A temple in Dakshina Kannada is all set to produce hydel power for lighting.
Sri Durgaparameshwari temple at Kateel, Mangalore taluk, has set up a 25 kW mini-hydel turbine to produce power from the Nandini, which flows around it. The turbine was put on a trial run on Thursday.
Administrator of the temple Harish Kumar K. said: “We will operate it for the next three months on a pilot basis to study its economic viability. A decision on installing more such turbines will be taken later,” said Mr. Kumar, who is also the Commissioner of the Mangalore City Corporation.
The objective of installing the turbine was to reduce the temple’s dependency on grid power, he said.
G.K. Ratnakar of Chikmagalur district, the expert who installed the turbine here, said it could produce power for eight months, from July to February.
A waterfall, he explained, was not necessary to produce hydel power. There are 19 types of turbines from which hydel power can be generated. They are installed based on site conditions.
Mr. Ratnakar said the turbine at Kateel produced power from the velocity in the flow of water.
It was fixed at one of the vents of a dam built across the river. The dam had eight vents and, if required, mini-turbines could be installed in all of them, he said.
Alternatively, a giant wheel of 50 kW capacity could be installed at one of the vents to generate enough power to light up all the streets in Kateel, he said.
An official at the temple said that the temple drew between 11,000 and 12,000 units of power from the grid every month and its monthly electricity bill was Rs. 60,000 to Rs. 70,000.
The temple, which has three 75 kW diesel generators, spends about Rs. 20,000 a month on fuel.
Mr. Ratnakar said the 25 kW hydel turbine could generate a maximum of 18,000 units a month when the dam was full.
