The gasifier power plant constructed in Banpur village in Angada block of Ranchi. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, May 3: Helped by teachers and an enthusiastic bunch of local residents, a former engineering student has pulled off a miracle power plant that costs a mere Rs 2.5 lakh and runs on waste wood and dry leaves to light up a 200-home village.

Ashis Kumar Singh has set up the gasifier — a power plant that burns forest waste to produce carbon monoxide that runs a generator — in Banpur village of Angada block, 25km from the state capital.

The 42KW plant, now ready to produce electricity, is good enough for Banpur’s 200 households, each of which can now hope to use four CFL lamps at a monthly cost of Rs 40 only. Besides, villagers would also be able to run a few irrigation pump sets.

As the man behind what is perhaps the country’s cheapest gasifier plant, Singh is more than satisfied about his success. “My creation is the fruit of more than two years of personal effort. The plant is cost effective but efficient,” he said, adding his model made of cement was the only one of its kind since iron had been the medium of choice so far.

A 10KW gasifier made of iron and steel costs not less than Rs 8 lakh, in addition to a Rs 3 lakh generator.

For his Banpur gasifier plant, Singh funded himself and designed all the parts. The villagers put in sweat equity by helping him construct it.

For technical expertise and feedback he depended on teachers at BIT, Mesra’s mechanical engineering department especially Arvind Kumar.

The power plant ready, the next step was to wire the entire village. That’s difficult as no one in the village can afford the expenses needed to set up electricity poles and cables.

“We have approached the Jharkhand Renewable Energy Development Agency to help us buy wires at least. We will use trees and bamboo as makeshift electricity poles,” said Kumar. As of now, Jharkhand has 20 gasifier plants in Tatisingari (Angada), Khunti, Chaibasa, Jamshedpur, among other towns and villages.

Banpur villagers are ecstatic. Two years of effort had paid off — the best part being the never-ending supply of fuel to run the plant. After all, there was plenty of waste wood and leaves in the forests of the state.

“Our next venture will be building two check dams on the Radhu River and cultivate vegetables,” said Marshal Lakra.