Cook electric
Practical Action
Keys to success
Three years on, all the available power from the Ghandruk scheme has been bought up, but
demand has not been satiated. As a result, the villagers are now looking to upgrade the scheme to
generate a further 50 kW of power. This is a clear indication of the success of the project. But it
does not mean that the outcome would be the same in every Nepali village, or for similar schemes
in other countries. The main keys to success in Ghandruk were:
• Expanding village economy. Ghandruk is relatively wealthy. Many families' cash income - from
tourism, in particular, and the army - has grown. They could afford to pay for hydro power and
the newly available electric cookers.
• Cultural homogeneity of the community. Nearly all the families are from the same ethnic
group. Gurungs are sociable, friendly people and they live very close together, allowing a
constant exchange of ideas.
• Status of women. Women have relatively high status and dominate domestic affairs. Their
sociability has also contributed to the spread of electric cooking.
• Openness to new ideas. Exposure to tourism and army service has meant that the community
is more open to new ideas than many more remote villages.
• Importance of tourism. Tourism contributes to the financial viability of the scheme. The
demand tourists create for constant hot water enhances the benefits of the electric cookers.
Moreover, by reducing trekkers' impact on forest resources the new energy source is helping to
make tourism more sustainable.
• ACAP's involvement. ACAP has played a critical role in encouraging village-wide participation,
offering technical advice, educating the villagers on conservation and development issues, and
advising on management of the scheme.
• Competitive price of electricity. Since electricity from micro-hydro has to compete with 'free'
fuelwood, it must be cheap in comparison to other sources.
Implications
The Ghandruk project is an important test case for demonstrating the viability of electric cooking
in rural communities. The Ghandruk experience has shown that the benefits of electric cooking
are convincing enough for richer families to justify the investment, and to cause people to modify
their cooking habits. The main obstacle to spreading electric cooking further is its affordability.
As we have seen, electric cooking has led to significant fuelwood savings for individual families.
But these savings will not make much of an impact on forest resources. This is because at
present only a minority of families cook with electricity, and because there are other demands on
fuelwood supplies. While fuelwood remains cheap or free and is easy to obtain, electric cooking is
unlikely to be financially attractive to villagers. But in areas where fuelwood is scarce, it is
already a competitive option. As pressure on fuelwood increases throughout Nepal, the niche for
electric cooking will grow steadily. In the meantime, the promotion of electric cooking will require
considerable financial support and subsidies.
It is the power needs of the future - not just the present - which make electric cooking so
important. The market for electric cooking may be small now, but it will grow steadily, since
economic growth goes hand in hand with dramatic increases in energy consumption. As the
standard of living rises, so too will the power needs of villages. Micro-hydro offers a relatively
cheap, reliable and sustainable way of meeting these needs and fuelling rural development.
There may not be enough demand in many remote Nepali villages to make micro- hydro viable
now, but the situation is likely to be different in a few years’ time.
The potential for micro-hydro in other countries may well be even greater. Nepal's per capita fuel
consumption and income are amongst the lowest in the world. Many other countries with micro-
hydro potential are more able to afford the investment required. The surge of interest in Nepal's
experience from Asia, Africa and Latin America seems to bear this assumption out.
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