Socio-economic impacts of a micro-hydropower plant on rural livelihoods

Abstract

Electricity is one of the key determinants for economic growth of a nation. Although the benefits of rural electrification are immense, more than 44% of the people do not have access to electricity in Nepal. Micro-hydropower (MHP) scheme is considered the most feasible decentralized renewable energy option for providing reliable and affordable electricity to the remote and isolated areas of Nepal. This study assesses the impact of a MHP plant on socio-economic conditions in the remote village, Sikles, in Nepal. Cross-sectional research design was used to collect information with a structured questionnaire, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions. Results revealed that the village electrification had brought a series of positive changes in the rural livelihoods. Traditional kerosene lamps like Tuki and Panas were completely abandoned, and firewood consumption was reduced. Electric lights in households extended the day providing additional hours for evening reading and work. The microhydro based electricity was used to power modern agro-processing mills in the village, which reduced drudgery for women as they no longer had to use ineffective and distant traditional water mills. Thus, micro-hydro scheme provides clean, affordable and sustainable renewable energy both locally and globally.

Towards sustainable financing models for micro-hydro plants in Sub-Saharan African countries: A theoretical review

“…Furthermore in spite of having lower running costs, their initial investment costs are relatively higher (Min et al, 2011). Nevertheless, despite the disadvantages, MHPs are applauded for fulfilling technological, environmental, economic and social sustainability criteria in remote and isolated areas (Gurung et al, 2011). Thus in addition to providing power flexibly and reliably to homes and communities in areas not served by national electricity grid, MHPs offer an opportunity to produce clean and affordable energy from a sustainable energy source (GVEP-International, 2010).…”

“…poor peasants, tenants, landless and other disadvantages group) of remote rural areas, which are on the bottom of the economic pyramid (Anup et al, 2011). The majority have poor purchasing power, requiring charging of low tariffs to make the produced energy affordable (Gurung et al, 2011), this in turn impacts on the financial viability of MHPs. Basically MHPs require increased load factor of 20-25% to be financially viable.…”

The pump as a turbine: A review on performance prediction, performance improvement, and economic analysis

“…Governments and scholars in the field emphasize the development of environmentally friendly energy sources. Among all renewable resources, Pico and micro-hydropower (1–500 kW) are considered the most feasible, decentralized, environmentally suitable, and sustainable energy sources [ [2] , [3] , [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] , [9] , [10] , [11] ]. In contrast to large hydropower projects, Pico/micro-hydro power resources occupy a relatively small area and do not result in significant displacement of communities from their original locations.…”