#micro hydropower

[sameermi]

Small Hydropower Market Growth Driven by Renewable Energy Trends

The small hydropower industry is witnessing steady expansion driven by increasing demand for sustainable energy and energy decentralization.

[coherentmicom]

https://hallbook.com.br/blogs/724519/Small-Hydropower-Market-Growth-Fueled-by-Renewable-Energy-Adoption

[sameermi]

https://hallbook.com.br/blogs/719666/Small-Hydropower-Market-Growth-Driven-by-Renewable-Energy-Adoption

[currentclimate]

[atomicbreadcomputer-blog]

“Hydropower Market Size, By Capacity (Micro And Pico Hydropower, Mini Hydropower, Small Hydropower, Large Hydropower), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Mexico, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Germany, China, India, Philippines, Japan, Vietnam, Nigeria, Kenya, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador), Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017 – 2024”

More Information @ http://bit.ly/2q6BeCN Growing focus toward adoption of renewable energy integration coupled with its wide applications range including water supply for irrigation and flood control will propel the hydropower market growth. Volatile fossil fuel prices along with measures towards energy security will further complement the industry landscape. As per World Energy Council, electricity generated through hydropower accounted for 71% of the global sustainable energy in 2015.

[encounters-on-two-wheels]

Community power

Drops of sweat ran down our cheeks as we reached the small village of San Jose,  after one and a half hours of walking along a muddy hiking track from Mosoco.  100m of steep downhill to cross a small fast running river, then trudging back up the other side of the narrow valley to the same height as our starting point. We only carried a small backpack, our bike bags were strapped to Camilla’s horse. It is the daily walk to school for most children, to the nearest market or to the road with the five hour bus to the nearest bigger town, Popayan. A long walk as long as the small cable car over the gorge does not work. We travelled 18h from Bogota to get here, on various pieces of local transport, taking us over landslides and up snaking gravel roads. Why, you might ask?

We were on a small mission to understand what could make a small hydropower plant in a distant rural community work in the long run. In Cusco, more than half a year earlier, we met up with the renewable energy team of Practical Action. Through their connection, we visited one of their success stories - a small community in Bolivia who produce their own electricity with a small hydropower plant. When we came to Tuni, to our surprise there was no evening-time glow from the houses after sunset. All was dark. We were told the one and only person who could operate the plant was on holiday and nobody else actually knew how to turn the turbine and generator on. Practical Action gave us examples of a common situation, where parts would become damaged and the community fund would not have the resources or expertise to fix things. Since the project was completed, there was no continuing ‘outside’ money to check how plants are operating, or to assist. The EnDev Bolivia team from the German Development Agency we visited in La Paz found out that two thirds of small scale hydropower plants in Bolivia were no longer functioning, after only a number of years.

Plant built. Capacity building carried out. Result achieved. Project over. Hang on, does no different approach exist? This remained an open question on our trip until we met Maurcio and spent many hours driving along the muddy tracks of Los Llanos on our way to meet the lemongrass growing communities. Many hours to hear about and discuss other projects he supported as a renewable energy engineer in Colombia. Mauricio told us about the 15kW, 10 year old hydropower plant in the indigenous community of San Jose in Southern Colombia. We had already passed through the area on our bicycles a few months earlier, but we were keen to visit a community with a small scale hydropower plant that worked for more than just a few years.

The community of San Jose with its twenty families greeted us warmly and gradually shared the recent story of their village and their hydropower plant. Fabio and Mauricio, the two men responsible for the smooth running of the hydropower plant, plus two engaged teenagers, showed us around. They proudly took us to see the channel that separates the water from the river, rolled a few massive rocks in an ‘Obelix style’ out of the water flow and guided us into the small turbine house from where the electricity travels up to the village. As we were walking down the step hiking path, Fabio told us that the elders had initiated a first project 15 years ago. He showed us some of the first infrastructure that was built in a ‘minga’ – a community work day. Unfortunately, nobody had calculated the required water flow for the turbine and it wasn’t enough. But, there was a strong will and interest among the community of San Jose to create their electricity supply.

