(Image source from: jagran.com)

IIT Roorkee Scientists are testing a floating device that can produce electricity from flowing surface water of rivers.

IT will will be new alternative source of renewable energy.

Normally, we use huge hydro power plants which in turn require a large scale dams which generally have significant consequences in ecological and environmental areas.

This device may be the answer, at the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee a team is testing prototype that tap in the energy from flowing surface.

Principal Investigator of the project, RP Saini said that “ In traditional dams, water falling from a height is used to turn turbines.”

“we are instead using the velocity of the flowing river yo turn a turbine and generate electricity.”

“Flowing water can generate a hundred times maore power than wind of same velocity,” he added.

Many types of turbines are under development at this moment but making them to install in a flowing river is uphill task.

Saini said “ That is where more research is needed and keeping that in view we have taken up this project to develop a prototype so that the installation can be standardised in the flowing rivers and canals.”

Sunil Kumar Singal, Head of the Alternate Hydro Energy Center at IIT Roorkee said, “The interest of government Since the last 3-4 years has been on solar energy more because it is a modular system that can be installed in four months and sunlight is available everywhere.”

“But the problem with solar energy art present is that on cloudy days and during the nights, we would need an alternate ource as currently, energy storage systems are not efficient enough,” he said.

The said prototype is developed in collaboration with Delhi based laboratory it now been installed for testing in the Upper Ganga Canal in Roorkee , Uttarakhand.

“In the canal water discharge is almost constant throughout the year. Thus we have near ideal conditions for the purpose of testing,” said RP Saini

The prototype is developed after 2 years of research so we need to find whether this will be effective or any improvements can be made in future

The power generation capacity of the device is being testedand this may not be comparable to traditional hydropower stations.

But the system has the potential to overcome several environmental challenges associated with large scale hydropower dams.

-Sai Kumar