We’re excited to share the new edition of our video podcast series Streamside Chats!  The platform allows us to dialogue with experienced practitioners about their in-depth experiences in developing sustainable hydro mini-grids. It brings together grassroots innovators and international experts, providing firsthand insights from the field, framed within multi-thematic analysis. 

Intro to Speakers

Dipti Vaghela, the Manager of the Hydro Empowerment Network (HPNET), introduces the speakers, Bikash Pandey, Director of Clean Energy at Winrock International, and Bir Bahadur Ghale, Founder and Managing Director of Hydro Concern Pvt. Ltd. and provides an overview of the topic.  Both speakers are renown for their pioneering work of over 35 years.
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PART 1:  Start up and scale up to hydro mini-grids in Nepal

Dipti chats with Bikash about the key actors that paved the way for micro hydro development in Nepal and the stages through which the sector evolved over the past four decades.  The micro hydro sector is known to have its earliest roots in Nepal within the S/SE Asia region.  In this discussion, we delve into the pivotal reasons for which the country has one of the most dynamic micro hydro programs around the world.  Tune in to hear how multi-actor collaboration resulted in an ecosystem that scaled-up hydro mini grids, enabling energy access in over 3000 communities in rural Nepal. 
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PART 2:  Impact of a social enterprise approach

Bikash dialogues with Bir Bahadur, taking us on a journey of the renown Barpak hydro mini-grid, developed by Bir Bahadur Ghale in his home village 1991, when he was 24 years of age.  Being his first project and having no previous experience, he shares the obstacles he encountered and how he overcame them, including acquiring technical and financial skills to go onto developing hundreds of projects to date.  We also learn about the impact of the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Barpak, the epicenter of the disaster, the rehabilitation of the micro hydro project, and the critical role it played in rebuilding the village and its economy.  Established using a social enterprise approach, 30 years later the Barpak project is a prime example of a hydro mini-grid that is self-sustainable, providing electricity to over 1200 and many village-based enterprises. Bir Bahadur Ghale's approach has transformed the economic resilience of the community.
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PART 3:  Best practices for economic resilience

In this final part of the 3-part dialogue, we learn about Bir Bahadur Ghale's journey beyond Barpak, gaining insight on how energy access can be accelerated by proven developers.  The dialogue also discusses different types of ownership models and the factors for success of each.  The conversation concludes with policy recommendations to accelerate energy access in Nepal, and the role of energy access in pandemic era economic recovery. 
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Join the discussion!​

Over the next few days, we’ll be posting the questions below, in our post-Chat social media forum.  Share your insights on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
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• How can governments better support local manufacturers, producing local jobs and enhancing skill sets?
• What are the different roles that subsidies and loans have in scaling up mini-grids?  Can they complement each other?
• What can help enable communities to identify financially viable productive end use?
• What productive end uses can especially be leveraged by and benefit women?  
• How have mini-grids played a role in economic recovery and resilience of communities in the pandemic age ? 
• What types of policies can support community-private partnerships to accelerate energy access?

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In case you missed it
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Check out our first edition of StreamSide Chats in which we discussed the role of micro hydro in contributing to long term rural economic recovery and resilience in the pandemic era. 

📽️:  StreamSide Chats - Edition 1, Recovery & Resilience

Last quarter HPNET board member Biraj Gautam described our project, focused on the development of a Turgo turbine design, appropriate for local manufacture in Nepal. Whilst common in larger scale hydropower and with some off-the-shelf products available, the Turgo turbine is not currently manufactured by micro-hydropower companies in Nepal. As a medium head turbine, the Turgo offers a viable option for sites where the characteristics make the choice between Pelton and Cross-flow turbines difficult. This article provides an update on our progress in the project so far.                                                   

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Site Visit

Unfortunately, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has prevented PEEDA staff from visiting the field site. A feasibility study is required to find out the technical and socio-economic features of the site and the community. Technically, we need to evaluate the current status of the civil structures and installed equipment. In addition, we require measurements of the powerhouse layout so that the new turbine can interface with existing components. From a socio-economic perspective, we want to understand how the plant is managed, whether the plant generates sufficient income, and assess the opportunity to maximise the plant’s capacity factor. It is important that we ensure that the plant is sustainable in delivering electricity to the community. We continue to monitor the coronavirus situation and hope to be able to visit the site when it is safe to do so. 

3D CAD Design
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Using the head and flow rate from the site and our scaling model, it has been possible to begin the detailed design of the Turgo turbine. The long-term intention is to develop a range of Turgo turbine designs appropriate for sites across the micro-hydropower range. We have been developing calculation sheets for all of the key components which allow dimensions to be determined. We have developed a parametric 3D CAD model that is linked to the calculation sheets. This allows us to quickly adapt the design depending on inputs into the calculation sheet. The 3D design is taking place collaboratively between the Electrical Energy Management Group at the  University of Bristol and Nepal Yantra Shala Energy. The design objective is to produce a design that can be readily manufactured in Nepal with existing machinery and readily available materials. It is expected that detailed design will be completed soon allowing the production of engineering drawings to begin. Initially, the focus is on developing a complete design package for the site in Taplejung. This will include 2D engineering drawings, bill of materials, and supporting 3D CAD files allowing the design to be manufactured in Nepal. Subsequently, we will use the parametric 3D model to generate multiple design packages for the complete operational range.​​
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​This article was written by Joe Butchers, PhD candidate at the University of Bristol. The project is titled Upscaling locally manufactured Turgo Turbine: Dissemination and Demonstration includes the Electrical Energy Management Group at the University of Bristol, PEEDA, Nepal Yantra Shala Energy, Turbine Testing Laboratory at Kathmandu University and HPNET as project partners, and is funded by Energize Nepal.  The work undertaken by the University of Bristol is also funded through an EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account titled Development of an open-source Turgo turbine design tool.

​In his recent Linkedin article, he explores four different management models, namely the community-based model, the cooperative model, the private management model, and the leasing model.

​Moreover, he also outlines strategies and three phases of planning to effectively implement micro hydro projects.

The full text of the article can be accessed here.

