Following photo appeared in both Jang and Dawn of May 29, 2008. It shows residents of Baldia Town Karachi have resorted to harnessing Wind Energy to produce electricity. We’ve discussed Electricity shortage and alternate ways to produce electricity in Pakistan in several posts here. I am happy to see this indiginous effort on part of a middle-class community to control their own destiny where Government has failed to provide for them. Wind is usually in abundance in coastal areas of Pakistan. More communities may emulate this example.
The reason such domestic projects (without proper regulation) cannot be connected to KESC/WAPDA grid is b/c of their inherent dependency on wind variability. When strong breeze is blowing, a group of such unregulated wind turbines can suddenly pump in a big surge of current into KESC/WAPDA grid which may be seen by the KESC/WAPDA grids as an abnormality (fault) in part of the network and suddenly circuit regulators kick in to trip down the whole circuit.
Therefore, wherever wind turbines are used to boost local grids, they are a bit more sophisticated power electronics. They also pump in power to the grid ONLY when wind is sufficient BUT draw power from the national/local grids when wind is not there. This also makes the efficiency of wind turbines very low (25-30% efficient). However such arrangement of circuitry ensures somewhat regulated and a constant 50 Hz power supply to local homes; which means fans can run at constant speed and no flickr in bulbs.
Nevertheless an effort like Baldia Town is a genuine effort by local populace towards solving a problem. It also shows their enterpreneuship. All hats off to their effort and their spirit of problem solving was the motivation for me to choose this photo post for these pages.
Looking at the size of fan blades, it looks like this unit is sufficient for few neighborhood home’s power needs. may be upto 100 kWatts. Just like Bilal commented above, the power from this turbine may not be regulated and may not give constant 50 Hz AC current frequency. Therefore it may be able to run fans with variable speeds in loadshedding, which by the way is still a blessing in hot summer nights and days; Bulbs and TV screens may also flickr but better than nothing. Above all wind is free !
However to answer another commentator, this power cannot be fed back or connected together with KESC/WAPDA grid. atleast not without additional power electronics.
The heading underneath mentions “qadeem tareeqon par amal shru kardia”. Complete and utter ignorance from the reporter.
It’s the other way around. I think people in Pakistan need to be educated about alternative energy sources. Afterall, this is the
future. Kudos to people at Baldia town!!
I see that I have a namesake on the discussion board except that I don’t own any extensive farmland or dairy farms in Punjab.
@ Baldia town kay makeen
zindahbaad,
Eoliennes can produce electricity with wind blowing
just 14 km / h
can you imagine !!
(mordern dy wind mills all over W Europe)
Siyyasat kay bakwasion kay muhn par channta !!