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WEEK ONE POSTINGS ON 'MICROHYDRO' Contd...

12. From: "Stewart Craine" <Stewart.Craine@hydro.com.au>
Subject: [RETs] Week 1: Comments on Some of the Earlier Postings
Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2001 09:58:09 +1100

Some interesting points have been raised so far, some new and inspiring, some old and unresolved.

GRID CONNECTION OF MICRO HYDRO
I believe the current limit for grid connection is 100 kW. Syange MHP, developed by LEDCO, is 180 kW, an example of a grid-connected mini hydro. A simple study should be able to identify the kW at which it is uneconomic to connect MMHP to the grid, both in terms of capital cost for synchronization and protection equipment, and expected (fixed) ongoing maintenace costs. I would guess that such a study would find the minimum size feasible is in the 50-100 kW range
- Syange already shows that it is well below 1 MW. However, project development, transmission and transportation costs will also force the minimum kW upwards, as these increase costs per kW for small projects that are not very close to an existing transmission line and roadhead, and the process for securing a power purchase agreement is not exactly quick and smooth.

However, grid-connected 100-200 kW schemes offer an interesting alternative. From my impressions, the grid and micro hydro are currently seen as mutually exclusive. This need not be the case if the interface where they meet is focused on developing 100-200 kW sites. This way, micro hydro can act as a step towards grid electrification, instead of becoming redundant.

For example, a village 3 km from the grid might install a 30 kW micro hydro, but only using 50% of the low season flow. With 1 kV low cost distribution and CFL lighting, this can serve 1200 households - about 2 VDCs. When the grid reaches the plant, modular additions of turbines and generators can increase the output to 100 kW, and the MHP can be grid connected. Pumps as turbines can have 80% efficiency, are cheap and dependable and are well suited to modular installation. Financial institutions can judge projects from the management track record of the community who operated the MHP at 30 kW, and the village can use the capital of the plant to get a loan for the 70 kW upgrade. Communities can continue to run the plant and collect tariffs, freeing the NEA from expensive obligations.

Syange has a high rate of return, but is financed by city investors. The possibility is there instead for rural villages to make a lot of money selling electricity, and this should lead to an improvement in rural living standards. I have talked to ethical investors in Australia who are very interested in financing village mini hydros, so the technical and financial potential is definitely there. If anyone has mini hydro sites in mind, please let me know.

CHALLENGES FOR MICRO HYDRO
I agree with Amreeta Regmi on the social and political environment in which projects have been implemented. While these influences can be very high in supply driven programs, they may also be strongly present in demand driven programs such as DANIDA's energy sector assistance program. The role of area service centres could help alleviate this, and ESAP/AEPC are collecting a great deal of data on irrigation requirements, caste structure, income levels, education levels, etc. Whether this sociological information is actually used to reject some applications is unknown - it may still be descriptive, to be used for trend analysis in later years.

COST PER WATT - ECONOMY OF SCALE
The cost per watt of generation for pico hydro usually does increase with decreasing size, but this is always site specific. The major factors are site steepness (shorter penstock) and transmission length. Solar has its place, especially for small communities that do not have access to a stream within 1 km, but of course does not offer mechanical shaft power 24 hours a day. Tools should be used to mix solar and pico/micro hydro together, to optimize costs and benefits. Two programs to do this are VIPOR from National Renewable Energy Laboratories (US), and LEDCO's Multi-Objective Optimization Planning tool from their integrated energy planning study. Unfortuately, no one has the time to learn how to use them. This gives rise to the question - who is planning decentralized projects, and are valuable resources being wasted on long transmission lines and oversized projects?

