The newly created state of Uttaranchal in north India is faced with the challenging tasks of alleviating poverty and creating infrastructure facilities for a large percentage of population living in remote areas. People in the state are mostly dependent on remittances sent by a large numbers of people who have migrated to the plains.

Agro–pastoral economy, traditional to this area, has not developed beyond subsistence level. It has limited scope for further development unless innovative ways are introduced for improving productivity, adding value to local produce and creating market for local products.

Untapped hydropower in Utaranchal
A major challenge for the state is to use its enormous hydropower potential enabling access to electricity for improving the quality of life, supplementing traditional livelihoods, developing new avenues of employment and conserving forests and the environment.

Centralised power generation is not an ideal solution for supplying power to scattered and remote communities in Uttaranchal, which are extremely difficult to serve. It is expensive and difficult to maintain electricity grid lines in mountain terrain. Decentralised micro-hydro units set up by the Government have suffered from the problem of maintenance and sustainability, as the local community is never empowered to ‘own’ such units insofar as ensuring their continuous running.

It is obvious; therefore, that the strategy of depending on a vast network of micro-hydro power stations for energy needs can only work if the local hill communities get involved as co-creators. That apart, community schemes can have various flexibilities, which would also enable the poor to become partners in power generation.

Why community micro hydro projects?
Community micro-hydro schemes are cheaper than the Government’s. Experience has shown that it entails Rs 50,000 to Rs 80,000 per KVA of capital investment including transmission wires and minimum productive applications for value addition.

Besides the low cost, it can be set up by people themselves and managed by them with minimal outside support, that too only in the initial stage. Two such power stations have been set on an experimental basis with the financial support of Foundation For Rural Recovery And Development (RRD), a Delhi based NGO.

The Genwali Experience
While one was set up in 1998 for lighting and other productive needs of an NGO, the other power station (of 20 KVA capacity) was set up for the community at a village called Genwali, 15 kms uphill from the nearest road head at Budhakedarnath in Tehri Garhwal district.

The villagers at Genwali set up ‘Village Energy Committee’ for complete management of the ‘Community Owned Built and Managed Hydropower Station’. During the period when civil construction work was undertaken by local masons in the village, two selected youth were trained as ‘Grassroots Engineers’ in wiring and maintenance of machines for a period of five months.

The villagers had to transport heavy materials and equipment over 15 Kms on foot. The installation of power house and wiring in the village was undertaken by the ‘Grassroots Engineers'. The contribution by villagers, in cash and kind, accounted for 30 per cent of the total cost of the project, substantially reducing the quantum of external funding needed. It has been in operation since the year 2001 and there has not been any external support for its maintenance.

The community power station is currently used for supplying power to all the sixty families in the village. The power is currently used for lighting and for running televisions sets. The management of the scheme is entirely in the hands of the villagers. The village energy committee of the village has fixed tariff mutually agreed by all villagers. The village is acquiring powered spinning wheels and community based carding unit for processing three tonnes of wool available annually. The village is also gearing up to set up other productive applications such as milk processing etc.

Do we need big hydro projects?
There is enormous potential in the Himalayan and other hilly regions of the country for setting up such micro hydropower units. The community involvement in such scheme could be highly remunerative. It can hasten up electrification process, protect environment, improve quality of life and provide livelihoods to large number of people in remote areas.