Indian startup Avant Garde Innovations has developed a low-cost wind
turbine that can generate 3-5 kW hours of electricity daily
Soon after assuming office, Kerala (southern state of India) Chief
Minister Pinarayi Vijayan kicked up a storm by publicly supporting the
Athirappilly hydro electric project, which environmentalists said, if
implemented, would create ecologic imbalance in the area and destroy
the Athirappilly waterfalls, the largest natural waterfalls in the
state.
It is not that the government is oblivious to the impact that the
project could make, but it says it has no option but to leverage
existing means to check the growing power crisis in Kerala, which
partially depends on the private sector for electricity.
Things are no different in other states either. While Kerala has
attained almost 100 per cent electrical coverage, many parts of India
still remain in the dark. For a large portion of the Indian
population, electricity to this day remains a distant dream.
Enter two siblings who want to make India's energy crisis a thing of
the past. The duo has developed a new solution they say will not even
slightly impact the ecological balance.
Avant Garde Innovations, the startup founded by siblings Arun and
Anoop George from Kerala, has come up with a low-cost wind turbine
that can generate enough electricity to power an entire house for a
lifetime. The size of a ceiling fan, this wind turbine can generate 5
kWh/kW per day — with just a one-time cost of US$750.
"Our goal is to eliminate energy poverty, reduce dependence on
struggling state power grids and create energy self sufficiency for
all the needy ones through distributed, localised and affordable
renewable energy. In doing so, we believe we can collectively usher in
our world a cleaner environment, new economic prosperity and social
change," reads the company 'What We Do' statement.
"Our first offering is a highly affordable small wind turbine suitable
for residential, commercial, agricultural, village electrification and
other uses, which is aimed for a market launch during 2016."
Incorporated in 2015, Avant Garde claims to be a startup with a
'green' heart and soul.
For the startup, opportunity is massive. India is the world's sixth
largest energy consumer, accounting for 3.4 per cent of global energy
consumption. Federal governments in India, and the central government
for that matter, are unable to bear the huge infrastructural cost
required to bring electricity to remote villages.
Erecting electric posts and electric lines require huge investments
that could cost millions of dollars.
This is where Avant Garde comes into picture. "When small wind turbine
generating 1kW energy costs INR 3-7 lakh (US$4,000-10,000), our
company plans to sell it at less than NR 50,000 (about US$750). Costs
will decrease further through mass production," Arun said in an
interview to The Times of India.
The company launched its pilot project at a church in the capital city
of Thiruvananthapuram in January this year. The small wind turbine
prototype that it has developed is highly scalable for power
capacities of 300 kW or even higher, Arun told.
"Our passionate aim is to introduce innovative, affordable and
sustainable solutions that take renewable energy self sufficiency and
energy empowerment to the next level through a distributed and
decentralised approach using pioneering strategies the world has not
witnessed yet," the company says.
This revolutionary product has also won them a spot in the Top 20
Cleantech Innovations in India. The company has also made it to the
list of 10 clean energy companies from India for the "UN Sustainable
Energy For All" initiative under the one billion dollar clean energy
investment opportunity directory.
According to the Global Wind Energy Council, the country ranks 4th in
terms of global installed wind power capacity, after China, the US,
and Germany.
Maybe, if Avant Garde Innovations takes off, Kerala can keep the
Athirappilly waterfalls untouched.