Stewart Craine

13. From: "'Girish Kharel'" <girish@mail.com.np>
Subject: [RETs] Week 1: Scope of Micro and Mini Hydro for Rural Electrification in Nepal
Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2001 10:37:08 +0530

Scope of Micro and Mini Hydro for Rural Electrification in Nepal

- by Bikash Pandey
[Taken from the first issue of Jalashakti (March 1995), the magazine of the Nepal Micro Hydropower Development Association]

Roughly half of the twenty million people of Nepal live in its hill and mountain districts. With the exception of the larger urban settlements such as Kathmandu and Pokhara, these mountain areas lack infrastructure such as roads and grid electricity.

Lack of opportunities is forcing increasing numbers of young people to leave their villages to move to urban areas in search of work. The population of Kathmandu is doubling every ten years. The lack of commercial, non-biomass-based, energy sources is one of the major constraints on rural economic and social development. It is limiting the quality of life and hinders the development of value-adding activities that can generate income and create jobs in rural areas.

Micro-hydro (up to 100 kW) has been found to be the most cost effective source of electricity in the hilly regions of Nepal. Schemes built by the private sector have proved cheaper in capital cost per kW and in running costs than isolated Nepal Electricity Authority installations. At present there are ten companies in Nepal capable of building and installing micro-hydro schemes of up to 100 kW. They have the capacity to install up to 1,500 kW per year. The potential demand for micro-hydro far exceeds this capacity.

Micro-hydro and mini-hydro (upto 1,000 kW) (together referred to as MMHP) can provide power to rural Nepal to fulfill the following objectives:

Quality of life improvements Electricity makes lighting available; education of children and adults is aided by good lighting. Access to information is improved through radio and television. In addition, off-peak electricity can be used to make hot water available.

Energy for Productive Activities: MMHP in hilly regions can drive agro-processing and small-scale industrial activities either by use of mechanical or electrical energy. Investment in MMHP combined with related inputs on the applications ('end uses') of energy such as paper making, ropeways, milk and cheese processing and food and fruit processing activities offers potential to stimulate value-adding activity in hilly regions. In the absence of MMHP, these activities will either be limited or be powered by fuelwood: putting further pressure on forestry resources.

Reducing Pressure on Forestry Resources: MMHP has potential to provide rural communities with opportunities to reduce fuelwood consumption by using off-peak electricity and low-wattage elements to heat water. Much of Nepali cooking relies on the use of boiling water, and over 80% of the energy used for cooking is used to bring water to the boil. The use of preheated water could make significant reductions in the amount of energy required in cooking, and hence the amount of fuelwood used. Other electrical devices such as bijuli dekchis and heat storage cookers are likely to be attractive options in some regions.

A significant contribution can be made in fulfilling the requirements above with relatively modest amounts of power. Experience shows that a rural household will on average use 100 Watts of power for lighting and water heating; this same power can be used to power rural industry in the day time. An estimate can thus be made that to electrify the two million households that comprise the hill and mountain population of Nepal will require 200 MW of power.

Of this total requirement, it is realistic to assume that perhaps a third will be supplied with decentralised micro and mini hydro. The remaining areas will be covered by grid-extensions and by larger schemes in the 1 MW to 20 MW range (in the Small Hydro range), or represent those areas that do not have the potential for hydro development. The question remains "can the 70 MW from MMHP be installed with the manufacturing capability that exists in the country today?" and "in what time frame?"

At a projected growth rate of 15% per year, the capacity of local manufacturers to build MMHP would increase from the present capacity of 1.5 MW per year to around 12 MW per year in fifteen years. The cumulative power produced from MMHP in those same fifteen years would be over 80 MW. So with a sustained growth of the sector, the manufacturing base in the country will be able to grow to produce the projected power requirement.

However, to achieve this result requires that the policy environment in the country is made favourable. The major areas where work is needed are as follows:

Financial support: Micro-hydro dissemination has been limited by inconsistency in the subsidy policy applied to schemes which generate electricity. Inconsistent policy has limited confidence and investment in micro-hydro manufacturing. Subsidies have also been poorly administered, resulting, in effect, in making them unavailable to potential owners.

