Saving power, saving money

When Harshad V Shah decided to buy a big car, he went for the most fuel-efficient model instead of the more alluring ones. "I don't want frills. All I wanted was a car that ran more kilometres for the same amount of fuel. That's how all machines should be, isn't it?" asks the 65-year old founder of Bhavnagar-based Megha Insulations.

His obsession with trimming energy costs led the ex-scientist from Central Salt & Marine Chemical Research Institute to research on power saving mechanisms. When he indigenously developed low-cost calcium silicate insulation (CSI), a material that could help steel, cement and aluminium makers to reduce power costs successfully, he gave up his cushy CS&MCRI job.

The scientist turned an entrepreneur. Today after about a decade of its being set up, Megha Insulations is the only company in India that produces CSI using indigenous technology. It has companies like Essar, ACC, Gujarat Ambuja Cement, Gujarat Sidhee Cement, Hindalco, BHEL and L&T, among others, on its client list.

Most of these companies have been able to reduce power consumption significantly at their plants by using Megha's heat insulation products. A company executive at Hindalco's Renukoot unit in Uttar Pradesh says, "The use of CSI in our electrolytic pot cells has helped reduce energy consumption from 16,800 to less than 14,500 kilo watt hour per ton of aluminium produced. This has resulted in a saving of Rs 225 crore a year."

Adds an executive of Essar Steel in Hazira, Gujarat: "We have been using these heat conservation products as a back-up layer for good thermal conductivity to enhance production capacity."

Shah explains that CSI conserves thermal energy efficiently and reduces fuel cost up to 30% in processes. The cement industry, for instance, has been saving about 15% of energy costs by using such products in its units. He says, "Cement plants are reported to save about 28,000 tons of steam coal worth Rs 8 crore per year."

Now, Megha Insulations is flooded with huge orders from existing and greenfield units as industries ramp up capacities. So, Shah is planning to expand production capacity at Dhangli, near Bhavnagar, from 1,200 tonnes to 2,000 tonnes per annum by next year and then to 10,000 tonnes per annum over the next two years. "I will be raising Rs 20-30 crore for capacity expansion and reaching out to new markets," says Shah, who's targeting to take his company to Rs 50 crore by 2010.