Power-starved Asom set to do a Gorlov

Guwahati, May 5 (UNI) Neither is it a reverie nor a wild imagination as the day is not very far when small deceptively simple machines resembling oversize eggbeaters would be speckled all along the mighty Brahmaputra, each providing inexhaustible energy from flowing water.

For, the Asom Government has set in motion plans to meet the chronic power shortage faced by the state. And it is mulling to do a Gorlov.

Taking cue from the successful application of the Gorlov Helical Turbine in Brazil and South Korea, the state government has arranged a consultant to liase and work out the technology, which is gaining increasing popularity across the globe.

The government's idea stems from the fact that despite the immense water resoure in the Brahmaputra, the potential could not be harnessed due to the river's low gradient (slope).

''Once the plan takes off, even an individual in the state will be able to generate power,'' Asom Power Minister Pradyut Bordoloi said, referring to the application of the turbine in the Amazon river of Brazil and the Mekong in South Korea.

Boston-based professor Alexander Gorlov had specifically designed this machine for hydroelectric applications in free flowing low-head water courses.

The Gorlov technology allows construction of environmentally benign hydropower plants without dams, and which are adaptable to local needs, like homesteads, villages, islands and cities.

Mr Bordoloi informed that the state government is liaisoning with the Brazilian government through a consultancy to know more about the technology.

'' Once we can bring the technology, sky will be the limit for us, '' the minister added.

Specifically developed for hydroelectric applications in run-of-river projects, the Gorlov turbine can capture approximately 75 per cent more of the water's energy than a conventional turbine, and in full production the cost of an installed open-river hydro power system should be US 400 to 600 dollars per KW.

In addition, these new turbines have virtually zero operating costs. The new turbine can provide electrification to remote areas that might never be reached by the power grid.

Through this technology, South Korea has proposed to tap 3,600 MW of energy in its Uldolmok Strait.

The Asom government's plan comes against the backdrop of the government scurrying to meet the power crisis faced by the state.

About 60 per cent of the power requirement of the state is met by outside sources.

While the state requires 850 MW of power per day, its own production from the pants at Lakwa, Namrup and Karbi Anglong generate only about 250 MW power.

Irregular supply of gas to the thermal plants and inadequate functioning of the hydro projects due to deficit rainfall has compounded the problem further.

The state government's plan, if materializes, can bring a technical revolution to the region for mass production of renewable energy.

UNI