His Majesty's Government of Nepal has committed itself to investing Rs 15 million (US$300,000) per year in micro-hydro electricity. This is available as 50% subsidy on the electrical components (exclusively) of micro-hydro schemes. For the most remote areas of the country this goes up to 75% subsidy on the
electrical components. At the average resulting disbursement of around of Rs 25,000 per kW installed, the allocated government investment would be able to finance around 600 kW of electricity production per year at present.

This level of subsidy has been unable to stimulate development of MMHP in the most remote districts because of the high cost of transportation and many of the larger installations that require high tension transmission are still not feasible. The subsidy might need to go up to around an average of Rs 37,500, perhaps, before micro-hydro is readily available to populations throughout Nepal; further study is required to determine exactly how much the subsidy level needs to be. The support needed to install 1,500 kW at this revised level of subsidy will thus come to Rs 5,62,50,000 (US$1,125,000) per year.

To generate 70 MW of power, total support required in 15 years will be Rs 2,62,50,00,000 (US$ 52.5 million). On average this comes to Rs 17,50,00,000 (US$ 3.5 million) per year. To put this in perspective, a comparison can be made with HMG/N's projected investment of US$ 170 million per year to expand the capacity of the national grid per year in the same time period.

The inescapable conclusion is that micro-hydro can supply electricity to one third of the hill population within fifteen years at 2% of the cost of adding power to the
national grid! What is more, within this same time frame, it is projected that the grid will only supply 20% of the country's population with power.

Training: There is a need to increase the size of schemes which the private sector can handle in order to realise the full potential of hydro resources. With the proper support, manufacturers currently installing schemes of up to 100 kW could acquire the technical and management capacity to install schemes in the 1,000 kW range within a few years.

Research and Development: The high capital cost of micro-hydro and lack of commercially available technology for 'end-uses' are constraints in the wider dissemination of this technology. Further R & D is required to reduce costs, to increase reliability and to develop a wide range of uses to utilize power for income generating activities.

14. From: "Zahnd Alex" <azahnd@wlink.com.np>
Subject: [RETs] Week 1: Re: Pico Power & White LED Lighting for Mountain Areas
Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2001 12:13:00 +0530

I want to reply to Mr. Bikash Pandey's email to Dr. Dave Halliday regarding the WLED lights and small hydro power plants and solar PV panels. I have been working with Dr. Halliday for 2 years with WLED lights, as they have been sponsoring some villages in Jumla to be electrified with WLEDs first as small trials in two households only, then in small villages. Right now we have started this week with a village with 125 households. Thus we are very thankful to and grateful for LUTWs' interest and engagemnet for the Jumla people.

Thus let me share some of my experiences. We have been installing already in several villages of different sizes WLED lights. Right now 2 systems are running with Pico Hydro power plants, each 150 Watt. Both are installed in Jumla, respectively one day's walk away from Jumla in the Chaudabise valley where we have been working for 5 years as a UMN (United Mission to Nepal) KCST project. One system is providing just two households with power for some 6 lights. These houses are alone without any neighbours within 1.5 km distance. Installation, March 2000. The second Pico Power Plant is installed in the village of Thalpi. First installation in December 1999 for 2 households with 6 incandescant bulbs, the in August 2000 a another 28 houses were added, thus a total of 30 houses with a
total of 70 WLED lights (mostly lights with 9 WLEDs, some with 6 and some few with 3). All are powered by the Pico generator producing about 150 Watt which is converted into DC and ALL wiring is UNDERGROUND, as we have so little Amps. Pine trees wood need replacement every few years, and the structure of Jumla (as well as Mugu and Humla) villages is such that they all build "into each other", making it rather difficult to find space and places to put poles. But the underground wiring is an important aspect as we fight deforestation enormously in Jumla (so e.g. also with an improved smokeless metal stove which consumes about 40% less fire wood, but about that in a few weeks more).