​​NEW PAPER: Micro Hydropower in Nepal: A Journey from Stand-alone System to Distributed Generation

The publication is an excellent example of multi-stakeholder collaboration -- between government, utility, private sector, academia and international development actors.  Contributions came from individuals at the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC), Renewable Energy for Rural Livelihoods, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), ECN part of TNO and Preesu Electronics P. Ltd..  The authors are all HPNET members who have contributed to our Grid Interconnection Work Stream. Through the data provided in the publication the authors wish to bring greater attention to load control and protection technology -- specifically for interconnected micro/mini hydropower (<1MW), which is often overshadowed by technology developments in large hydro or solar PV controller technology.

Multi-Actor Participation for Successful Grid Interconnectivity

The multi-actor collaboration that brought this paper to fruition echoes the broader, integrated approach to energy planning in Nepal, which has played a vital role in the country’s grid interconnection success thus far.  For grid interconnection to become a successful reality, there must be collaborative participation from local and national governments, minigrid developers (including local communities), utilities, donors and researchers.
 
A fragmented approach, lacking multi-actor participation, often hinders progress toward successful policy for grid interconnectivity.  Taking note from Nepal’s approach, an integrated, multi-stakeholder approach could further advance grid interconnection efforts in Myanmar, Pakistan, Indonesia and other countries across S/SE Asia.

​Abstract:

Nepal is known for its successful rural electrification efforts through community owned and managed standalone micro hydropower projects (MHP) that have helped transform its rural economy. Unfortunately, as soon as the national grid reaches a micro hydro catchment area, things start falling apart. For various reasons, people’s preference is the grid and eventually switch over from MHP which then lies idle and ultimately abandoned. A recent survey carried out by the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) shows that about 8% of the MHPs in Province 1 have shut down. The number of abandoned plant would be much larger if MHPs of less than 10kW capacity are also considered. Thus, the Government of Nepal came-up with the policy for grid interconnection of MHPs of less than 100kW capacity. This opportunity of transforming a standalone system to grid connected system has several advantages for both the utility grid and the MHP, the grid gets power injection near the load centers whereas MHP earns additional revenue. The technological difference between grid interconnection of MHP and other hydropower projects shall be discussed in detail in the Nepalese context. A MATLAB simulation analysis is presented to demonstrate the technical viability of the interconnection in the 11kV feeder line. Moreover, financial and economic analysis of the grid interconnected systems is also discussed. This paper also focuses on how droop features of Electronic Load Controller (ELC) could have managed the proportional load sharing among the MHP plants if such ELC with droop features were available.

Authors:

Jiwan Kumar Mallik, AEPC/RERL - jiwan.mallik@aepc.gov.np
 
Satish Gautam, AEPC/RERL - satish.gautam@aepc.gov.np 
 
Surendra Mathema, Preesu Electronics P. Ltd. - surendramathema@gmail.com
 
Binod Koirala, ECN part of TNO, Netherland - binod.koirala@tno.nl
 
Hitendra Dev Shakya, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) - hitendradev@hotmail.com 
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Guest blog written by HPNET member Joe Butchers, a PhD Researcher at the University of Bristol, Electrical Energy Management Group.

​The unit has been installed in Naubise, Dhading which is about 22 km from Kathmandu Valley. This unit is available for anyone interested to see it in operation.

To introduce a new micro hydropower technology to Nepal, it was important to understand the capability of micro hydro companies and the manufacturing processes that are available. This information can be used to ensure that the design of all components for a new type of turbine is appropriate for manufacture in the context of Nepal. A thorough study was conducted of the Nepali manufacturing companies which are based in Kathmandu and Butwal, central Nepal. Our study showed that manufacturers in Nepal tend to have access to the same equipment and materials, meaning that the processes for fabricating Turgo turbines tends to be very similar. However, as casting is an external process, the interface between the micro hydro companies and casting companies is a potential risk to the quality and accuracy of the Turgo cups. ​

Next Steps

The next steps for the project are to increase the technology readiness level of the Turgo turbine in Nepal. This will enable manufacturers to be equipped with all of the necessary information to design, manufacture and install Turgo turbines. A joint effort of all the partners,  including HPNET, will be facilitated to improve technology readiness. There are two parts to this future research:

• Workshop on Turgo Design and Manufacture

This workshop will provide the information needed for key stakeholders to be able to identify potential sites for the Turgo turbine, size and design the turbine system, manufacture the Turgo runner, and install and test the system. Both theoretical and practical support will be delivered in the workshop to ensure that a good understanding of the turbine is developed in the Nepalese micro hydropower manufacturing community.
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• Open-Source Repository of Turgo Turbine System Design and Webinar

The scalable tools and drawings for the Turgo turbine will be placed in an open and free web-based repository, enabling access for any stakeholder that is interested in the Turgo turbine. This will allow micro-hydropower manufacturers, in Nepal and worldwide, access to the necessary details to construct a complete Turgo turbine system. Alongside the drawings, guides will be developed to enable the knowledge generated from both projects to be shared with the audience, for example key constraints in casting Turgo cups, jigs required to assemble the runner, and how to select an appropriate site for the turbine.
The project team will also install a micro hydropower scale Turgo turbine at a site to demonstrate its potential for the future. With these plans in place, we hope the future for the Turgo turbine in Nepal is bright!

This article was written by guest blogger and HPNET Board of Representatives Member, Biraj Gautam, who is the Research Team Leader of the project and Chief Executive Officer at People, Energy and Environment Development Association (PEEDA) in Kathmandu, Nepal.

What inspired you to get involved in community development, energy access, and micro hydro work?

​I started my career in the early 2000’s, when I joined Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) in 2001. My inspiration to get involved was mainly due to the disparity I saw between the rural and urban populations. I had observed a huge disparity, mainly in terms of basic amenities; urban people were enjoying many facilities including better electricity, education and health facilities, while the rural poor were deprived of all these basic assets, even energy services. I had seen that rural people were compelled to use kerosene and Jharro  (a common plant in Nepal) for household lighting needs.

Being an electrical engineer, I decided it was best to work in the rural energy sector where I could best contribute my knowledge. With my background in electrical engineering, I understand that electricity is the foundation to any and all development activities, which can drive economic activities in rural areas. I believe that rural people have a right to energy services, as do urban people, and energy services can really improve rural quality of life and address the challenges they are facing.

