Mumbai girl’s start up produces power from streams, canals

Nagpur: A start up by a young Mumbai engineer could help remote villages in backward areas like Gadchiroli and Melghat to have an uninterrupted power supply. Many villages in these areas either lack power supply for all these years since independence or receive an erratic supply.
Swati Maini, a mechanical engineer from SNDT University, has made a mini turbine that can generate power from the existing water streams or canals. She also patented her device under the head ‘turbines and associated components, systems and methods’.
She had made the product at SNDT’s Incubation Centre. She has also opened her own start up ‘Maini renewables’.
“We have fitted a generator above the rotor, which would rotate with the help of water flow and generate electricity. The wind and solar energy have their limitations, but this source could be unlimited provided continuous power supply. This device could also be used for inland waterways as well. My objective was reaching the unreached parts of the country with my innovation,” she said.
Swati has plans to make a bigger turbine that would be more efficient. She has priced her device for Rs1 lakh approximately. “In cases where power supply is available, those using it can connect it to the grid and sell to the power entities. I had got it tested from organisations like IIT Roorkee. It could be one of the most efficient sources of renewable energy. It could be used for canals of dam waters,” Swati said.