8/12/2019 Summary of HPS Case Study

1/1

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.