Maibam Nandakumar demonstrates his Wainam Gasifier. Picture by UB Photos

Imphal, Aug. 1: Power-starved Manipuris will now be able to light up their homes without worrying about the government’s erratic power supply.

Maibam Nandakumar, 36, an Imphal-based entrepreneur, has invented a new power generation system that can power even small industry using cheap rice husk. Nandakumar today successfully demonstrated his four-month-long experiment in front of a small gathering at Maibam Leikai in Imphal West. He named his product Wainam (rice stove) Gasifier.

Using a 3 kilowatt generator, Nandakumar’s invention can generate power for one hour using 2kg of rice husk, which is readily available. Rice is the staple food of people living in Manipur.

“Our five-member team will release the product in the market very soon. The system with a 3kW generator will cost Rs 15,000. If the buyer wants bigger generators for more power we can arrange that,” Nandakumar said. The technology is very simple. He uses a modified generator and puts rice husk in a cylinder. He replaces the fuel for the generator with gas emitted from the burnt rice husk. When the user does not want to generate power, he can cook food with a stove attached to the system with gas produced by the burnt rice husk. The present power requirement of the state is 170MW during peak hours, whereas the availability of power from central sector power plants varies between 45MW during summer and 119MW during the monsoon. The state does not have any power plant of its own.

With the government resorting to power cuts daily, consumers get power for only five to seven hours.

Chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh took charge of the power department when he came back to power for the third consecutive term last year. But the situation has not improved much.

“Whatever we are using, including power, in Manipur is coming from outside. I explored easily available materials for productive use. The power shortage is always on my mind. So I decided to experiment with rice husk for generation of power. With my dedicated team we are successful in our endeavour,” Nandakumar said.

This is not for the first time that Nandakumar has come up with an invention using rice husk. In June last year, he invented a gas stove using rice husk. It was an instant hit in the state as people are paying a fortune on an LPG gas cylinder which is also a scarce item because of frequent road blockades and strikes.

Nandakumar announced that he would do further research with rice husk aimed at another invention. Given his success rate, one can look forward to a new product next year too.