January 19: If you're tired of getting unreliable power from your local state electricity board, but don't want the pollution or the expenses associated with traditional generators either, a new micro turbine-based power generating equipment might be the solution you're looking for.

A partnership announced today promises the consumer electricity at the same rate as that offered by the SEBs. Above this, according to the company's promoters, if an absorption cooling system -- already being marketed by local companies such as Thermax -- is added to this generator, at the cost of any 50-tonne air-conditioning system, the apartment, hotel or office using this generator gets air-conditioning at no additional cost.

The product -- TurboGenerator -- is being brought into the country by Transcontinental Energy Co. Inc. -- a Massachusetts-based energy services company -- and AlliedSignal Power Systems -- a subsidiary of the USA-based AlliedSignal Inc. TurboGenerator is a compactmicro turbine-based power generating equipment designed to operate continuously to generate up to 75 kw of power. It can run on a diverse range of fuels like kerosene, diesel and natural gas and has lower noise and emission levels.

The generator will cost anywhere between Rs 12 lakh and Rs 16 lakh, depending on whether the partnership is able to procure tax exemptions from the Government. Even though the product costs around Rs 12 lakh, the existing tax structure is such that the consumer will have to pay another around Rs 4 lakh towards various duties.

The cost of power generated through the TurboGenerator would vary between Rs 2 and Rs 3 per unit which is on a par with the rate charged by SEBs for residential use. The industrial rate is much higher at around Rs 4.50 to Rs 6 per kw per hour. Moreover, there are no transmission and distribution loses in the case of distributed generation. According to Viney Sawhney, president, Transcontinental Energy Co. Inc, ``around 52 per cent of electricity producedin the country is lost due to an inefficient transmission and distribution system.''

``Its primarily the scarcity of power in India that attracts us to it over even China, which may be a bigger market not as transparent,'' Tony Prophet, president and CEO, AlliedSignal Power Systems Inc., said while speaking to The Indian Express. According to Prophet, hotel chains, restaurants, big apartments, villages would benefit by installing the TurboGenerator.

The partnership will make the product available within the next 60 days in the country. ``The user can break-even within two years of buying the generator,'' said Atul Bindal, Director, Power Systems, Asia Pacific. According to Bindal, there are over 80,000 villages in India that have no electricity and around 2,00,000 villages that have inadequate electricity and the partnership would like to target all these for its product.