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Though Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal has announced that United Nations International Centre of Small Hydro Power in China has agreed to collaborate with Punjab to generate power from speed and velocity of water flowing in canals and rivers at small falls,a similar project that was sanctioned in the state more than one and a half years ago is awaiting approval to start generation.
Deepak Singh,an engineer from the USA who was granted sanction to set up a 500-KW project to generate power from velocity of water at Upper Bari Doab Canal (UBDC),says his experiments have been successfully completed and he has also manufactured the machinery. Asserting that he did not get any help from the state in his endeavor,Singh says,We had demonstrated our project to both the Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) and the Irrigation Department. When we started work,we were told that nod would come in three months. More than a year has elapsed,but there is no word from the government. In the fag-end of 2010,implementation agreement was also signed,but even after five months,we have not got approval from PEDA to start generation.
And it is not that Sukhbir is not aware of Singhs project. On December 16,2009,when Union Ministry for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah had addressed a seminar on green energy in Chandigarh,Sukhbir had announced that the technology to generate power from velocity of water and low heads was at the stage of trial,and Punjab would adopt it soon.
Interestingly,Sukhbir claimed that the state has developed the technology,which was in fact the feat of the US-based engineer.
Singh says the government was dragging feet,which was very frustrating for an entrepreneur. Before inviting more agencies to set up plants in the state,the government should first expedite the cases of existing developers, he suggests.
Interestingly,while the technology developed by Singh is ready and awaiting nod,Sukhbir today said PEDA has started developing first such half-MW plant that would become operational within three months.
However,PEDA CEO TPS Sidhu claims that all approvals have been granted to Singh,and only his machine designs are awaiting a nod,which has to be granted by the Irrigation Department.
The non-seriousness of the Punjab government towards green energy is not a new phenomenon. Retired Chief Engineer,Irrigation,Punjab,Dr GS Dhillon says,in the 1970s,the state had decided to tap the low heads of canals for power generation and Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) had set up Hydel Design Directorate in Patiala. Later,Punjab Power Generating Machines Limited (PPGM),a semi-government corporation,was set up in Nidampur near Patiala to make generation units. But this corporation could set up only two hydel plants and it was later merged with Crompton Greaves Limited. And then the job was taken away from PSEB and given to PEDA, says Dr Dhillon,who was part of the team that worked on these projects.
The former Chief Engineer says for generating power from zero head,the then Irrigation Secretary Tejinder Khanna had visited Roorkee to study the model. But it was found that our irrigation system is not designed for turbines, he says,hinting that Punjab should first revamp its existing structure before making tall plans for green power.
However,the PEDA CEO,agreeing that Singhs hydel project was at an advanced stage,says the China visit was basically aimed at exchange of ideas and technology.
We have seen their equipment,and in a couple of months they will also visit our state to study our technology.
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