Initially, I started my career promoting solar home systems in rural areas in my work with AEPC, and later shifted toward focusing on sustainable small-scale hydropower. I realized that only installing the energy infrastructure itself -- providing access to electricity -- is not sufficient, because there is a need to make energy systems more reliable and sustainable. This is very important because if the system stops functioning, this creates a burden to rural communities. This is what I found in the field and it is what inspired me to focus on the micro hydro sector, and specifically micro hydropower (MH) sustainability.  ​

Have you faced particular challenges as a woman, in the work that you do? If so, how have you overcome these challenges?

I wouldn’t say I’ve faced any major challenges being a woman, in the work that I’ve done. However, sometimes people ask me “being a woman, don’t you face difficulty in doing technical things?”, or, “don't you feel discomfort in travelling alone to remote areas?”. But, I don’t see this as a major challenge; it’s people’s perception and thinking about women. They think that it’s difficult for women to do these things.

Sometimes, because of the nature of what I’m doing, I have to dedicate a lot of time to my work and it can be difficult to achieve a good work-life balance. I am lucky though, because my family totally supports me and encourages me, therefore I can concentrate on my work. However, it’s not the same situation for all women in Nepal.

It does also remain a male dominated sector. Previously, when my work focused on solar, I would frequently be the only woman in a meeting of 50 people. You can therefore imagine what women’s representation looks like in the sector as a whole. It is slowly changing, compared to the earlier days. Now there are women coming into decision making positions, but their representation is still very low.

What roles have you seen women play in micro hydro projects -- both in implementation and also sustainability?  What greater role can they play?  How can we encourage them?

Women’s representation in MH is still very minimal in Nepal. There are hardly 1 or 2 companies that are really run or managed by women and not more than 20 female engineers in the sector as a whole.

Within the development of an MHP project there is a compulsory quota for women to be represented in the users committee, but women’s participation and voice in the committee remains insignificant. From the program side, when we organize capacity building workshops, we specifically say that at least 1 or 2 women participants per MHP is compulsory, but in reality, very few women participate.

I don’t think there is any doubt that women can play a crucial role both in the implementation and sustainability of MHPs. Women can do all the work that men can do related to the MHP; they can develop enabling policies, carry out feasibility studies, design systems, construct and install the plant, manage and operate the system, and start enterprises using the generated electricity. Women’s involvement can occur throughout, from planning, to installation, to use of electricity.

I believe that if women are looked upon as equal members as men in society, that can increase participation in the MHP sector. We need to break the traditional thinking and perception that women are not capable of doing technical work as well as men. Besides that, I think we have to design working environments in such a way that women can participate. For example, the number of women MHP operators is basically negligible compared to the number of men. Why? Because operators have to stay alone day and night at the powerhouse, which poses security threats for women. But, if we could provide an enabling environment -- for instance, allowing families to live at the MH site -- participation of women could increase. Security and safety need to be given high priority.

For more insights on MHP sustainability, be sure to check out the third edition of our 2019 webinar series, featuring Resha Piya and other experts: Mini-Grid Sustainability: Transitioning to Social Enterprise for Energy and Economic Development.
 
If you enjoyed this Hidden No More interview, sign up below to receive our newsletter, to hear from other women change-makers in the sector!

SPEAKERS
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​DR. CATHERINA CADER
RESEARCH UNIT OFF-GRID SYSTEMS
REINER LEMOINE INSTITUTE, GERMANY 
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Dr. Catherina Cader is an expert in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and rural electrification planning. She has been working at Reiner Lemoine Institute since 2012 and is part of the Research Unit Off-Grid Systems. She is particularly interested in rural electrification planning in countries of the Global South with consideration of renewable energy. Catherina holds a PhD in Geography from Justus Liebig University Giessen. For her dissertation she conducted research on rural electrification planning in Nigeria. Her PhD project was supported by a scholarship from the Reiner Lemoine-Foundation. She also holds a Master of Science in Geography from Philipps University Marburg and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Management from Justus Liebig University Gießen. Through field visits and self-developed trainings on the use of GIS for rural electrification planning, Catherina has great expertise on the political, geographical, economic, and technical challenges of local energy supply situations. By developing and applying GIS-based methods, she brings the spatial component into RLI research using open source software. Catherina has experience as a project manager in several projects – her work has taken her to various places including Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia, Nepal, Myanmar, and the Philippines.
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THEMATIC DISCUSSANT
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DIPTI VAGHELA
​NETWORK FACILITATOR AND MANAGER 
HYDRO EMPOWERMENT NETWORK (HPNET) 
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Dipti Vaghela is the co-founder and manager of the Hydro Empowerment Network (HPNET), a south-south knowledge exchange platform that advances policy, technology, and socio-environmental aspects of small-scale hydropower across ten countries since established in 2013. Dipti brings sixteen years of experience in developing decentralized renewable energy solutions for rural electrification in S/SE Asia, bridging communities, local entrepreneurs, field-based NGOs, policy makers, and funding agencies. In 2016 she was awarded a Fulbright Public Policy Fellowship, placed at the Renewable Energy Association of Myanmar (REAM). Based in Myanmar, she supports and learns from Myanmar’s indigenous micro/mini hydropower, biomass energy, PV-irrigation practitioners. Dipti holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Science in Environmental Studies from San Jose State University.
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Over the last year, HPNET has shed light on the key factors for sustaining hydro mini-grids over the long-term. This webinar addressed the importance of social enterprise for ensuring mini-grid sustainability, featuring practitioners who are leading the transition from grant-dependent to enterprise-based hydro mini-grids. The speakers highlighted the potential for local social enterprise to support revenue-driven and equitable hydro mini-grids. 

The webinar presented:
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• The linkage between enterprise-based approaches and long-lived hydro mini-grids;
• Best practices to transition from grant-dependent to local social enterprise models, based on micro hydro experience in Nepal, Malaysia, and Indonesia;
• Solutions to scale their efforts to more micro hydro communities, including how to make better use of funding resources that currently go toward grant-dependent projects.

Introducing SEEED

The webinar also introduced our new HPNET initiative: Social Enterprise for Energy, Ecological, and Economic Development (SEEED). SEEED aims to support local practitioners and micro hydro communities in the transition to enterprise-based approaches.