True, the WLED lights are not as bright as 15 W CFLs or 60 W incandescent bulbs, but they consume only 1 Watt for a 9 WLED, 0.8 W for a 6 WLED and 0.6 W for a 3 WLED light, and that in the house which is up to 200 meters away! And these people never had light in their homes as they were only used to burn "jharro" for their light in the nights, thus people are VERY satisfied and periodical visits confirm that. E.g. when I went last year in one of the houses I met 3 boys learning under a 6 WLED light putting their heads together. Their mother said that they are much better in school. No wonder if they can study for a few hours every night!

We had some break-downs, as this systems was the very first one all over Nepal, a prototype which had to be cheap but robust, and we had temperatures in the winter as low as minus 20 degree Celsius, but we could fix all either on site or we carried the turbine to Jumla and repaired it.

Further I want to mention, that the whole Hydro Power Plant (a name which sounds almost to big for such a small system, that's why Pico sounds much more appropriate) is built without one gram of cement! The power house is out of wood, the water overflow of a "ghatta" is led into a stone masonry canal and then into a wood canal (joined by two trees to make up the length) with clear defined dimensions so that the needed water flow (27 l/s) at any given time can pass through. The wood canal is built on top of a kind of dam to make up for the needed height (2 m), also that is built wholly with stones and mud only.

All the voluntary work was given by the local people, the initial costs for the Pico was paid by NHE in Butwal where that Pico was initially developed, the WLED light were sponsored by LUTW, and the previous UMN KCST (Karnali Community Skill Training Project), which I was leading at that time, pulled in the rest, which was mainly the night shifts, training of one local staff to run the Pico Plant, all the repairs and now the periodical visits. Till today the plant is running daily, now 15 months with a few stops only. Right now as you read this email the 4th village is installed with WLEDs, though now the second village with Solar PV panels. For 125 houses we need ONLY 8 x 40 Watt solar PV panels, one for each 15 houses. Initially each house will have one 9 WLED light installed and after some 2 years, paying into a fund 20 Rp per month per household for maintenance and for the second WLED light (15 Rp) they will have 2 lights.

Thus it doesn't need too much time to calculate that costs come drastically down per household. 2 years ago, the last microhydro power plant installed in Jumla (about 15 kW plant, a 3 hours walk from Jumla) cost about 30.000 - 33.000 Rp per household (84 households), though only 500 Rp per household was demanded. Now for 125 households we need to install 8 x 40 Watt solar PV panels and some 8 x 2 solar deep cycle batteries. I don't have the exact cost per
household at my finger tips but around 4 - 5 times cheaper per household in comparison to the microhydro power plant. And WLED lights have a life expectancy of up to 100.000 hours and not just 800 hours as the incandescent bulbs. Calculate for yourselves how many years that is if 5 hours per day the light is on.

All in all, I want to share with you all that there are solutions which make it possible that the poorest of the poor communities, and these are the ones we have to focus on, are able to participate not only in small parts, but are even able to pay for it fully themselves, and this is one of the key reasons why the sustainability of such a system is already to start with much higher, as they own that system, it's theirs and they want to look after it. And beside that, a turbine which is a few hundred grams and a motor with a few kgs can easily be taught how to dismantle and be brought down to Jumla, or even small problems can be fixed by themselves through appropriate training. Please let me know of your experience, how we can improve all further, so that the poorest of the poor can benefit at the end of the day.

Alex Zahnd

15. From: "Gopi Upreti" <gopi@rrn.org.np>
Subject: [RETs] Week 1: Re: Moderator's Introduction to Week One
Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2001 09:52:24 -0500

I want to thank to all the moderators for bringing up the energy issue in proper perspective and framework for discussion. Please accept my apology for being late to comment or add on what already had been said. Nevertheless, I want to emphasize a few points with respect to microhydro energy system in the context of mountain environment.

1. The micro-hydro schemes should not be considered in isolation, just to generate energy for lighting purpose only, they should be well integrated into the total watershed management strategy so that the productivity of the environmental resource base can be maintained. This has important implications for community's livelihood resources (options?) as healthy and productive watershed contributes to the productivity of the community's livelihood resources.

