The Hindu Business Line : Ansaldo group co in tie-up with G.B. Engg for power plants

Apart from producing electricity, the plant will also generate enough heat to evaporate seawater in a vacuum vessel, which can be condensed into drinking water.

Chennai , Sept. 29

SALINE Water Specialists (SWS) of Italy, a group company of Ansaldo, the power equipment major, has tied up with G.B. Engineering Enterprises Pvt. Ltd of Tiruchi, for producing small-sized biomass-fired power plants that could also be used to produce water.

The joint venture company, SWS & GB Saline Water Specialists Pvt Ltd, intends to sell power plants of 3-6 MW capacities that can be put up along a seacoast and fired by biomass.

"Coastal Tamil Nadu abounds in fast-growing trees like casuarinas and Juli Flora," notes Mr M.P. Ramaswamy, Managing Director, Ansaldo Caldaie Boilers India, which represents Ansaldo in this country.

Apart from producing electricity, the plant will also generate enough heat to evaporate seawater in a vacuum vessel, which can be condensed into drinking water. Another useful by-product is salt, which can be iodised and sold.

According to Mr Ramaswamy, it is possible to produce water at three paise per litre using the company's plants. To compare, the water supplied in tankers costs six to seven paise per litre.

The Ansaldo-G.B. combine is also trying to sell the idea of retrofitting existing thermal power plants with desalination plants. Thermal power plants in coastal areas can then use the waste heat out of the boilers to convert water into steam, and thereby produce drinkable water.

The idea of biomass-based power projects is gaining currency in India. Recently, at a conference on power equipment in Tiruchi, Dr Hari N. Sharan, co-Chairman, Decentralised Energy Systems India Pvt Ltd and a former Director of BHEL, spoke of the huge scope in using biomass-fired small power plants to raise rural incomes.

Decentralised Energy Systems intends to get entrepreneurs put up small-sized plants, around 100 KW capacity, in villages, linked to some user industries, typically small or medium units. Dr Sharan says it is possible to put up such plants at a cost of under Rs 50 lakh and produce power at around Rs 4 per unit.

However, according to those who have worked the idea, it is still a technology in the making. Such units will be viable only when a gas engine is developed, which can produce electricity using the gas produced by a biomass-fired gasifier unit.

In the absence of such a gas engine, the combustible gas needs to be mixed with diesel and fired in a diesel engine, which makes it not-so-attractive economically, but also difficult to maintain.

Still, there is a consensus evolving on the idea that biomass-based small, decentralised power plants are the way to go. Ansaldo and G.B. Engineering are among those who have recognised this.

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