The webinar supported an initial objective of SEEED, by identifying and highlighting the work of practitioners who are already paving the path toward long-lived mini-grids anchored in local social enterprise.
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Stay tuned for more information on SEEED, to be released in coming weeks!

Last month, I had the opportunity to talk about the gender and energy nexus at the Asia Clean Energy Forum 2019.  My talk was based on the experiences of incorporating gender into the micro hydropower projects (MHPs) of the UNDP Renewable Energy for Rural Livelihoods (RERL) project at the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) in Nepal and the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) in Pakistan.

Both Nepal and Pakistan have a rich history of MHPs -- with over 3000 projects in Nepal and over 1000 projects in Pakistan. Therefore, the countries make for good cases to look at how we could involve women in the MHPs to not only empower women but also to contribute towards the financial sustainability of the mini-grids.​

If you missed our second quarterly webinar last week, Mini-grid Financing:  Enabling the Role of Local Banks, you can watch it below!  

The webinar covers
- incentives for local banks to lend to RE mini-grids
- challenges for local banks and how development partners can alleviate them
- example of a 7-bank program (!) lending to RE mini-grids
- checklist for mini-grid developers to access local bank financing.

Special thanks to WISIONS, energypedia UG, and the speakers Kapila Subasinghe, Dinesh Dulal, and Margarita Manzo for making it possible.

Stay tuned for our next quarterly webinar, “Mini-Grid Sustainability: Transitioning to Enterprise-based Micro Hydro"  in September here!

Our country-specific strategic advocacy efforts were merged into regional momentum this month, thanks to International Rivers and its partners taking the lead in organizing a multi-actor regional exchange, Advancing Community-scale Hydro:  Bridging India, Myanmar, and Nepal. The event, held in Shillong, India, focused on policy, enterprise, and institutional challenges, opportunities, and best practices.  HPNET Board members from the three countries were critical in the participant selection, agenda design, and presentation content. 

The event resulted in increased awareness among front-line civil society organizations and development partners in India,  Myanmar, and Nepal; utility actors from India and Nepal; and government officials from India, Myanmar, and Nepal.  The awareness has resulted in stronger momentum at the country level for multi-actors to work closer together in bringing practice-to-policy changes that have tangible benefits for marginalized rural communities.

The event was informed by the video below, developed by the local association Hydropower for Community Empowerment in Myanmar (HyCEM), with support from the Global Greengrants Fund, International Rivers, Mekong Energy and Ecology Network (MEENet), Green Rights Organization, and HPNET.

HPNET and WISIONS hosted a Deep Dive Workshop at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF) 2019, entitled Hydro Mini-Grids in the Asia-Pacific: Scaling Inclusive
Enterprise-Based Approaches.  Special thanks to the ACEF team, our speakers, and WISIONS for making the rich dialogue possible!

The agenda and speaker bios can be found here.  Watch the videos below!  Or listen to the audio here.

Part 1 - Examples and Opportunities for Enterprise-based Hydro Mini-Grids
Moderator:  Divyam Nagpal
Panelists:  Bir Bahadur Ghale, Hydro Concern Ltd., Nepal; Satish Gautam, UNDP Renewable Energy for Rural Livelihoods, Nepal; Sandra Winarsa, Hivos Southeast Asia; Meherban Khan, Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) Pakistan, and Dipti Vaghela, Hydro Empowerment Network

To celebrate International Women's Day 2019, we are launching the Hidden No More feature series!  It spotlights women change-makers who have transformed gender barriers, and made significant contributions to energy access for marginalized communities.

We are excited to feature our first change-maker -- Ms. Anita Bohara, an energy access specialist in Nepal.  Energypedia and HPNET had the opportunity to connect with her inspiring reflections as a woman micro hydro practitioner.   Read below!

I supported implementation of the Micro-hydro Program (MHP) under the Rural Energy Development Program (REDP), supported by the Government of Nepal and UNDP.

What was it like to be on the ground then?

​It was a time when the country was in an intense situation because of the conflict between Government and Maoists. Many people were killed during this conflict and the situation was not favorable to carry out development work. ​I can still recall those moments when there was a massive attack in the neighboring Myadgi District, when I had just signed onto my first employment contract. Since I had never been away from my family in Kathmandu, I had quite a task to convince them to let me start my career in a district so far away from home and so close to the conflict. 

We were only three female officers out of 25 technical officers, and I was the only one to stay with the program for more than a year.  Later, I was promoted to acting Energy Development Officer and then to Energy Development Officer (EDO). I worked for about two and a half years and received an opportunity to obtain a master’s degree with a scholarship. I must give credit for this opportunity for higher education to the strong recommendation provided by my supervisor and my work experience with this organization.
 
Tell us more about your work as an Energy Development Officer.

As an EDO, my program was under the umbrella of the District Development Committee (DDC). I was working in coordination with DDC and other line agencies in the district. The program’s main objective was to provide access to electricity through the implementation of micro hydro projects in the very remote locations of the district where there was no possibility for grid extension at least for the next five years. Besides micro hydro installation, the program also supported various capacity building activities anchored on a strong community mobilization process, in order to ensure sustainability in the long run.
 
Baglung District has very good potential for micro hydropower. While other districts were working with one local NGO on four to five projects, we were working with two local NGOs implementing about ten different projects.  To work in such a conflict situation was definitely a big challenge for us.  Moreover, the road accessibility was extremely poor in those days that we had to walk for three days at most, just to reach the project area. Despite all these challenges, the local NGO and the community remained active and enthusiastic. With their support, we managed to make good progress with the implementation of the MHP projects. During this experience, I was also awarded with the Best Technical Officer recognition in the region for my work -- which motivated me so much to continue working in the district.
 
I must say, the experiences and learning I gathered while working with the micro hydro communities, local NGOs and district agencies in this project helped me greatly in all other projects and organizations that I worked for afterward in my professional journey.
 
Tell us about your work at GIZ-EnDev.
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I worked as the Program Coordinator for GIZ-EnDev for 1.5 years. I was involved in supporting teams in managing the Micro Hydro Debt Fund (MHDF) with the Alternate Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC). After 15 years of being away, I was glad to return to a more advanced micro hydro sector.  However, I encountered very different challenges in this phase of the sector.

