A residential unit, for the first time, has installed a 1 kV windmill, in DHA Karachi to meet its energy requirements at a time when Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) fails to alleviate the sufferings of people. S.S. Haider, an alternate energy expert is the person who has assembled, installed and run this project with great success.
According to details, the windmill generating one kV electric power is locally manufactured excluding the generator, that has been imported from Germany. The unit can simultaneously run a desktop computer, a 14-inch television, couple of fans and four or five energy-saver tube lights.
The entire unit costs about Rs 250,000 because the wind generator is imported at a very high price either from Europe or America. In case this generator was made in Pakistan, the whole system would cost half of the amount, ie Rs 120,000. However, for a man of average means it would still be a big investment.
The National Industrial Commercial & Educational Link (Nice-Link) has installed this windmill, for the first time at a residential unit. Having successfully installed the windmill projects in different areas of coastal belt, latest in Mubarak Village, Hawksbay, Nice-Link has demanded more government attention to give boost to the alternate energy resources particularly the wind energy.
Secretary General Nice-Link S.S. Haider said, "manufacturing of wind generators is not an uphill task. In the past we used to import Merrile Fans but now we are exporting best ceiling and table fans all over the world".
Eulogising the role of alternate energy development board (AEDB) and the NGOs like Nice-Link and others, he said that it would be contributing their share towards the national economic development through development of renewable and alternate energy sources in the country.
He suggested that government should encourage the local manufacturing of wind generator and solar cells. "If we want to improve our conditions, we have to manufacture these items in the country to provide jobs to many people and bring the price within the reach of every needy consumer", he added.
Haider said that though the windmill to be installed at a residence was bit costly, as one-kV mill costs Rs 250,000, but there was no payment of bills for that.
This domestic windmill had warranty coverage of 20 years and could provide uninterrupted and fluctuation-less power supply even if at some moments there was no wind blowing, he said.
Explaining, Haider said that the mill was connected with the batteries that used to store the energy produced by the generator, thus there would be no fluctuation.
Haider is of the view that Pakistan should manufacture the generators locally so that the dependency on West could be alleviated and the cost of windmills could be reduced.
It is worth-mentioning that wind energy has shown a growth rate of 45 percent and it is supposed to replace 10 percent of EU's annual electricity production by conventional sources by year 2010.