2. Community participation in sustainable management and use of natural resources (forest ecosystem and/or watershed) becomes very effective when community clearly sees the linkages between watershed protection and the benefits deriving from such watershed in the form of hydro-energy.

3. The initial cost of micro-hydro schemes may look high from purely economic view but from the perspective of environmental resource management (internalizing the environmental benefits from watershed management) and people's increased capability to manage their resources, it may come out to be cheaper than other sources.

A system perspective that integrates all relevant components (micro-hydro scheme, watershed and forests, land, agriculture and the community) can provide a better framework for analysis.

Gopi Upreti

16. From: "akshay gupta" <akki219@hotmail.com>
Subject: [RETs] Week 1: Re: Community-Oriented Hydro Systems As Sociotechnical Design Systems
Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2001 20:43:34 +0600

Dear Amreeta,

No one in this forum would disagree with the socio-technical design systems you are emphasizing. But have we reached a development stage where we people, who are implementers, understand the whole gamut of political, social, economic and technological issues underlining any successful implementation. Somewhere in between, business and ethics also play a part. There is a deluge of factors that are responsible for this. I would consider any such project equivalent to developing a new product in any industrial organization. Usually, a myopic view of attributing a huge percentage of jobs to developing a new technology is the source of all dissatisfaction. Developing a technology is one subject. And implementing should be considered as another project that is equally complex. Just like a programmer before creating a new product would assemble all knowledge pertaining to the product to be developed which will obviously cover a gamut of subjects like best programming language, best database, best server, best team etc, we should have properly defined terms in points 1,2 and 3 to complete a successful implementation. We need a lot of research in all the areas and all the interfaces in the pilot plan before we can expect a hit rate anywhere close to cent percent.

Regards,
Akshay

17. From: "Juergen Clemens" <juergen.clemens@gmx.net>
Subject: [RETs]Week 1: Capacities of Hydrorams - Potentials for Lifting Water
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2001 09:38:57 +0530

I highly appreciate the discussion on hydrorams for lifting water for irrigation purposes. I used to work in the semi arid to arid parts Northern Pakistan, where the River Indus and its tributaries drain the "water tower" of the plains of the Punjab and Sindh. However, most of their discharge can not be used locally for irrigation purposes along the river terraces since the river beds are cut into the sediments with vertical distances of tens of metres. There are no traditional means of lifting water over such vertical distances and most of the irrigation relies on canals diverted from small side streams with huge seasonal discharge variation. Thus, huge tracks of barren land are to be found along the River Indus and its tributaries. Are their any experiences and techniques for lifting water based on RET? Diesel pumps had already been introduced, but these imply high maintenance and running costs. I would appreciate receiving some comments or particular hints.

Juergen Clemens
Department of Geography - University of Bonn

18. From: "Juergen Clemens" <juergen.clemens@gmx.net>
Subject: [RETs] Week 1: Interrelation between Micro-Hydels and Deforestation
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2001 09:54:25 +0530

I highly appreciate the exchange of ideas and experiences regarding the potentials of micro hydro power generation for decentralised electrictiy supplies in remote mountain habitats.

During my own research in Northern Pakistan on rural energy supplies, fuelwood consumption and the threatening deforestation, I also analysed the region's huge hydro power potentials, as well as the electricity production and consumption strategies that had been developed so far. Repeatedly, I read in strategy papers of government agencies and NGOs that the expected outcome of further rural electrification and micro hydro power generation in particular will be lower fuelwood consumption rates and less deforestation! Such aspects had also been discussed so far in this Forum.

