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[Quill-SNU English Paper] And … There was Light!

And... There Was Light!
The Korean Engineering Project in the Himalayas

Nepal, although rich in resources for renewable energy production, faces acute electricity shortage.
Even in the capital city of Kathmandu, residents must endure an average of fifteen hours of power
outage daily during the winter season. Thus, it is hard to imagine how isolated villages like Thingan, sidelined from the main power grid, would be able to replace old kerosene lamps with safer alternatives any time soon. The Quill talks to the man who tries to change just that.

BY ABHAS MASKEY

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Binayak Bhandari sits comfortably on his chair at his apartment as he narrates his side of the story while he periodically sips a masala tea. A few weeks before, in the remote Thingan Village of Makwanpur district in Nepal, he was up on a hilltop overlooking the 20kW Pelton Turbine
Micro-Hydro Power Plant that he had designed from scratch.
Bhandari, a PhD candidate in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, was the one who spearheaded the rural electrification project into effect in his native country. This was not his first time leading such a project.
“We have, including this one, completed four projects in Nepal,” recalls Bhandari, “We had a 2.2kW PVP in Lamtang in 2011, a rather small PVP installation in Rimche and in 2011 and 2012, a 7kW PVP installation in Thingan. The current project was an expansion to what we did last year.”

“We” refers to the “Solar Nepal Volunteer Corps” that consists of thirty seven Korean students and three professors led by Prof. Ahn Sung Hoon (MAE,SNU) who has been actively supporting Bhandari’s mission.
This time, Bhandari undertook a government level project that involved High Voltage Transmission which had to be distributed to about 126 new houses. The whole project incorporated three sources of energy: A 3kW Wind Turbine, 2kW PVP (Solar Panels) and a 20kW Hydro Power Plant.
In addition, the project implemented the “ondol” system and organized a science exhibition in a local school as part of the social responsibility program. It was an achievement in itself
for Bhandari to convince Prof. Ahn that he was capable of completing such a project as large amounts of funding were obviously required.
“For students, this is a mega project. I don’t think there has been a student project of such scale in Korean history” claims Bhandari, “Fortunately, the Korean government and private donors financed us.”
But what made a mechanical engineering graduate take on such an ambitious civil project?
“We wanted to impact the lives of people living in rural Nepal and we found out that the best way to do so was to focus on renewable energy. This required both mechanical and civil engineering. With the suggestion and help of some of my colleagues and professors and with a handy
handbook, not only were we able to attract funds and design the whole project but also implement it on the field in a short span of time.”
The design and placement of the powerplants in the project are unique. The whole system is, in fact, a smaller

version of a grid, or rather called a “mini-grid” where power plants are interconnected to provide a stable supply chain. So if one of the sources needs maintenance or fails abruptly, there will still be power. But first, the sources need to be synchronized to one another.
“We are still working on that,” states
Bhandari in between tea sips, “It is definitely a technical hurdle right now. We have thought of two methods through which this can be accomplished, one possible being the Grid Tie Inverter which automatically matches the frequency between the “Follower” (slave) and “Leader” (master) sources.” He further adds that this will take more time.
The Korean Volunteer team arrived a week before the handing over ceremony of the project to the local consumer community and worked extremely hard in an unfamiliar climate. By the time they had worn the silk scarf as a gesture of appreciation from the village, they had been able to install “ondol”- the Korean traditional floor heating technique- in some homes and organize a science exhibition in a local school.
The project was supposed to begin on February 3rd but due to a host of unavoidable circumstances, it could not take place. “Firstly, we could not obtain the hardware required in time and secondly, working with backward, illiterate and untrained workforce was
challenging.” The deal was simple: the village provided the labor force while Korea financed. Even so, as Bhandari states, it was difficult to get the locals to work daily. This eventually prevented the project to meet its deadline.
The project now is at its final stage. “We want a sustainable future for the people of the village.” adds Bhandari, “Keeping this model in mind, we have encouraged and helped the villagers to
start a poultry farm, mushroom farm and an electric mill so that they could turn energy into hard cash. Not only are we aiding in eradicating darkness but poverty as well.”
It is a project like this that improves how people go on about their lives. A small combined effort from the fortunate to the unfortunate can make a world of a difference. However, Bhandari insists that this needs continuity and that the next generation should, at least, help those who need the most.
The Quill insists the same.

Bhandari would like to thank Prof Ahn Sung Hoon(Seoul National University) , Prof. Caroline S. Lee
(Hanyang University), Prof. Song Chal Ki (Gyeongsang National University), Prof. Ramesh K. Maskey (Kathmandu University, Nepal), Prof. Won Shik Chu (Seoul National University),
Volunteers, Lab friends, and most importantly, his wife Pratibha.

BY ABHAS MASKEY

The Solar Nepal Volunteer Corps was started from our faculty in 2011, with the 4^th visit to Nepal in 2013 with a total of 37 members from 7 schools including SNU, Hanyang Univ., Kyungsang Univ, and others to install solar panels, Small hydro generators, hybrid wind turbines, power grids, LEDs and even tradition Korean hot stone systems for heating to mountainous regions of Nepal where there is no electricity available.

Members from our faculty include Professor Sung Hoon Ahn, Research Professor Won Shik Chu, Kyung Tae Lee, Bhandari Binayak, Gil Yong Lee, Ph.D. Student Hae Sung Yoon, Jang Yeop Lee, Min Soo Kim, Villette El Hess, Masters Student Jae Il Park, Undergrad Kyung Wook Min, Ji Hoon Park,Ji Hyun Song, Eun Ji Yoo, Min Hee Kim and Maskey Abhas.

Attached File : SNU-42호 내지(p8.13.14) 1부. 관련 사진 1부.