05 June,2011 08:34 AM IST | | Yoshita Sengupta
In Patna, a Jesuit priest and innovator, with his motley team of seven is changing the way educational and medical institutions generate and consume electricityu00a0-- a lesson for the rest of the country, and acidity for the Patna electricity board
At seven every morning, Father Paul Mariadass is at St Mary's Church in Phulwari Sharif in Patna, Bihar's capital. The town that has a religious history attached with the birth of Sufi culture in India, houses this innovative seat of Catholic faith.
Electrician Chanesh Prasad inspects the steam outlet of the
rooftop solar systems at Tripolia Hospital, Patna. The hospital
has installed simple concentrated solar power systems to create
steam, with which they sterilise their medical equipment and
laundry. The various solar systems cater for the 200 staff who
live on campus, as well as up to 250 inpatients.
Lit and cooled by lights and fans that run on solar power, the church is just one institution to have benefitted from the 47 year-oldu00a0 visionary's eco-ideas. Also currently, director of Solar Alternatives and Associated Programme (SAAP), Father Paul leads a motley crew of seven to help provide solar solutions for the energy needs of hospitals and schools across Patna.
"It's not a mass production unit. We understand individual requirements before offering them customised solutions," he says. The Jesuit-run institution was born in 1996 when Father MM Matthew, a Jesuit mechanical engineer wondered how he could ease Bihar's energy crisis, and is a self-sufficient unit that functions without any funds from the government or foreign agencies.
In Gujarat, he trained under German scientist Wolfgang Scheffler, inventor of the solar concentrated Scheffler community cooker. On his return, with support from the Jesuit Province of Patna, he set up a solar research centre at the Xavier Teachers' Training Institute in Patna, quickly earning the moniker Solar Matthew. Father Paul took over from him last February.
Electrician Kosmos Bhakla measures the charging level of a
battery bank at SAAP. The batteries are charged with electricity
generated by solar photovoltaic panels on the roof.
"We don't charge our customers too much. Whatever little money we make by setting up systems, we use for further research," he says in an interview over the phone. The technology used by SAAP, called concentrating solar power (CSP), is simple. It involves building a design of mirrored parabola to reflect sunlight onto a focal point, generating enough heat to use for cooking, or to convert water into steam.
Tripolia Social Service Hospital in Patna sterilises its medical equipment with the steam generated by four giant parabola on its roof, each square meter of the dish generating 500W of power. The pressure created by the steam can also be used to run a turbine to generate electricity. Tripolia uses this to poweru00a0 streetlights on campus, indoor lights, water heaters and a laundry sterilisation system.
It has no choice, really. Bihar's struggle with electricity supply is legendary. "Tripolia is a pioneering example of decentralised renewable energy. With Bihar suffering transmission and distribution losses of 40 per cent and a power supply deficit of 15 per cent, the state has to invest in decentralised renewable energy to meet demands while saving electricity," says Arpana Udupa, a campaigner with NGO Greenpeace. In the one year that Father Paul has taken over, he has faced government apathy already. "They allow stealing (of electricity) because they don't have the guts or inclination to catch them (offenders). But they harass us."u00a0 The SAAP research lab in the St Mary's compound is powered by photovoltaic solar panels (contain semiconductor cells which convert incident sunlight into direct current electricity) set up on its roof.
And Father Paul gives the Patna electricity board full credit for inspiring them to achieve the feat.u00a0
On one of its "raids", the electricity board officials inspected the machines and decided they would charge a fixed monthly bill of Rs 16,000. "They said if you have so many machines, you use 21,000 units of power, when we use only two machines at a time," he laughs. In response, Father Paul spent Rs 4 lakh setting up the solar photovoltaic panels to become energy-independent.
After meeting their own needs, excess power is used to light and cool the church through a simple system of wires and batteries. "I now spends just Rs 3,000 a month on generating electricity," he says, adding that they are still waiting for the electricity board to disconnect their meter, which officials seem reluctant to do.
Technology type: Concentrated solar power (CSP), solar thermal water heaters, solar photovoltaic.
Cost: SAAP currently provides one 10m2 parabola for Rs 65,000.
Result: The combined solar appliances save the hospital an estimated 40 per cent on their electricity bills.
