Category: SEEED

SEEED: PRODUCTIVE END USE AND SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

12/30/2020

Our initiative Social Enterprise for Energy, Ecological and Economic Development (SEEED) supports community-scale hydro practitioners and communities to achieve long-term technical, environmental, institutional, and financial sustainability of their hydro mini-grids -- towards lasting community empowerment and increased climate resilience.

Central to the SEEED approach is the transition of community-based hydro mini-grids that have limited operation and barely surviving financially (e.g. limited to being a social asset only), into becoming self-sustained social enterprises that earn from well-managed, nature-based electricity generation and distribution for household, social, and enterprise use. The difference between the social asset only and the social enterprise outcomes two are illustrated in the two figures below.

The transition to successful social enterprise requires a number of core elements (as shown below). The foundational elements focus on functionality, namely quality of technical design and installation, as well as the condition of the catchment area that dictates the seasonal and long-term consistency of the water flow. These have been discussed in previous posts, discussing the need for technical standards and watershed strengthening.

This quarter we spotlight the SEEED elements that can be achieved once reliability is established, namely productive end use and inclusive enterprise aspects that bring value-add to local livelihoods.

Since the formation of our Productive End Use (PEU) Work Stream in 2015, we have been collating and ground truthing end uses of hydro mini-grids. We will soon be updating our PEU knowledge portal to include a compilation of community hydro end uses for cooking, healthcare, economic recovery, and climate resilience.

Our initial assessment of hydro mini-grids in the Asia Pacific have identified sub-elements that differentiate various models of inclusive enterprise, including the following:

Inclusive ownership models
Cost-recovery models
Revenue generation models (i.e. connection fees and tariff)
Effective management processes
Access to credit and smart subsidy

We will soon collaborate with partners to further analyze best practices within each of these sub-elements. The following examples of enterprise-based hydro mini-grids continue to inspire and refine our approach to the SEEED initiative, in terms of management, ownership, productive end use, and livelihoods enhancement aspects.

Asia Pacific

Winrock Nepal economically revived five micro hydro projects in Nepal, using a peer-to-peer approach, supported by WISIONS. Read more here.
The association Hydropower for Community Empowerment in Myanmar (HyCEM) is transitioning to cooperative-based models for hydro mini-grids. Read more here.
Hydropower Concern Ltd., under the leadership of Bir Bahadur Ghale in Nepal, uses a developer-owned approach that has led to high productive end use and economic resilience. Read more here.
The Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) has established community-owned mini-hydropower utilities that are electrifying entire valleys, while nurturing women-led enterprise. Read more here.

Africa

Energising Development (EnDev) Ethiopia is initiating a process to revive micro hydro projects, in order to instill optimization in end use and long-term sustainability using an enterprise-based approach. Read more here.
The Association des Ingénieurs pour le Développement des Energies Renouvelables (AIDER) installs and operates micro hydro systems in Madagascar. Read more here.

Latin America

Association of Rural Development Workers—Benjamin Linder (ATDER-BL) has interconnected multiple hydro mini-grids with each other, providing electricity to a sub-region in northern Nicaragua. Read more here.

As a part of our knowledge exchange process (below), we continue to look for additional examples for peer-to-peer exchange, in order to collectively advance community-scale hydropower. If you would like to share about your approach to sustainable hydro mini-grids, please let us know here!

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ETHIOPIA: REVIVING AND OPTIMIZING HYDRO MINI-GRIDS

12/28/2020

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In addition to Asia Pacific examples that inspire our SEEED initiative, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) through Energising Development (EnDev) Ethiopia is initiating a process to revive micro hydro projects, in order to instill optimization in end use and long-term sustainability using an enterprise-based approach.

The team leader for the project is HPNET member Bart Jan van Beuzekom, who previously led the formation of EnDeV Nepal’s Micro Hydro Debt Fund, a rare credit line made available to community-based micro hydro.

Read on to learn more about EnDev Ethiopia’s efforts to review and optimize hydro mini-grids.

A study developed by the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, the World Resources Institute, the World Bank and others estimates Ethiopia’s untapped mini hydro potential (< 1MW) to be 267.5 MW. Tapping this potential can help to address the 67% of Ethiopia’s rural population that is unelectrified. Towards providing energy access to the 60 million people that remain unelectrified across the country, EnDev Ethiopia has been actively advancing small-scale hydropower through project implementation and capacity building, in partnership with the Ethiopian Ministry of Water and Irrigation and Energy (MoWIE) and the GIZ Green People’s Energy for Africa (GPE) initiative.