Besides access to electricity through installation of this technology, sustainability of micro hydro operation had become equally challenging in the sector. Lack of effective tariff collection mechanisms, project management capacity of the community, social issues due to lack of transparency during the project construction phase, project shut down due to failure of civil structures and lack of technical capacity of the community, low penetration of electricity based enterprises that generates the revenue for the project, low capacity factor and grid arrival among others -- were all challenges that resulted in defaults for repayment of banks loans provided by the MHDF.

What do you think can be done to make Nepal micro hydro projects long-lived?

Attractive risk sharing mechanisms needed to be developed to encourage the private sector and the financial institutions to invest in micro hydro projects. Intervention of innovative technology in the tariff collection mechanism and loan repayment process not only helps in the loan repayment but can also tackle various social issues that are always crucial to the sustainable operation any community-owned systems.

There is also a need to work with the community and build their capacity to manage the project, at least for some time, may be up to six months before the project is completely handed over to be managed by the community. The usual practice is to pour all the support and capacity building activities to the community before the project comes into operation, and only after is it immediately handed over to the community. Such infrastructures are very big to be managed by the community themselves - even if we are only talking about small scale hydro, we cannot expect the community to get it right, right off the bat.

This leads to major challenges and issues that come right after the project starts operation. There are also big behavioral changes among the beneficiaries that must come with the operation of the project. Therefore, sustained social mobilization and capacity building to establish proper tariff collection mechanisms, plant operation, and good governance long after the project is finished will build the community’s self-confidence and capacity for sustainable operation. While managing other projects such as community owned large size biogas projects and water pumping systems, I found out that the issue was not only exclusive for micro hydropower but also important in other renewable energy systems.
 
Were there challenges that you faced as a woman engineer?

When I was pursuing my civil engineering degree in the year 1999 to 2003, we were only eight female students out of 80 students in the class. One of the reasons why women were not choosing this field is the prevailing thought that it requires extensive field visits. Most female students were more attracted towards architecture and computer faculties. In those conflict situations in the country (before 15 years), everyone regardless of gender, was hesitant to go to work in these districts. Women engineers like me, were almost negligible in a technology sector that required one to be based away from the home and family.
 
Initially, because of my age and gender, the community did not easily believe in me and doubted my stay in the district I also noticed that some of them pitied me, which I also heard from other local colleagues. Similarly, communities were almost always surprised to see me at the start. They had a mindset that all engineers and technical persons must be male. On many occasions, I felt like they had more respect for my male subordinates than me. Nevertheless, this was not a huge problem for me; and it was interesting to show off my capacity to people with such mindsets, and oh boy, did I prove them wrong! I believe my work spoke for itself and eventually earned their respect. Hopefully they were convinced that women are just as capable as men in the engineering field.
 
While working in the district as an EDO, one challenge I faced was the social networking and informal meetings which can impact your work. I used to be very much reluctant for informal meetings because of security reason in the beginning of my professional career when I was in the district. I think compared to men, women professionals must face more challenges to attend informal meetings and networking events to balance work and family life, which to some extent have impact on their work.

Do you think that how a daughter is raised affects her professional journey? 
 
Whether women get equal opportunity to study or choose a career, it remains a fact that majority of girls in a country like Nepal are not raised to be strong as compared to boys. I would like to share that though I decided to work away from my family, I always had a fear of dealing with people. I am much more confident now, but it was very difficult for me to adjust when I started my career working in the district alone, with no family in the area, especially with the constant worry regarding security.

I remember a time during my first week of work, I had to travel to one micro hydro site together with just one of my male staff. I have just started working with him and did not know him well enough. I still remember that I was very stressed travelling with him the entire day, until we reached the village. Especially when we went through very isolated places in the forest, I used to walk so fast, and I think it was clearly obvious to him that I was looking for means of escape and signs of houses or people. Later, I realized how he was consistently kind, supportive, and sensitive throughout the trip and during my work with this organization. I realized that maybe it is also a struggle for men to travel with their female supervisors in our country. We need to be taught at an early age, the essential life skills needed to be strong and handle difficult situations. For this, there needs to be a healthy dose of independence. However, the level of civilization and crime that occurs in the country makes this difficult. It is also understandable how parents would want to protect and shelter their daughters.
 
How did you think you impacted the community as a woman engineer?

While visiting project sites (including MHP but also other technologies), I was overwhelmed to see children walking long distances just to get to school and young women (who are in their late teens) already having 2-3 kids.  I particularly noticed that the girls did not study beyond the seventh or eighth grade and were married off early. Girls either they get pressured from their family for early marriage or they get lured to the fancy clothes and makeup that they could do after getting married and this is really disheartening to see.
 
So, when women engineers like me visited the site and talked to them, it gives them a positive example of what they can do in life. I always made a point, to talk to these young people and motivate them as much as I can. I also found that they were always positively surprised to see a woman engineer -- and I was glad to be this surprise for them.

Can you describe a memorable incident where you had to push for equal rights for women?
 
I remember one community that owns a biogas facility where almost all women members do not have their citizenship. Our projects required mandatory representation for equal representation of women in the executive committee, for which they needed to have citizenship as the organization had to be registered. The male members seemed reluctant to go with the process for preparing the citizenship for women.
 
We had to communicate to the community that we will bring the project elsewhere if there is no equal participation of women in the executive committee. We pressured them to process the citizenship of the women if they really wanted to bring in the project. We even had to delay the project by a couple of months just for the women representatives to prepare their citizenship and get represented in the executive committee.
 
As I mentioned, many professions are gender biased, like engineering which requires site visits and working in remote stations away from family. Families remain reluctant to give females more freedom. So maybe, engineers like us who have been successful in the field could be role models and sources of encouragement for those families. With these examples I do not mean to say that gender issues should be handled by women professionals exclusively, (especially now when there are many male gender experts and professionals at the policy level supporting and advocating for gender energy issues,) but just my thought that maybe it is more likely for women professionals to be more sensitive towards the women’s issues in those working areas.
 
What is the impact of energy access on women?

