PICO-HYDRO POWER FOR HOUSEHOLDS

Project Start Date:

2010
Project Location:

Karnataka, India
In Karnataka, many rural areas, especially in the hilly regions of Malnad (Chikmagalur, Hassan and Kodagu) and coastal districts of Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada, the terrain conditions make grid electricity supply either inaccessible or unreliable. However, these areas provide ideal sites for small picohydro systems. Pico-hydro (or small hydro-power) systems can generate sufficient power for household usage. To farming families in these areas, reliable in-home electricity is important since it extends productive hours for school-age children who can study into the evening hours and make cooking and other evening activities safer for women who often are forced to rely on kerosene and other fuels for lighting that can cause serious burns and produce noxious fumes.

WELL-MEANING SUBSIDIES FALL SHORT

Although the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) in Karnataka approved a subsidy for pico-hydro systems/water mills through their branch agency, Karnataka Renewable Energy

With S3IDFs support, 20 poor families living in remote villages of Karnataka receive electricity though pico-hydro systems.

The pico-hydro systems have improved the economic and living conditions of the families by providing them with access to a perennial & renewable energy source.
Development Ltd. (KREDL), the subsidy program required that the beneficiary first installs the system and then claim subsidy release, a process that takes 6 12 months from the time the paperwork is filed and the time that beneficiaries receive their rebate. This means that for the farming families, who typically make less than Rs. 3000 per month, picohydro systems (which cost approximately between Rs. 1.4 1.8 lakhs per system) are still beyond their reach.

S3IDF FACILITATES A SOLUTION

S3IDF stepped in to provide 20 families, living in locations that are conducive to pico-hydro systems, with gap-filling finance and bridge support with the help of Prakruti Hydro Labs (PHL), a technology supply company that installs pico-hydro systems. Through this assistance these families were able to receive the financial assistance and technical support they needed to access the government subsidy while also receiving valuable help with the installation and maintenance of the pico-hydro systems. The government subsidy, which provided up to Rs. 1.10 lakhs per pico-hydro system, along with S3IDFs financing assistance, finally put the electricity-generating systems within the reach of the farming families. These pico-hydro systems have improved the economic and living conditions of these 20 poor families by providing them with access to a perennial & renewable energy source.