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29th March 1998

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And there was light

Amanawala was not electrified through the national grid. Instead for the first time in this country, a large water wheel was used to generate power. Tharuka Dissanaike reports:

To the villagers of Amanawala, it was a dream come true. They had not dared to hope but in the most unexpected manner electricity came to them.

Chandradasa Appuhamy, 74, never believed that he would live to see his house 'lit'. But today, a happy man, he is the President of the Amanawela Electricity Consumers Society. At the grand imageopening of their electrification scheme, Chandradasa spoke with tears in his eyes. "All my life we have begged the authorities for electricity and now at last."

Amanawala was not electrified through the national grid. Instead for the first time in this country, a large water wheel was used to generate power. The wheel, built of steel rotates to the flow of water, generating A/C power which is converted to electricity using a motor. The wheel is named Pedley Wheel after the British Charity Organisation, Pedley House which financed the project through the Department for International Development, of the British High Commission here.

But unfortunately, the 25 houses which will benefit from the project, are yet to be connected to the power line for the lack of money to buy cables. While the British spent some 139,000 Sterling Pounds to build and install the wheel and other components, acquiring the cables was left upto the villagers.

"We have estimated the cost of the cables at around Rs. 60,000. We are trying to raise money by collection or through small loans," Chandradasa said.

The power house and wheel stands on land belonging to K.A Sugathapala. The 38 year old farmer was quite happy to donate his paddy land to the project. "I have an idea to start a rice mill later on, when I have money in hand," he said. His newly built house stands ready, wired at a cost of Rs. 7500 for electricity to be connected.

"I hope at least by the Sinhala New Year we will be able to buy the cable and finally get the connection."

Sugathapala's two school-going sons will benefit most with the coming of electricity. At night they study in the light of a kerosene lamp. "It's bad for their eyes, and the fumes could affect them too," Sugathapala said.

"My wife is very happy now. We are still building the new kitchen and then she will have an electric light to do her work at night."

What, he asks, is the point of building a good house if you don't have electric lights.

Ariyawathie, 44, also awaits the electricity connection eagerly. Being an industrious mother of three, imageshe works on a hand loom machine at home weaving cloth for shops in Colombo. "Now I have to stop work by nightfall. But when we get the connection, I can produce more, working at night."

Her husband is the Treasurer of the Electricity Consumers Association. A carpenter be profession he had worked quite energetically towards bringing the villagers together in their quest for electricity.

"The villagers contributed to build the power house and water channel," P. L. Wimalasena,58, the village post master said. "Each of the 25 house pooled into collect some Rs. 42,000 over four months for this construction. Everyone of us in these 25 houses are related in some way, so co-ordination is easy."

The Society plans to collect Rs. 100-150 each month as charges and use this money for any repairs, maintenance work and to pay a security for the power house, who will be of the villagers.

With the donation of the wheel, the Charity Organisation also gifted the village an electric iron and a battery charger. Most households have battery operated Television sets and have to take their batteries for miles to be charged.

Situated 18 kilometres away from the closest town- Yatiyantota, Aamanawala is blessed with the bounty of water. The picturesque Dodamala Ela which is the source of their irrigation water now gives them electricity before it joins the We ganga, a tributary of the Kelani. Villagers had given up on grid power, which is some five kilometres away. Several other micro hydro projects, using turbines, are in operation in other parts of the area, where the grid has not reached. They are thankful to Sabaragamuwa Provincial Councillor, Madduma Banarada Ranasinghe who had suggested to the British High Commission to locate the wheel at Amanawala.

"What is interesting about the wheel is that the technology is so simple that any villager can understand how it works," S.N.S.B Bandaranayake, an engineer who was involved in construction of the wheel said.

"It is the most primitive form of electricity generation, but ideal for villages that have no access to grid power."

Bandaranayake, whose firm installed the Pedley Wheel free of charge at Amanawala said that it was expected to run for at least ten years without any repairs. Small maintenance jobs are to be attended by Sugathapala and a 19 year old boy from the village who have been trained by the engineers to keep the wheel in good condition.

The wheel has galvanized buckets of steel which help to rotate the wheel with the flow of water. "Another interesting point is that you need a very low "head" for this wheel. The water drops only 15 feet to the wheel. So the wheel is viable even to low country areas.

An ordinary induction motor is used to convert the power to electricity. 3KW of power is generated by the wheel. Each house is entitled to 100 watts, which would enable them to have three to five lights. "The British gifted each house with an energy saving lamp, which produces more light," Sugathapala said.

The total grant from the British involved amounted to 139,000 Sterling pounds for the wheel at Aamanwala. Pedley House, where the technology was developed by Paul and Ingrid Bromley, had tried out village sites in other parts of the world including Chile, Nepal and Indonesia. In Sri Lanka, looking at the success of the first attempt they are planning to fund more wheels. But for others who are interested, the technology is now available at Bandaranayake Exports, Piliyandala.

For Sugathapala, Ariyawathie and other villagers, the wait now is a difficult one, knowing that electricity is so close but yet out of reach. For them the true celebrations will come when they can reach out and switch on that thing we take so much for granted- an electric light.


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