EnDev Ethiopia supported the development of five micro hydro projects (MHPs) from 2013 - 2016, with the aim to enhance rural livelihoods through productive end use. Two of these sites are operating at limited capacity, while three have stopped operating. Implemented on a cost-sharing basis with local partners to pilot MHP management by cooperatives, EnDev Ethiopia is committed to reviving and optimizing all of the projects. The five MHP sites are located in the regions of SNNPR and Oromia, as shown on the map below.

MHP Site Locations in SNNPR and Oromia, Ethiopia. Credit: Google Earth.

The five MHP mini-grids feature the following key data:

Credit: GIZ.

The initial phase of the effort involved field visits to understand the social, technical, and management issues faced by each of the projects. The next phase, as detailed in the released ToR, focuses on structured data collection to assess reviving and optimizing the project focusing on the following assessments for each project.

Technical assessment.  The condition, functionality, operation records, safety, flow data, and electricity generation, units sold, and costs will be assessed, along with assessment of whether extending the distribution to nearby villages is feasible.

Management assessment.  The details of the MHP management roles and responsibilities; tariff collection; business model strengths and weaknesses; disputes; and the management aspects of the cooperative.

Productive end use assessment. Skillset for enterprise management, productive end use opportunities, regional best practices, catalog of end uses optimal for each cooperative, business plan for increasing load factors and revenue generation, appropriate micro finance institutions, and opportunities for scale up.

Social assessment.  Impact of electricity access on gender aspects, equitable decision making, and social service institutions.

EnDev Ethiopia’s initiative to rehabilitate and optimize micro hydro projects for economical and technical resilience are commendable and will lead to in-depth best practices for new project implementation and rehabilitating existing mini-grids. We look forward to following up with an update on the outcomes!

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WHY WATERSHEDS MATTER

9/22/2020

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Our initiative Social Enterprise for Energy, Ecological and Economic Development (SEEED) aims to support local practitioners and communities to transition to a sustainable approach to micro hydro. It aims to unlock the potential for hydro mini-grids to bring long term environmental and socioeconomic benefits — to support empowerment that goes well beyond kilowatts.

As we continue to develop this initiative, we want to facilitate a closer look at the core thematic elements that constitute SEEED. Last quarter we shared about the foundational aspect of reliability, and the role of manufacturing standards to ensure technical reliability. Today we share about an equally important aspect to micro hydro reliability and also sustainability -- healthy watersheds. The article is developed by HPNET member and watershed expert, Ms. Koto Kishida.

Credit: Gram Vikas

Watersheds and Climate Resilience

There are a number of accounts of negative impacts of climate change in rural communities where our members work. Many of the communities have known the importance of healthy watersheds, as they are the source of drinking and irrigation water, as well as timber and non-timber products that provide food and livelihood.

Those communities have traditional rules to sustainably manage their natural resources. HPNET members who work on local community-based hydropower also understand that building resilient watersheds is key for the communities to sustain and regulate stream flow, secure clean drinking and sanitation water, as well as forest resources that could support sustainable rural development. Gram Vikas’ work in Odisha, India is one such example.

U Zaw Min, an MHP practitioner in Myanmar, maps a watershed. Credit: D. Vaghela

Watersheds and Micro Hydro

In addition, healthy watersheds are the foundation to sustainable community-based hydropower that is also highly beneficial socio-economically.

Hydropower requires a consistent water supply to generate electricity year-round. Seasonal fluctuations in stream-flow, as well as topography and changes in forest cover all impact a system’s energy output, making some systems more vulnerable. When the forest above hydropower intake is logged, the retention capacity of the soil and stream-flow is altered. This could result in greater variability between wet and dry season flow rates, and increase the risk of flood and landslides that could damage hydropower structures. Increased siltation can also clog intakes and wear down turbine runners, incurring additional maintenance costs.

Maintaining and establishing mature forest cover alleviates the impacts of seasonal variability in flow, reduces landslide risks, and can help build resilience against the impacts of climate change. The potential for the communities to access stable sources of electricity provides communities with hydropower an added incentive to protect their watersheds. Community-scale hydropower reinforces environmental traditions by incentivizing watershed strengthening, which, in turn, enables reliable and sustainable power supply. (Examples of this can be found in our feature series, Earth Voices)

Watersheds and Reforestation

A plantation site supported by Gram Vikas in Kalahandi in early 2000s before getting the watershed treatment. Credit: Gram Vikas

A plantation site supported by Gram Vikas in Kalahandi after getting watershed treatment in 2018. Credit: Gram Vikas

The key to thriving watersheds are forests. Establishing and maintaining mature forest conditions as a way to mitigate and adapt to climate change could be achieved through conservation and restoration of watersheds informed by local knowledge and best practices. Thriving watersheds with forest cover could significantly mitigate the negative impacts of climate change by offsetting carbon emissions and build resilience against severe weather events and other climate change impacts. Forest conservation in community-based hydropower watersheds could be valuable for climate mitigation because the watersheds tend to be in the upper basins where forests provide the cleanest water and provide habitat for diverse flora and fauna.