Access to energy can bring lot of changes in women’s life and livelihood especially in the rural areas. Since women are more responsible for cooking, collecting firewood, carrying water, walking long difficult distances in the hills. Access to energy services in the form of electricity, water, clean cooking fuel not only reduces the drudgery and save time for them but also improve their health situation. However, I would like to give following feedback that I think needs to be taken care while designing, planning and implementing any energy access program and projects;
 
There is higher need to consider the impact they have in their normal daily life during construction phase when they have to contribute labor, considering they already have much more workload and responsibilities in their family. In one of the community-owned projects, I was touched to see a woman who consistently wakes up earlier than normal at 4 am every day just to be able to contribute to the project. This shows the commitment women have towards such projects, but also the increased workload for them who already bear the brunt of daily chores in the household.
 
I would also like to share one of the instances, where we were doing focus group discussion separately for men and women in one village. It was interesting to see that all men prioritized electricity, but most women prioritized easy access to water as they had to walk 2-3 hours daily for water. This clearly showed that there are separate demands of men and women for which gender-sensitive energy policies are needed. Energy needs for different genders should be considered in the planning process, rather than integrating gender issues only during implementation, monitoring and evaluation process.
 
Though women have much more work load especially in the rural areas they have minimal access to the income that comes in the house and family. Access to Energy services whether in the form of water, electricity, biogas etc. it needs to be linked to income generating opportunities for women to have better impact of energy access on the women’s livelihood.
 
Awareness on the need for clean energy use is another aspect to be considered while promoting the clean energy use among the community. Sometime while visiting some community we have seen that going to forest to collect firewood with friends are considered as one source of recreation as time have no value to be used in other productive activities and that is the time for women to be away from home and spent some time with friends. So, for such group there is higher need to aware them on the negative impact the firewood burning and indoor air pollution have on their health. Until they are aware it will be difficult for them to change their behavior and switch to clean cooking even if the technology is available in their household. This is just one example from one community especially in the Terai region of the country, there are other many communities in the hills where firewood collection is very difficult. However, it is also very difficult for them to access the technology. Financing might be the opportunity for them to switch. Requirement of the activity intervention will truly differ from one community to another.
 
What is key takeaway from your experiences in the rural development sector?

It is still very challenging for women in South Asian countries like Nepal to land in decision making and leadership positions. It is also equally challenging to work in that position as compared to men. I would say that strengthening networking and support systems among women is vital to help women develop and achieve their career goals, while also encouraging other women to move forward in any sector.  We must remember that the following is also true for energy access:
 
“A bird cannot fly with one wing only. Human space flight cannot develop any further without the active participation of women.” - Valentina Tereshkova

This article was written by Dipti Vaghela, originally published in Energy Insight Volume 5 publication of the People, Energy, & Environment Development Association based in Nepal.

Micro hydropower (MHP) development in Nepal over the last 30 years has inspired the sector’s development across south and southeast (S/SE) Asia.  From transitioning watermills to pico hydro, to the development of the T-12 crossflow turbine, impactful productive end use, and projects financed by banks, Nepal has been the home of the earliest technical and institutional progress advancing MHP. 

Recent years in fact reflect the same – Nepal continues to pave the path in developing expertise to address present-day MHP challenges, being able to leverage on its decades of hindsight.  Let’s take a closer look!

Interconnection to the central grid

As the central grid in all countries expands, many MHP communities across S/SE Asia face a dilemma – what happens to the MHP project after the grid arrives?  In cases where electricity from the central grid is reliable, grant-funded community-owned projects have been abandoned, and self-financed projects are at risk of losing investment. To resolve this, in 2017 Nepal became the third country in the region to interconnect existing community MHP to the central grid.  Nepal’s effort is unique because it was led by government and the utility, namely the Alternate Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) and the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).  In finalizing a national policy for MHP interconnection, decisionmakers took time to study the progress in Indonesia and Sri Lanka.  They also keenly requested the services of local, long-experienced private sector pioneers, such as Mr. Surendra Mathema and other members of the Nepal Micro Hydropower Developers Association (NMHDA).  The collaborative effort has resulted in an increasing number of MHP power purchase agreements commissioned in a remarkably short period of time.

Interconnection of MHP Clusters

Project-to-project interconnection is rarely discussed in the mainstream mini-grid dialogue.  However, among MHP practitioners across S/SE Asia clustered-interconnection is expressed as a great need.  Because MHP projects typically have a finite power output limit, MHP communities with increasing population and loads face issues in generating enough electricity from the MHP plant.  To resolve this, the AEPC with its Renewable Energy for Rural Livelihoods (RERL) initiative supported by the UNDP have overcome technical and institutional challenges to successfully develop three interconnected MHP clusters, each interconnecting two to six projects -- where excess electricity from larger plants is used by nearby MHP communities facing shortage.  Practitioners in Pakistan, Malaysia, Myanmar, and the Philippines, where there are dense numbers of MHP projects,  now look to Nepal for practical knowhow on interconnecting MHP clusters.

MHP Ownership and Governance

Nepal’s hindsight experience in different forms of MHP ownership and governance has led to recent insight and new paths for developing MHP projects.  Firstly, with so many existing MHP communities, beneficiaries have started to organize themselves into consumer groups.  Such a group is being facilitated by People, Environment, & Energy Development Association (PEEDA) to meet the group’s request to form an MHP consumers association.  The association would serve as a vehicle for strengthening MHP sustainability, including increased productive end use and facilitating interconnection in clusters or to the central grid.  Secondly, through Winrock Myanmar’s MHP stakeholder exchange supported by the Wisions Initiative, participatory research shows that shifting from user-based group management to cooperatives or small public limited companies can increase the longevity of MHP projects. 
 
Applying this insight regionally, the same conclusion is being noted in MHP experiences of India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.  This learning is critical because most community-based MHP projects globally are grant-funded, and therefore rely on user-group based ownership and management.  While gaps in technology design, socio-technical issues in operation and maintenance, and/or poor conditions of the watersheds are dominant culprits of MHP failure, Nepal’s hindsight reflections reveal that MHP projects that are run as cooperative or public enterprises inherently have increased due diligence that prevents MHP failure.  If there is failure, the enterprise-based MHP is economically more resilient and able to return to normal operation in shorter periods because they do not rely on grant or user-group financial inputs that typically require much time to collect, e.g. door-to-door donation collection for MHP repair.  In fact, regional practitioners are now eager to learn from Nepal on how to transition existing user-group managed MHP projects into self-sustained enterprises.

