Cook electric
Practical Action
Micro-hydro power
Decentralized, small-scale hydro systems could make
power available to around 50 per cent of the
population. Mini-hydro 000-1,000 kilowatts (kW)) and
micro-hydro (up to 100 kW) schemes are now beginning
to emerge all around the country, bringing power to
villages which stand little chance of being connected to
the grid. One of the main constraints to the further
spread of such schemes is funding, as the cost of
installation is expensive for rural communities.
Water turbines have been used to generate power for
centuries in Nepal: the traditional wooden water
wheel, or pani gbatta, is still used in most villages to
grind grain. Micro-hydro technology aims to build on
this traditional technique, making it more efficient
and versatile. The flow of water is not interrupted by
building dams, and so micro-hydro avoids the
damaging environmental and social impacts of large
hydro-electric schemes.
The energy generated by micro-hydro can:
• power machinery for hulling rice and oil expelling,
saving thousands of women from the daily drudgery of
milling by hand
• generate electric light, improving the quality of life in
Figure 2: A traditional Nepali
water wheel or ghatta. More than
25,000 are still in use for milling
grain.
remote areas, which helps encourage people to stay rather than drift to the cities
• run electric cookers, saving trees and reducing the time spent collecting fuelwood, as well as
improving safety and health support income-generating enterprises by powering machinery,
thereby fuelling rural development
Figure 3: Diagram of a typical micro-hydro scheme. Water is diverted from the stream to
drive a turbine.
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