Many rural communities in the global south have traditional rules around resource management. Competing land use pressures such as farming, logging, and development by community members as well as external entities make observing such rules challenging. The communities can keep each other accountable by negotiating a plan to prioritize land uses and conservation goals. If all parties commit to implement the plan as a management guide, it could facilitate data collection, fundraising efforts, evaluation of the impact of the plan, and opportunities to adjust management strategies for more impact. Depending on the scale and land ownership of the hydropower watersheds, community would be easier with support from a CSO or a project manager.

Community Micro Hydro + Reforestation

Integrating community-based hydro with reforestation will have dual benefits for rural communities. In addition to the reasons provided above, access to electricity supports income generation of rural households and communities -- the lack of which can exacerbate deforestation.

Due to the inherent nature of community-scale and community-based hydropower, rural communities accessing hydropower are often already organized with active committees for management of the system as well as its load. The committee members often include those with in-depth knowledge of watersheds who could contribute local knowledge to forest conservation and enhancement efforts.

There are cases of reforestation activities affiliated with community hydro projects as well as the communities pledging to conserve watersheds in a form of contracts between funding organizations and the communities.

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WHY MANUFACTURING STANDARDS MATTER

7/20/2020

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Have you heard about our SEEED initiative? Social Enterprise for Energy, Ecological and Economic Development (SEEED) is about supporting local practitioners and communities to transition to a sustainable approach to micro hydro, rooted in social enterprise. It’s about unlocking the potential for hydro mini-grids to bring long term environmental and socioeconomic benefits — to support empowerment that goes well beyond kilowatts.

As we continue to develop this initiative, we want to facilitate a closer look at the core elements that are needed to make SEEED happen. Firstly, reliable mini-grid technology is at the very heart of the solution. High-quality technical components provide the basis for long-lived, high-impact systems. This starts at the very first stage of the project: the quality of design, manufacturing, and installation. Appropriate standards for these steps can play a significant role in increasing technical reliability.

In this regard, HPNET has developed the MHP Standards Tool, in collaboration with Tonibung, Green Empowerment, with support from the WISIONS SEPS, which compiles standards and best practices from different countries. It can be accessed here. We are working to add more standards to the Tool and welcome your inputs.

For certain technical aspects -- such as manufacturing -- standards do not yet exist. In this article, HPNET member Joe Butchers sheds light on the “why” and the “how” of manufacturing standards for micro hydro quality verification, drawing on experiences from Nepal.

What is a standard?

A standard is a document that regulates expectations for a process, service, or product [1]. If a company is able to demonstrate that they have followed a particular standard, it shows that they have achieved an acceptable level of quality and are compliant with the regulations. For a product, they might indicate the expected dimensions, tolerances, and materials. Engineers use them as guidance when producing engineering drawings or writing technical documents. They guide the decisions made by designers when producing engineering drawings that are used by machinists, fabricators, and technicians.

How are standards used in micro/mini hydro?

Within mini/micro-hydropower, the use of standards can ensure equipment performs as required and that there is similarity between equipment produced by different manufacturers. As mini/micro-power sites are often located in remote regions, adherence to standards helps to reduce downtime. When engineers travel to a site for maintenance, they are aware of the type of equipment that they will find, increasing the possibility that they can repair the equipment quickly. If a part requires replacement, it can be ordered to site with confidence that it will be fit for purpose.

What are consequences of not enforcing manufacturing standards?

In Nepal, a reference micro-hydropower standard was first published in 2005 [2]. The standard provides a comprehensive overview of turbine selection, materials, dimensions, and design for electro-mechanical and civil components. Nowadays, the standard is not widely used by manufacturers nor applied during quality verification. This has resulted in a number of outcomes:

variation in installed equipment and its quality;
low quotation prices from unproven companies;
long downtimes as typically the original manufacturer is expected to carry out repairs.

How can the type of funding support impact quality?

In Nepal, where the vast majority of projects depend upon a subsidy, there is a significant opportunity to incorporate quality verification that considers adherence to the manufacturing standard. As recommended by the World Bank, a multi-stage inspection would ensure that there was quality in manufacture, construction, and installation [3]. Whilst expensive to integrate, the reduction in project failure and frequent repairs will save money in the long terms. In addition, the introduction of such checks forces manufacturers to improve the quality of constructed parts. The cost to manufacturers of not achieving a required standard would swiftly lead to changes in approach.