Debt Financing for MHP

MHP practitioners in the region that have achieved project financial viability eager to access debt to develop additional MHP projects.  However, in most of S/SE Asia contexts there is a large awareness gap between domestic banks and the MHP sector.  MHP developers require financing that does not have high collateral requirement, affordable interest rates, and payback periods of 8-10 years.  Due to various reason in each country, local banks are not able to enable such financing. However, over the last several years with support from Energising Development, Practical Action, and other partners of the AEPC, Nepal has demonstrated lending to the MHP sector with the establishment of the Micro Hydro Debt Fund (MHDF) and the Central Renewable Energy Fund (CERF).  While Nepal’s lending to MHP is still developing, the MHDF and CERF are a mere dream for practitioners in Myanmar, Indonesia, and Malaysia.  Therefore, Nepal’s progress and expertise in enabling debt financing for MHP provide critical inspiration and insight to the S/SE Asia region.

Enhancing the Value of Local Technology Development

One of the key advantages of MHP is that the technology can be locally developed, spurring the creation of local jobs, skillsets, and technology-based enterprises.  In fact, in Nepal, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka, there is an entire local eco-system of masons, electricians, electronic suppliers, civil engineers, turbine manufactures, and plant operators that has resulted from decades of MHP development.  Many suppliers now export regionally or globally, and individual experts have become consultants for energy access programs in other countries.  In Nepal the work of the NMHDA and PEEDA continue to promote and advance technology development.  NMHDA conducts technical trainings for different levels of stakeholders, having established a new training center on the outskirts of Kathmandu.  PEEDA is working with the University of Bristol on an action research project to identify how local manufacturing can further advance.  Nepal’s focus on local skills building and advancing local expertise is one of a few shining examples in the region where the government and international development partners have actively chosen to support local developed technology and local technical practitioners.  Practitioners in Pakistan, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Philippines seek similar developments to acknowledge and advance local technology.

Local Level Energy Planning with GIS Tools

With Nepal’s constitutional mandate that energy planning must happen at the municipal level, AEPC and RERL with international partners have started to develop a GIS-based tool to assist local decision makers and communities in conducting informed and analysis-based energy planning.  Energy planning based on ground realities and local perspectives are sought after across S/SE Asia contexts, where energy planning is currently based on the myth of a cost-effective, reliable, climate resilient, and equitable central grid for rural electrification.  Although local actors know that decentralized renewable energy (DRE) solutions have greater merit than the central grid, they do not have data-based arguments to even enter the debate.  In certain countries, national governments have an affinity for DRE but lack data and processes to connect the macro and micro planning.  Where GIS-based tools have been developed, they are limited to solar and wind due to lack of GIS tools that can accurately map small-scale hydro and biomass resources.   Nepal’s AEPC and RERL are working to address these gaps by creating an easy-to-use, reliable, GIS-based tool that local level energy planners can utilize to visualize the current reach and reliability of the central grid, existing DRE mini-grids, locations of un-electrified villages, and the availability of DRE national resource.  The effort will make it possible for local decisionmakers to develop well-coordinated, ground-truth based, electricity plans, inclusive of all available DRE.  Various practitioners in the S/SE Asia region have embarked on similar paths but with little or no resource and hence progressing very slowly.  They seek inspiration from Nepal’s progress in developing cost effective, fast, and reliable DRE solutions for energy access.

Effective Multi-Stakeholder Coordination

The multi-disciplinary advancements that Nepal has developed for the small-scale hydropower sector can be attributed to the synergy achieved between multi-stakeholders, including national and municipal government, private sector, academia, donors, civil society, and NGOs.  AEPC’s role as an effective coordinating agency has proven to be invaluable in preventing parallel and uncoordinated efforts, and instead nurturing the practice of open dialogue, collaborative decision making, and iterative reflections of the outcomes.  In most countries of S/E Asia it is just the opposite.  There are dismal gaps and lack of coordination between international and local stakeholders, among multi-stakeholders (e.g. donors do not engage with local practitioners), among the multitude of international donors, among ministries and different levels of government, and in some countries among the various NGOs.  Nepal’s multi-actor achievements provide much hope and learning for those us that see the impact of any rural electrification effort ultimately depends on inclusive and well-coordinated multi-stakeholder processes.

If you missed us at the 4th International Off-grid Renewable Energy Conference and Exhibition (IOREC) in Singapore, Oct. 31 - Nov. 1, 2018, organized by the International Renewable Energy  Agency (IRENA), you can check out the videos below of our side-event!

The panel focused on Accelerating Financially Viable Hydro Mini-Grids:  A Closer Look at Small-Scale Hydropower in S/SE Asia, including case presentations from Nepal and Myanmar, and a multi-stakeholder panel discussion, with the most senior experts of the sector!
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Part 1:  Nepal Case Study​, Barpak Micro Hydro Project, presented by Mr. Bir Bahadur Ghale, founder of ​Hydro Energy Concern Pvt. Ltd.  Mr. Ghale has been a pioneer of enterprise-based micro hydro development in Nepal.

Part 2:  Myanmar Case Study​, Mae Muk Waterfall Micro Hydro Project, presented by Ms. Dipti Vaghela, Network Facilitator and Manager of the Hydro Empowerment Network.  The project is an example of Myanmar's self-financed, locally manufactured, indigenous micro hydro projects. 

Thank you to IRENA, the panelists, and the HPNET Secretariat for making the side-event possible!

The ​11th of January 2018 was an eventful day for the Nepali micro hydropower community. On that day, the 23 kW Syaurebhumi micro hydro plant, in Nuwakot, got hooked up to the national grid. It became the first micro hydro plant (MHP) in the country to be interconnected, opening the door for other MHPs to follow. For Nepal, dotted with more than 3000 MHPs aggregating to about 35MW installed capacity, of which about 5MW is now un-utilized due to the arrival of the national grid, this interconnection pilot is an important step towards revitalizing defunct MHPs.

