Cook electric
Practical Action
government organization that is promoting micro-hydro power. The British-based charity,
Intermediate Technology, which has many years' experience in micro-hydro and Nepal, provided
technical assistance.
Financial aspects
Micro-hydro schemes are very cheap to run and maintain once they have been set up, but they
need considerable investment to start with. The 50 kW scheme cost Rs 3,590,000 (US$72,000)
to build - working out at US$1,440 per kW installed. Large hydro schemes being built in Nepal
for the grid cost two to three times as much per kilowatt.
Ghandruk village provided 30 per cent of the cost of the scheme, half of which was given in the
form of labour and half taken as a loan from the Agricultural Development Bank of Nepal which
has given similar support to a number of micro-hydro installations throughout the country. The
remaining 70 per cent was provided
in the form of grants and subsidy by
the King Mahendra UK Trust for
Nature Conservation, the
Canadian Co-operation Office, and
His Majesty's Government of Nepal;
the funds were channelled through
ACAP. A large grant was needed to
make sure the project was
sustainable and electricity was
cheap enough to encourage electric
cooking.
Electricity tariffs were set at a
level sufficient to pay back the
loan within five years, and to cover
maintenance costs and salaries
(three local people were trained to
run the system). The tariff scheme
Figure 10: Electric lighting is one 0f the main benefits
brought by micro-hydro.
was carefully designed so that the
electricity would be affordable by all families in the village. Three different rates were set, so
that commercial and industrial consumers subsidize the rates for domestic consumers.
Once the loan is repaid, revenue from the scheme in
excess of that required to replace equipment will be
invested in a Village Development Fund to be used at the
village's discretion. In this way, the benefits from the
scheme and the income from tourism can be spread more
widely amongst the community.
Ownership and participation
Because of the high cost of installation it was critical that the
Ghandruk villagers understood the commitment needed, and
that they invested in, owned and managed the project
themselves. To bring this about, a Village Electrification
Committee was established, which was given responsibility for
overseeing all aspects of the project, from construction to tariff
collection.
Figure 11: Brewing tea on a
metal tripod or agenu.
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