Summary of HPS case study

Husk Power system is a decentralized power generation and distribution company serving rural
India. It provides off grid rural renewable electricity as well as strives for the capacity building and
economic development of rural people. It was started by four friends, Gyanesh from Los Angeles,
Ratnesh from India, Manoj and Dansller . After exploring various options for about 5 years, they
found that generating electricity from rice husk is a good option. The initial idea was to develop mini
plants of 35kW to 100kW capacity. Through this means, they were tapping a business opportunity by
providing electricity to the villagers where traditional grid based mechanism had not reached in an
economically viable manner.
The offer for the villagers was that they could get 6 hours of electricity for one 30 watt or two 15
watt CFL bulbs and unlimited cell phone charging between 5pm to 11pm for a month in one dollar
and eighty cents. This was lesser than the monthly kerosene bill, which they used for lightning
lamps. The villagers could get more electricity to run televisions, ceiling fans or water pumps by
paying extra money.
HPS distributes electricity through local distribution grid, which comprises bamboo poles, low cost
sensors and double insulated wires (instead of iron poles and transformers, required for long
distribution range) within the radius of 1.5 km from the plant to cater 500-600 families. HPS also
supplies low cost but good quality CFL bulbs so that they consume less electricity than the cheap
quality electric bulbs used by the villagers. Each power plant is run by 4 people, a plant operator, a
husk loader, an electrician and a fee collector who also handles husk buying. They are recruited from
poor villagers and have adequate education.
HPS buys husk from local mills at a discounted rate and is in annual contract with the local mills to
ensure uninterrupted supply of husk. This husk was supplied to 7-8 plants simultaneously in one
cluster. In addition to electricity generation, HPS had another source of income. The ash produced
by burning husk could be used for cement production. They also discovered that silicon could be
extracted from rise husk char and sold to solar panel manufacturers. The char could also be used to
manufacture incense sticks.
Since HPS plants were non-polluting, they reduced Carbon Dioxide emissions by 90000 tons. On an
average, each power plant replaced 40000 litres of kerosene and 18000 litres of diesel every year.