Guest post by
Lt Col Vivek Mundkur (retd)
Vivek Mundkur next to his windmill
It was a symbolic victory for decentralised electric supply: the installation of a windmill and
solar panels to light up a monastery at Komic, Himachal Pradesh located at 15000ft. Even though the State Electricity Board has stretched power lines, at great expense, over high mountains to this tiny village , the hydroelectric power shuts down for much of the year due to subzero temperatures !
Ecosphere , an NGO working in Spiti Valley asked Col Vivek Mundkur to solve the problem by installing his 1400 watt wind – solar hybrid on top of the Komic Monastery at 15000 ft altitude. Mundkur assembled a small team of ex servicemen to help him. Capt Afzal Amdani and Gautam Deshmukh joined him at Manali for the trip to Spiti Valley.
pLacing the windmill
This is perhaps the highest human habitation in the world to be electrified in this way. Lamas became solar engineers overnight helping to connect solar panels, windmill and batteries to 60
LED lamps in the monastery and the village.
There was much enthusiasm , and an air of solemnity as they installed the windmill , with the powerful Buddhist mantra ” Om mani padme hum “, painted on the blades . The painting was done by thanka painter, Lama Thukten and volunteer artists.
Sacred symbols have been painted on the windmill blades
Like the traditional
Tibetan prayer wheel, the windmill now rotates and spreads positive energy of the prayer into the surroundings, even as it pushes positive electrons into the batteries !!!
Solar cells at the monastery
Another innovation, the pedal generator was attached to a battery so the lamas could do a workout and charge the batteries at the same time , in addition to the solar panel, to light up the main temple and kitchen. They promised to pedal for at least 10 minutes before a meal !!!
Images – copyrighted Vivek Mundkur
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This entry was posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:04 pm and is filed under guest posts, nature, renewable energy, Vivek Mundkur, windmill. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: Energy, Himachal Pradesh, Komic monastery, Renewable, Solar, Solar panel, Spiti Valley, Vivek Mundkur, Windmill
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November 5, 2011 at 11:53 am
Nice ! Any chance of including the economics of it ? There are similar amazing ventures all along the Himalayas harnessing flowing water and wind to excellent effect both at home and community scales.
November 10, 2011 at 5:10 am
Wow… nice to read about this. I have seen similar small wind and solar combined structures atop big buildings here in Tamil Nadu. But doing it high up in the Himalayas, in sub-zero temperatures is amazing.
December 1, 2011 at 6:07 am
This was a priceless gift — ELECTRICITY!
The ‘Father of the Rural Electric Co-Operative’ here in Arkansas (USA) was our dear neighbor/friend – the late-Harry Oswald. He told us of the life-altering-changes electric power provided. (We must NEVER take this luxury for granted!) After he had worked his magic here, the gentleman provided help in Latin America. He was a 20th Century Ben Franklin!
Today, gazing at a big-hunking-transformer-gripping-the-side-of-a-tall-pole-garlanded-in-wires has a ‘special beauty.’ Our REC-O pal revealed how this modern convience brings the simpliest pleasure – ‘light to darkness’; it produces progress in countless ways and blesses many with hope…
I wish you all continued success with similar ‘Good Deeds.’
December 13, 2011 at 6:46 am
[...] find the right people & thanx to Nitya again, i got introduced to a genial genius of a man Lt col Vivek Mundkur retd. After a just brief conversation over the phone, it was so nice to see him within a few hours [...]