be transported in large ships. To unload it we need to build a harbour. This will increase the total cost of the project. Second, power generated at a large coal power plant at a place such as Hambantota need to be transmitted and distributed to the load centres. These are 100 odd kilometers away. To perform these tasks we need to build new transmission network or reinforce existing lines. All this will cost money. The total costs of power plant, harbour and new transmission lines would cost well over US$ 2,000 per kW. Further, these long lines will dissipate a part of the energy increasing the losses from the present value of 22%. The private sector companies investing in the coal power plants and the associated structure would like to recover their capital in double quick time. In the initial stages, electricity from coal power plants to the consumers would cost much above the levelized price quoted by the coal lobby. This price is also based on "Border" prices for all capital and fuel costs. More over, funds for coal power plants are available at international lending rates. Now let us look at wood based power generation. First of all, all the fuel requirement would be produced by local dry zone farmers. We need not pay them in Dollars. They will be quite content with Sri Lankan Rupees. Perhaps Rs. 1.2 to Rs. 2 per kWh as fuel cost. The transport distances are of the order of few kilometers and not 5,000 kilometers. More over, all these power plants will be connected to exiting medium voltage or perhaps to low voltage lines. We need not spend money on new transmission lines. As generation is carried out near load centres, energy losses presently incurred will be reduced. The total cost of biomass power plant would be less than US$ 800 per kW. Not US$ 2,000 per kW for equivalent coal power plant. This means that the final price of energy to the consumer would not exceed Rs. 8.00 per kWh. On a level playing field, wood based electricity to consumer would be cheaper than coal based electricity. Now, let us try to examine the objections usually raised against biomass power plants: a. The first is a clear exhibition of ignorance in that, even Sri Lanka oldest sugar plants at Kantalai and Hingurana were generating their own power using bagasse and even now the Sevanagala and Pelawatte operate 4.0 MW steam turbine generators using bagasse. In the meanwhile India already has more than 500 MW of Dendro fuelled grid connected power plants and capacity is growing at a tremendous pace. Many more examples can be cited from all over the world. b. The fuel supply can easily be guaranteed if the farmers or even the larger planters are given the necessary encouragement and the confidence of the market by a well formulated national policy to develop the Dendro energy potential. The Lanka Transformers Limited has no doubt assessed the existing availability and had the courage to go ahead with their project. Many others including Haycarb Ltd are planning their own projects encouraged by this example and the undoubted availability of significant sources of supplies even now. A brief study made by the Mahaweli Authority in system C alone has indicated the availability of adequate fuel supplies from existing non formal scattered plantations to run a 3. MW power plant. The acreage required is only 1,000 Acres of plantation to provide sustainable fuel supply for a 1.0 MW power plant or 2,000,000 tress of the selected SRC species of which Gliricidia Sepium takes the pride of place. The most conservative yield from a Gliricidia plantation is 25 Ton/Ha/Yr in any part of the country. c. at recent public meetings the view has been expressed by CEB engineers that the grid can absorb only a limited capacity of embedded generators amounting about 6%. On one hand there is no reason why dendro power generators should be treated only as embedded generators. They can be as large as any other power plant and can be linked through the transmission system. There are currently operating units as large as 50 MW in USA, India and other countries. On the other hand much larger percentages are being targeted by other countries such as UK 20% and Denmark 50% in the coming decade. Instead looking for excuses as to why not to adopt this indigenous resource it is incumbent upon the engineers of the State Monopoly to find solutions that would maximize the benefits to the country. d. The official land use statistics of the country indicates the availability of more than 1,700,000 Ha of sparse and abandoned chena lands, mostly in the dry zone. This is more than the lands already under cultivation for the formal plantation sector and paddy lands as the table below illustrates. This will not include any of the forests or reserved lands in the nature reserves etc. The proposed Short Rotation Coppicing (SRC) species such as Gliricidia Sepium, Ipil Ipil, Caliandra and Casia are already growing profusely int he coconut and tea land, which account for a further 1,000,000 Ha of land in addition to the spare lands mentioned above. Even if a third of the scrub lands of 500,000 Ha is utilized for fuel wood plantation it would generate * 1,200 MW of capacity addition * 10,000 GWh of Energy (The current demand is only 6,000 GWH from both Hydro and Oil) * 500,000 Employment opportunities * Rs. 56,000,000,000 (Fifty Six Billion) Income to the rural economy. * 4,000 tons of fodder to feed livestock With all this bounty available to be tapped, why should we be lamenting about power shortages and for ever be dependent on any imported fuels. Multiple uses and avenues of income from Dendro plantations Comparison of Contribution in Different Sectors with Current Status The way ahead The benefits the country could derive from Dendro Plantations are not only for electric power generation and as a thermal fuel, but is limited only by the desire to succeed and our ability to counter the misinformation of the subservient minority. What needs to be done has been spelled out in detail with time plans in our submission to the Ministry of Power and Energy. However two essential steps that would help achieve the targets envisaged can be identified. These are: * The Government to recognize the true potential of Dendro Energy as a viable source of energy by committing the CEB or its successors to purchase an annually increasing percentage of power from renewable sources. This is done in many countries including UK and Denmark. * Pay a fair price (not a subsidy or incentive) for the purchase of electricity from renewable resources to the national grid. The present practice of calculation of what is called the avoided cost of energy only is not transparent and does not include the rue cost of the avoided energy cost to CEB. Also it does not recognize the capacity replacement provided by these sources, although very definite recommendations have been made by eminent engineers after careful study. The Minister of Power and Energy has been presented with a comprehensive proposal covering all aspects of the Dendro Energy potential with an action plan which calls for at least 50% of all future additions to the national energy demand be met from Dendro Fuels. The sheer magnitude of the possible foreign exchange alone should be incentive enough to set in motion a very aggressive program to harness this resource we have been blessed with. The data above has been presented only in outline and anyone wishing to obtain further information is welcome to contact the Bio Energy Association of Sri Lanka at 2652167, 0777-480204 or [email protected] (The writer is President, Bio Energy Association of Sri Lanka) |
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