But where is any evidence of these expected effects, at least for Pakistan? My calculation of specific capacities (total capacity in kW or MW divided by households) showed, that there are no capacities available which might allow the widespread usage of electric oven or heaters. And low-wattage devices, such as those in Nepal, have not been introduced so far (according to my knowledge). Of course some wealthy and influential people use electrical cooking and heating, but the majority of households still rely on fuelwood for heating during the long and cold winters and also for most of their cooking needs, especially for baking
flat breads - chapatis. Additionally, low river discharge in winter repeatedly leads to loadshedding and thus reduces the substitution potentials during the cold season.

Of course, there have been positive impacts following the introduction of electric lights, such as the substitution of kerosene oil for lighting, and social improvements, especially for women and students, but I have found no evidence, so far, of reduced fuelwood consumption. There
might have been exactly the opposite effect because of people staying up and thus heating their houses for longer duration.

Have there been surveys in other mountain areas on the interrelation between rural electrification and the fuelwood consumption? I would appreciate receiving some comments or particular hints on this aspect.

Juergen Clemens
Department of Geography - University of Bonn

19. From: "Ajay Sharma" <a.sharma@cqu.edu.au>
Subject: [RETs] Week 1: My experience with Micro-Hydel power
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2001 10:11:09 +0530

I intend to begin by praising 'Hydram'. Considering the field realities (including socio-economic, professional and financial situations) of residents, NGOs, decision
makers, funding agencies, etc, the Hydram is undoubtably the most suitable technology and an essential part of the initial package required in most of the villages. It boosts availability of irrigation water and thus holds the key to a chain reaction towards growth.

I am basically from plant science and have been working with biomass resource development. While assessing potential of a hilly village near Palampur (H.P., India) to meets its energy demands from within its own sources, I had first hand experience with a few issues involved with Micro-hydel power generation. Learned workers have already highlighted major salient features and I would like to refer to a few different ones.

Kripal Singh khool (khool is a narrow water canal in hills), a mighty brick lined water canal, passes through villages Samana and Gujreda, which are at the tail end of electricity grid and always had problem with quality of power. The khool has a 34 ft fall in Gujreda village and 135 kW power production was possible there. The power was sufficient for about three villages in the vicinity.

State Electricity Board was not keen in investing in the micro-hydel because the state is surplus in power production and for them it was easy to increase voltage on a feeder line than installing and maintaining such a small power production unit. First lesson was that sometimes the broad guidelines or decision making criteria lead to a situation where attractive development opportunities are missed.

Anyhow, the case was moved to Micro-hydel division of Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources but since the initial survey was done by a Rural energy wing (Reference Urjagram division), the report was not acceptable to the technical wing of Micro-hydel. I pursued the things for a while and then lost hopes. Thus I learnt, that unclear role definition and poor co-ordination or superiority guided non-cooperation among divisions/ Departments/Boards has led to failure of many good proposals as well as projects.

If funding can be provided for usually high installation costs, the micro-hydels can be a much better option for the tail end villages and promotion of cottage industries in rural areas. It is not a very attractive option for decentralised energy sustainable unit, away from grid because of poor economic viability. Moreover, the balance shifts to negative for all power sustainable units after a while as power demand always increases with time, leading to problems with decentralised systems.

Micro-hydel is a very good supplement to power grid as the symbiosis between them may create wonderful success stories in power stressed areas, which either of them has not generated so far.

Ajay Sharma
Doctoral Fellow
PSG, Central Queensland University

20. From: "Bikash Pandey" <bpandey@winrock.org.np> | Block Address | Add to Address Book
Subject: [RETs] Week 1: Re: Interrelation between Micry-Hydels and Deforestation
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2001 17:12:46 +0545

Dear Mr. Clemens,

To add to Mr. Stewart Craine's response to your question on the role of micro-hydels to combat deforestation, I would like to add that there is some evidence that a substantial amount of energy output (>10%) from a micro-hydel plant can be used to substitute for firewood, but under very special circumstances. Efforts in Nepal of over 15 years to promote low wattage and storage cooking show that people will at least heat water with electricity and sometimes cook with electricity under the following conditions:

a. Firewood is very expensive to purchase or its use is regulated strictly.

b. Employment is available in the time people save by not having to collect firewood.

c. Electricity is low cost or provided at a flat tariff which does not count how many kWh you have used but only how many Watts you have subscribed to.