The Journey to Grid Interconnection

The journey to the interconnection was neither simple nor short. The idea of connecting MHPs to the national grid is not new in Nepal, having been mooted as far back as 2006. By 2015, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and the Alternative Energy and Power Centre (AEPC) had agreed to the MHP grid interconnection in principle. NEA, which is the sole utility in Nepal, is responsible for the implementation of all grid based electrification under the Ministry of Energy, while the AEPC tends to renewable energy-off grid electrification under the Ministry of Population and Environment. So, the in-principle agreement of the two responsible agencies was a significant step in the direction of MHP grid interconnection. However, in spite of the in-principle agreement, matters moved forward slowly because ‘the reluctance of the NEA reflected in the directives of senior NEA management was not conducive for grid connection’, according to Jiwan Mallik, one of the individuals who worked closely on the interconnection effort. The reluctance was based on a number of question-marks concerning the technical robustness and safety of such an arrangement, as well as the managerial entanglements.  Although AEPC worked steadily to address these concerns, by first drawing up a ‘Micro Hydro Projects Interconnection Equipment Standards and Specifications’, and then performing a financial viability study for grid connection, a pilot was still not forthcoming.

HPNET'S INTERMEDIARY ROLE
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​A small but vital nudge that tipped the NEA policymakers in favour of MHP grid interconnection came in the form of HPNET’s Practice-to-Policy Exchange for Grid Interconnected Micro and Mini Hydropower in South and Southeast Asia workshop held in Sri Lanka, in January 2016. Hosted by pioneering organizations Janathakshan and Energy Forum in Sri Lanka, the workshop had been targeted at policymakers, utilities, and developers of eight countries. The Nepal contingent was drawn from all three sections.  This exchange was exactly what they needed. Within five weeks of the Sri Lanka workshop, the attendees held a follow-up workshop on the 4th of March in Lalitpur, in order to build on the confidence gained from the Sri Lankan evidence of the feasibility of grid interconnection.  In late March 2016, the NEA entered into a Power Purchase Agreement with two MHPs on a pilot basis. One of these was the Syaurebhumi MHP.

​The Syaurebhumi plant was a classic case of an off-grid MHP plant thwarted by the arrival of the national grid. It had been completed in 2013, but as the national grid arrived during its construction, and as the community opted to be serviced by the national grid, the plant lay idle. After the interconnection on the 11th of January, the plant was kept under observation for a period of 15 days.  The outcomes of the period were analysed by a Test Witness Committee comprising officials of both NEA and AEPC, and were found satisfactory. As of 1st of February, 2018, the Syaurebhumi MHP has started commercial operation. 

FINANCIAL VIABILITY
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The costs to interconnect the Syaurebhumi MHP to the central grid, ~$30,000, was provided as a one-time subsidy from the Government of Nepal for piloting grid interconnection.  Future MHP interconnections will not be subsidized.  The current PPA for the MHP is based on the same rates and conditions as those for bigger hydropower projects up to 25MW. Even with those figures, the Syaurebhumi MHP can earn an annual income of nearly $10,600.  If this pilot is successful, it can rejig the antagonistic relationship of MHPs and the national grid into a complementary one. It can also reframe MHPs from being the only recourse of remote villages to being an active contributor of clean energy to the country. What is more, it can also become a feasible business avenue for local entrepreneurs. 

Mibi Ete
​HPNET Member

Factors for Success

In today's era of SE4ALL and other initiatives with ambitious rural electrification targets, let's take a hindsight look at the factors that led to Nepal's ability to scale hydro mini-grids.

Long-term and Appropriate Funding

Often, multi-lateral donors  for energy access work are forced to spend large funds in a relatively short period of time.  This structure and culture of funding is perhaps inherited from the developed world's notion of infrastructure development, e.g. large projects that require big money, fast.  However, in the world of well-established decentralized renewable energy, the pace of funds utilization exponentially grows.  If in the initial phases, funds are carefully invested into developing local capacities, then later the implementation progress climbs fast. 

This has been the case in Nepal.  Exponentially over the last 20 years, multi-lateral donors have supported Nepal's micro hydropower development with $54 million.  As shown on the HPNET Nepal fact sheet, the initial funding came in lesser amounts and with longer duration. 

Iterative Policy Design

With each wave of funding dedicated to micro hydropower, AEPC has examined the results of the previous policy, in order to identify modifications for the next iteration.  Rather than a one-off policy design not amenable to changes, Nepal's program designers continue to create better financing mechanisms for improved micro hydropower.  With each iteration and its challenges, new partners have been established, such as Energising Development (EnDev) Nepal's work on developing debt financing, and the Clean Energy Development Bank's (CEDBL) support for grid-connected micro hydro.  Further, the iterative process of policy design has made it possible for the government and private sector to innovate technology, e.g. connecting multiple projects into a mini-grid.

The Road Ahead -- Resilience in Action

Among other factors, Nepal's impressive ability to organize multi-actors to give life to a professional, rural energy private sector -- and iteratively improve it as the context requires -- reflects it is more resilient than ever to overcome the vast devastation left behind by the earthquakes, as well as contribute insight towards development of the region.

Rehabilitation

The earthquakes caused nearly 100 micro hydro projects to be shut down, with nearly 250 others being impacted.  The well-established organizations (mentioned above) are identifying and addressing near and medium term rehabilitation needs for micro hydro projects.  This rapid assessment of damaged projects also include a failure analysis to recommend changes for future micro hydro projects.  This work is in addition to their immediate relief work.  With basic needs for food and shelter, impacted communities in coming months will start re-building their micro hydro systems with support from AEPC and partners. 

Regional Exchange

The highly experienced practitioners, policy makers, and program administrators  in Nepal are committed to exchanging with regional contexts -- to both contribute and learn from them.  In 2010, US AID established the Regional Centre for Excellence in Micro Hydro (RCEMH) to strengthen the sector both in Nepal and regionally.  HPNET also serves as exchange platform to bring in the hindsight of the Nepal micro hydropower context to less developed regions, e.g. practice-to-policy exchange in Myanmar.  For more on Nepal's micro hydro progress, check out UNDP's video here.

By HPNET Members Madhushudhan Adhikari (AEPC) and Dipti Vaghela