Mauricio Gnecco from Villavincenio was the missing piece in the puzzle. A Colombian renewable energy engineer with a deep interest in psychology. The same day it is confirmed to be technically possible to build a mini-hydropower plant, he begins to build the connections. He searches for a group of teenagers and young adults and finds out what makes them ‘tick’. And gets involved - takes them fishing, or organises a football tournament. Mauricio will interweave stories about the hydropower plant, planting seeds of interest, to begin to nurture curiosity. Once the construction begins, the football or fishing ‘team’ are involved – helping to move rocks, screwing together the parts. The future maintenance crew for a rural village is born. Creating this motivated maintenance team could be one missing link to make this type of renewable energy project work in the long-run. In the case of San Jose, Fabio and Mauricio from San Jose stayed in the village and took on the responsibility, two others of the four left, maybe it was just lucky that Fabio and Mauricio from San Jose stayed. But the connection through emotion might have pushed the luck a little bit further in the right direction.*

There was an option for San Jose to push the local government for a grid connection at the time of the hydropower plant construction. The grid runs through Mosoco, 800m away, but on the other side of the deep gorge. It seemed like the easy option, at least to us. But David, the teacher of the primary school in San Jose, told us that for the people here, the decision for their independent hydropower plant was clear. The grid connection to San Jose could have been delayed for years. Plus, once connected, it can be very unreliable and we were told that tariffs keep increasing. For San Jose the autonomy is crucial.  It is mostly in their own hands to keep their radios running and there is solidarity – if a family cannot pay the monthly charge of 4,000Pesos (around £1), there is flexibility - the other families know that they will pay their fees when they can. With an electricity company, no payment means an automatic cut-off.  Mauricio from San Jose, who is now responsible for the maintenance, receives a monthly salary of 50,000Peso (around £13) out of the monthly fund for clearing out leaves and stones from the water flow and dealing with any required repairs. Any larger repairs are covered by the indigenous government fund. His neighbour Fabio, who did the job for the first couple of years, is luckily still in the village and acts as a back-up. As we learned in Bolivia, it’s crucial not to rely only on one person.

For now, this foundation – the connection through emotion -  worked well for San Jose. The cumbia tunes, interspersed with local indigenous radio, mark the rhythm of village life.

We will keep wondering though which other ways exist to make renewable energy projects in a development context work in the long-run.    

* The project was financed half by a post-earthquake fund from the European Union and half by the Colombian state. But the community put many hours and days of hard work into its construction. It wasn’t just a gift. An aspect that makes this project a little special is the location in an indigenous community. Indigenous groups in Colombia are their ‘own states’ and receive funding from the Colombian government. We learned that this funding can play an important role in paying for emergency repairs. Funding small villages in Bolivia might not receive.

[encounters-on-two-wheels]

Community power in San Jose, Southern Colombia. A one and a half hour walk to the nearest road. A to-be-repaired cable car to shorten the  journey. Fabio and Mauricio explaining their 10year old - still and well working hydropower plant to us. Enjoying the evening light.

[encounters-on-two-wheels]

Hydropower for 35people in the Bolivian mountains

Our second night in Bolivia, and we found ourselves dancing with energetic and traditionally dressed women to the tunes of a local band in a village hall at the foothills of the Cordillera Real. It was the inaugral celebration for a new potable water system to be installed by the French NGO ‘Hydrauliques Sans Frontieres’. And somehow we were in the middle of it all, trying some Chicha, the local drink and admiring the energy of the four French engineers dancing endlessly at 4000m.

Actually we were looking for a pico hydropower plant in a small village, called Tuni, 25km further on a gravel track towards the 6000ers of the Cordillera Real. But Jaime, the engaging and welcoming local contact person, suggested to pick us up 50km before Tuni with his jeep, invited us for dinner at his house and to the local fiesta. Suerte. Both Soluciones Practicas (the peruvian branch of Practical Action UK) and IICA in Peru had mentionned the project in Tuni to us. We wanted to see the reality of a micro/pico-hydropower project after the staff of Soluciones Practicas in Cusco talked us through the theoretical set-up, the structure and possible difficulties. They hadn´t mentionned the required energetic dancing with local women to ensure the project would start off well.