We find that these conditions are fulfilled inside national park areas, where there are enforced limits on the amount of trees that can be cut for firewood; where there is a strong tourism industry with many jobs available and relatively high cost of labor; and where electricity is not metered but distributed based on a flat tariff. In lodges and small hotels in particular, it is quite common in certain parts of Nepal for the subscribed power (say 1 kW) to be switched on to the storage tank of a solar water heater. This allows as many at 20 guests to have very hot showers early in the morning. More can have showers heated by the sun in the evening too. These showers sell from Rs 20 to Rs 50 in some places and are a good source of income. Compared to the earlier systems where a 200 liter drum of water used to be heated with a bundle of firewood whenever a trekking tourist wanted a shower and the whole thing was let to cool again, there is substantial savings in firewood. However, it is also very likely that many more showers are being taken than before.

In many smaller micro and pico-hydel plants with electronic load controllers, it has been found that people have figured out ways to use the water that is heated when power is dumped into the ballast. Here too it is not clear how much is substitution of firewood and how much is increased use of hot water.

Bikash Pandey
Winrock International Nepal

21. From: "Stewart Craine" <Stewart.Craine@hydro.com.au>
Subject: [RETs] Week 1: RE: Interrelation between Micro-Hydels and Deforestation
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2001 16:05:47 +1100

Dear Juergen,

I believe a group from Empower in New Zealand found that wood consumption increased due to villagers staying up later. ITDG ahd also studied the problem, I believe. Wood consumption has been dramatically reduced in tourist areas of Nepal, where the cost of a larger micro hydro can be passed on to the tourists. However, some of these project still cannot collect enough money for repairs that are needed after about 10 years of operation. The basic reality is that electric cooking is fairly expensive for Western people, and simply infeasible for rural communities of the Himalayas.

Improved cookstoves (ICS) give a much better result, possibly increasing efficiency from 15% to 25% and cutting wood use by 40%. These stoves usually enclose the fire, resulting in lower light levels in the house, so a micro hydro for lighting and improved cookstove together can be complementary. I was also playing with a 15W exhaust fan that one could put above the stove, perhaps in a hood, to remove the smoke from an ICS, giving health benefits. An ICS with a chimney will not increase the fuel efficiency as much as an ICS without a chimney, due to the draft. The ICS/MHP approach has been implemented by LEDCO (www.ledco-nepal.com) after their integrated energy planning project. Baseline energy consumption data has been collected, and the MHP has just started operating. Data will be taken next year to measure the effects of the ICS and MHP technologies.

I hope this is of some help.

Cheers,
Stewart Craine

22. From: "Centre for Rural Technology, Nepal" <crt@wlink.com.np>
Subject: [RETs] Week 1: Socio-economic Up-gradation of Rural Communities through Improvement of Water Mills in Nepal
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2001 11:53:15 +0530

In the mid and high hills of Nepal, traditional water mills (ghattas) located at the bank of small streams and rivers are used as important source of energy from centuries for grinding their food grains. It is estimated that more than 25000 water mills are in operation in Nepal. Although traditional water mills have been part and parcel of villagers’ life since ages, due to its low efficiency, they happen to be quite burdensome to the villagers, specially to women. Such mills have not been able to cater the increasing agro-processing needs of people. As such, diesel mills are entering fast in the potential areas and replacing the traditional mills.

With the realization of the above situation, continuous efforts of Nepalese and foreign experts and support from both German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and German Appropriate Technology Exchange (GATE) have brought some improvements in traditional water mills since early 1980s. From 1990, the Centre for Rural Technology, Nepal (CRTN) has been actively involved in the promotion and dissemination of improved water mills through motivating and supporting local water mill owners with the cooperation from various development organizations and support from GTZ. So far, about 850 Improved Water mills are already in operation in 42 hill districts of Nepal which is less than 4 % of existing traditional water mills indicating the tremendous potential for the improvement activities in the country.