In locations where the subsidy driven model is less common, hydropower standards remain important. Where projects are private or donor funded, a required standard can be demanded from a manufacturer and agreed contractually. The project developer can conduct a quality check themselves or employ someone to do so, ensuring that the equipment meets the standard. HPNET has collected available standards online, these documents capture the experience of practitioners working across the world. To improve the status of micro/mini-hydro in relation to other electrification alternatives, ensuring quality is essential. By meeting the requirements of standards, manufacturers can ensure that hydro-mechanical systems deliver their expected power throughout their lifetime.

References

https://fractory.com/5-iso-standards-manufacturers/
AEPC. Reference micro-hydro standard. 2005.
World Bank. Mini and micro-hydropower applications. 2015.

Guest blog written by HPNET member Joe Butchers, a PhD Researcher at the University of Bristol, Electrical Energy Management Group.

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EXCHANGE VISIT TO advance micro hydro in NORTHEAST INDIA

12/17/2019

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Rams in route to NEPeD site. Credit: NEPeD

Nagaland is one of the "seven sisters of India," the seven northeastern states of India, endowed with a multitude of indigenous communities, rich biodiversity and extensive hilly forests.

Earlier this month in Nagaland with support from WISIONS, HPNET organized a knowledge exchange visit for Ramasubramanian Vaidhyanathan, the Board of Representative Member for India also known as "Rams", to share his micro hydro expertise with practitioners at Nagaland Empowerment of People through Energy Development (NEPeD).

NEPeD has a well established approach and direction to do sustainable micro hydro projects. Moreover, due to NEPeD's work doing in-house manufacturing at their CERES facility, it is well positioned to support local practitioners and advance the sector throughout Northeast India. This visit aimed to support NEPeD in building on its considerable achievements

Through decades of work on micro hydropower initiatives in Eastern Ghats of India and elsewhere globally, Rams has earned the title of "micro hydro guru" within the network. He supports training, design and manufacturing of Pelton, crossflow, and pump-as-turbines, along with system-wide implementation aspects.

The exchange visit endeavoured to synergize NEPeD's committed efforts to Rams' several decades of expertise, in order to advance sustainable micro hydro sector in northeast India. More specifically, the purpose of the visit was to:

Assess casting facilities and raw material availability;
Assess the fabrication workshop and team at Centre for Excellence for Renewable Energy Studies (CERES);
Assess what other turbines could be fabricated with the present infrastructure
Visit one or two sites to assess the implementation issues, ownership model, revenue generation, etc.

Rams gave a positive assessment of the casting facilities and availability of raw material. He has reported back that the CERES has a well equipped fabrication workshop with CNC operated lathe and milling machines, an arc welding machine, angle grinder and cutting machine. Casting fabrication is outsourced to the neighbouring institution, the Nagaland Tool and Training Centre. The aluminum castings for the runner buckets and the PMG cores are sourced from Guwahati foundries.

As for his assessment of the CERES fabrication workshop and team, Rams shared that the workshop is well positioned to fabricate turbines of up to 50 kW, and that the team is highly motivated and experienced in the installation of turbines. Moreover, in addition to the fabrication centre, there is a test rig available to test turbines, ram pumps and electric load controllers (ELCs).

Rams found that with the existing infrastructure, Pelton turbines and cross-flow turbines can easily be fabricated at CERES up to a capacity of 50 kW. He advised that larger units can be taken up once the team gets hands-on experience on the 50 kW scale.

In addition, communities supported by NEPeD do horticulture that can have significantly greater local economic benefits with electricity-based processing. Enabling this requires the NEPeD pico hydro systems to be upgraded to micro hydro capacities that can generate enough electricity for horticulture livelihoods. HPNET's facilitation of multi-stakeholders to move forward in this direction is a part of our initiative Social Enterprise for Energy, Ecological and Economic Development (SEEED).

Based on the outcomes of the visit, we foresee NEPeD upscaling its capacities as well as playing an important role as a regional practitioner advancing the micro hydro sector in northeast India.

Rams at NEPeD hydroger site. Credit: NEPeD

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WATCH: WEBINAR ON HYDRO MINI-GRID SUSTAINABILITY

9/20/2019

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Did you miss our third quarterly webinar, Mini-Grid Sustainability: Transitioning to Social Enterprise for Energy and Economic Development? You can now watch it below!

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:

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.

Stay tuned for more information on SEEED, to be released in coming weeks!

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the flow

SEEED: PRODUCTIVE END USE AND SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

ETHIOPIA: REVIVING AND OPTIMIZING HYDRO MINI-GRIDS

WHY WATERSHEDS MATTER

WHY MANUFACTURING STANDARDS MATTER

EXCHANGE VISIT TO advance micro hydro in NORTHEAST INDIA

WATCH: WEBINAR ON HYDRO MINI-GRID SUSTAINABILITY

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