Why would Tuni with its 17 families receive electricity from hydropower to light houses, use household applicances, power electrical lama shearers and not a village three valleys further north? Was there a national electrification plan in Peru or Bolivia that listed every village based on several criteria in a prioritised list? Not really it turned out, at least not in this detail. Peru and Bolvia have the lowest rural electrification rates in South America, at 43% and 44% back in 2010 (IEA, 2012). The families in Tuni  were lucky that the village is a starting point for hikes in the impressive mountains of the Cordillera Real and a French engineer and mountaineer from Hydrauliques Sans Frontieres passed by and decided to get involved. Soluciones Practicas don’t rely on goverment data either, rather, they developed their own energy needs assessment and energy potential for each community in the relevant regions. Potential communities and a suitable technologies are identified and, if there is community interest for engagement, as well as financial support from the local municipality, a project could be started. A more structured approach in selecting communities, rather than the pure luck as in Tuni, but still only one NGO in one region in Peru with a limited budget.

A long-term functioning and sustainable small hydropower plant requires strong engagement of the local community in many ways. Soluciones Practicas provides 60-70% of the required investment, the rest needs to come from the local municipality. Given the municipality provides financing, it has an interest that the hydropower plant will function and benefit the community in the long-term. In addition, capacity needs to be built in the community, to operate the plant, carry out repairs and administer the finances side. Soluciones Practicas (or Hydrauliques Sans Frontiers) leave once the hydro plant is set up and each community needs to have the capacity to make sure the current keeps flowing. As far as possible the local community builds the water channel, housing structure and electricity pillars. But parts such as the generator or turbine often come from outside Peru and Bolvia, and service engineers come from larger cities.

In Tuni, Jaime’s wife tells us proudly she is the elected President for the hydropower plant this year. Alongside is a treasurer to administer the money paid by villagers each month (collating a fund for small maintenance requirements), a person responsible for communication and a secretary. Most important, it seems, is the technical operator who starts the turbine and carries out any repairs. Quite a team to organize the supply of electricity to 35 people. But Soluciones Practicas in Cusco had previously told us about the importance of a well-functioning management structure. For each project, the NGO sets up an operating commitee which works together with the community and municipality and employs the two local operators: one technical operator responsible for maintenance and repair and one administrative one to manage the funds. Soluciones Practicas normally trains both operators, plus a few back-up people, over a period of only 3-4months. Not an easy task. Given the low education levels in rural villages, there can be a significant gap between existing skills and numeracy and the capacity required by the administrator to suddenly manage the funds of an electricity project for a whole village. In Tuni, Jaime told us that all villagers received training in operating the turbine.

Both Tuni and the Soluciones Practicas hydropower projects operate with a monthly electricity tariff system to build up a fund for smaller repairs. In Tuni the cost is the same for all families, 5 Bolivianos per month - roughly 50p. In contrast, Soluciones Practicas suggests an interesting tariff system to the communities: the price per kWh decreases with the consumption in blocks (e.g. 10 Soles/kWh - 2pounds/kWh - for the first xkWh, then 8 soles/kWh for the next xkWh) to incentivise villagers to start up their own business. Similar to the electricity price system between industry, businesses and housholds in Germany just on a much smaller scale. Unfortunately, we didn´t manage to visit a Soluciones Practicas project in Peru to hear about the results of this approach.

But, both the fund created through the tariffs and capacity building for technical and administrative operators are not always sufficient to make the hydropower project sustainable in the long-term. If larger parts stop working, the fund is not sufficient to cover the costs and we were told that the process of requesting money from the municipality or regional Gov’t for such repairs can take years. Or, if there is money available, external service engineers might be needed which takes time, or trained staff might move away from the village. People in the village might loose the trust in the electricity system if it doesn´t work for several months and look for alternative solutions (e.g. generators) if their budget allows. Others might just have to live without electricity again. From a survey of similar micro hydro schemes in Bolivia, we were told that 1/3rd were no longer functioning, 3 years later. Capacity building for a larger group of people in the village can help and, if the electricity is essential for some businesses, their owners are likely to be more motivated to support the repair or lobby the local government for funds.

As we finally reached Tuni - the village with a laguna providing drinking water to the two million people in La Paz and El Alto - with the impressive Huyuani Potosi at 6088m in the background, Jaime’s father greeted us warmly in the evening sun. Between grazing lamas, poking their heads curiously towards us, he showed us the beautiful landscapes around his village and the small building with the water turbine and generator. It wasn’t working. The local technical operator had gone away for two days for All Saints. No one else was authorised to turn on the turbine. No light that night in Tuni’s EcoAlberge. 

Tuni, 2nd November 2015