- In 2013, International Rivers and the Nagaland Empowerment of People thru EnergyDevelopment (NEPeD) hosted a micro hydro exchange event focusing on NE India, which connected HPNET to the Meghalaya Basin Development Agency (MBDA).
- In 2015, HPNET enabled India practitioners to attend HPNET’s Members Gathering held in Indonesia at the Hydropower Competence Center (HYCOM), connecting them to Pt entec Indonesia.
- In 2016, MBDA and HPNET held a regional exchange in Meghalaya, with VillageRES and PT entec Indonesia as co-facilitators.
- In mid-2019, International Rivers and partners, including HPNET, hosted a tri-country dialogue in Meghalaya, with CSOs and local practitioners from Nepal, Myanmar, and India.
- In late 2019, HPNET supported a reconnaissance field visit to understand field-based challenges to pico hydro scale up in NE India.
- In 2021, HPNET and International Rivers held a three-part virtual exchange focusing on Ganges, Brahmaputra, Meghna, and Salween (GBMS) Rivers, providing regional inspiration from across S/SE Asia and customized capacity building.
- The 2021 event included a special keynote by Mr. Augustus Suting, Special Officer at MBDA.
Below Mr. Ramasubramanian Vaidhyanathan (“Rams”), who has long been committed to the sub-region, provides a brief and exciting update on the most recent technical developments brought forth by a partnership between HPNET members VillageRES and Pt entec Indonesia.
VillageRES (Village Renewable Energy Systems India Private limited) participated in the tender in partnership with EMSYS Electronics Private limited, a solar energy company based in Bangalore. The consortium was awarded 45 sites located throughout Meghalaya.
VillageRES entered into a manufacturing license agreement with PT entec Indonesia to manufacture their new cross flow turbine design with 150mm diameter runners. The turbine is called CFT 150/21.
The fabrication began in July 2022. Pt entec Director, Mr. Gerhard Fischer, and the team helped us a lot with fabricating the first few pieces – updating drawings, dimensions, a few design corrections, etc. We fabricated the units in the south Indian industrial hub of Coimbatore, in the state of Tamil Nadu.
We are very pleased with the results: the turbines have come out very well made and were cost effective to fabricate. We also tested a few of the turbines at a site in Meghalaya and the performance was fantastic. We will be assessing the performance of this model more thoroughly once all the units are installed.
He can be reached at rams@villageres.com.