A rice husk gasifier in Twante.

RICE husk power plants should play a larger role in the development of rural areas in Myanmar and can at the same time reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to industry experts.

“As our country is an agricultural country, we have an abundance of rice husks. If we can use them in producing electricity, it will be very fruitful for the country,” said U Zar Ni Aung, managing director of Hein Engineering, which produces rice husk gasifiers.

“The technology is not new but it became more widely available about 10 years ago as world oil prices began to increase,” he said.

Rice husk power plants have the potential to reduce Myanmar’s dependence on oil – at least to some degree – but U Zar Ni Aung said their major selling point was the possibility of getting electricity supply into rural areas and foster development.

“We need to increase the use of the technology so that more people have the opportunity to take advantage of it. While the initial cost is a little bit expensive, if a person or organisation invests in providing the village with electricity, it will be very beneficial for both sides,” U Zar Ni Aung said, adding that 50KW gasifier cost about K6 million and a 150KW gasifier approximately K12 million.

In 2007, a 50KW rice husk gasifier was installed in Tagoondaing Village in Yangon Division, with some help from Thailand. The gasifier now provides electricity for 304 houses in two villages, Tagoondaing and Alesu.

The village electricity supply board charges a monthly fee of K1500 to power a fluorescent lamp, K1500 for a black and white TV and K2000 for a colour TV.
The money is used for the maintenance of the gasifier and to hire the gasifier operator.

Villagers in Tagoodaing said that they believed the new electricity supply would speed up development in the region.

U San Oo, 45, said: “I am very happy to get electricity in our village, particularly for lighting. Now children in the village can study their school lessons late at night and we are safe when we come back from our farms because the streets are lit up.”

But rice husk gasifiers are used not only to provide domestic electricity in Myanmar’s rural areas but also in the country’s small rural industries.

“We generally use rice husk gasifiers for village electrification but now some rice mills and ice factories have begun to use them,” said Colonel Thoung Win (Retired), chairman of Yangon Division Renewable Energy R&D Committee.

He agreed with U Zar Ni Aung that rice husk gasifiers should be more widely used, saying the power plants were more economical and environmentally-friendly than using diesel or petrol generators.

“According to our research, the energy efficiency of rice husk gasifiers is far better than diesel engines. The energy produced from four baskets of rice husks is equal to the energy produced from one gallon of diesel,” Col Thoung Win (Retd) said.

“One basket of rice husk is K150. One gallon of diesel is around K5500. Therefore the cost is eight times less using rice husks than diesel,” he said.

Rice husk gasifiers also produces less carbon dioxide – the main greenhouse gas that causes global warming and climate change – than diesel engines.