The basic principle of water mill operation is the changing of kinetic energy of falling water to mechanical energy. After the diversion of stream through simple weir, earthen channel carrying water is extended and led towards water mill through wooden chute (made out of hollow trunk of tree) which is inclined at an angle of 40-50 degree to the horizontal axis with a certain vertical head. There is a gate (made of piece of flat stone) for safety overflow which is opened when the mill is to be stopped. A wedge is inserted to the end of the chute to direct the water to the runner. The centre-piece of the turbine runner is a massive boss in which a forged steel tip is driven into the lower cone. The turbine runner wooden blades measuring approximately 18 cm x 25 cm and having 6 cm x 6 cm peg on other side are driven in the boss tightly. The whole runner rests on a steel plate with conic depression. The shaft of the runner projects above the bottom of the grinding stone in which key is inserted. The grinding stone is made locally which is grooved time to time as per requirement.

The improved water mill is a modified version of traditional water mill. The improvement of traditional water mill is done by improving the various components of the traditional one but the major break through is made by replacing the traditional wooden runner with hydraulically better shaped metallic runner having cup shaped blades. The wooden shaft is also replaced by the metallic one. This increases its operational efficiency (from about 20 % to 50 %) as well as making it more useful with additional machines for hulling, oil expelling, saw milling, electricity generation etc.

Improvement of traditional water mills have greatly facilitated not only to meet the agro-processing needs of the rural communities residing in the hills but also helped the local entrepreneurs to run the mills in a business way and increase their income level. The power output in traditional mills was less than 0.5 kW while it is more than 2 kW in improved ones. The installation works has so far served about 34000 rural families (about 40 families/ghatta). The improvement of the traditional water mills has resulted into positive changes in the socio-economic conditions of mill owners and other community members and the village itself. The GTZ supported project on “Promotion and Dissemination of Improved Water Mills in Hilly Regions of Nepal for Rural Applications” has been recognized as “Project Around the World” at EXPO 2000, Hanover/Germany. Improvement of traditional water mill is the most promising options for the remote hills/mountains of not only Nepal but also in other relevant mountainous countries to help the local communities residing there. Adequate support, both in terms of software and hardware, are required for its effective promotion and dissemination in the country.

For more information on Improved Water Mills, please contact us. We would like to have your comments and suggestions towards promotion and dissemination of this technology.

Lumin Kr. Shrestha
Director, Centre for Rural Technology, Nepal (CRT/N)

23. From: "Girish Kharel" <girish@mail.com.np>
Subject: [RETs] Week 1: Moderator's Questions
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2001 14:37:12 +0530

It has been a very interesting discussion so far with important and pertinent issues raised by the participants.

As a means of encouraging and provoking the discussion further, I would like to raise some questions that have come to my mind while reading through the submissions.

1. Where does microhydro fit in along with all the other RETs? Is it complementary to other RETs or does it compete with them, for example, with PVs?

2. Is providing lighting the main objective? Does emphasis on lighting, and hence smaller plants, mean that people will be denied the benefits of drudgery reduction because these small plants are unable to drive machines like grinders, hullers etc.

3. Microhydro has become almost synonymous with electricity, at least in Nepal. Is this for the good? What is the experience from other parts of the world?

4. Is electricity a luxury or necessity? Can a community be "developed" without electricity ?

5. What are the social, cultural, economic and political considerations that need to be taken into consideration to make microhydro successful? Are there examples that we can learn from where microhydro has been unsuccessful because these factors were neglected? Or where the results have been negative?

It would be interesting to hear more from donors and those implementing microhydro programmes. What are the ground realities of microhydro?

Girish Kharel
Moderator for Week 1