Microhydro power: lifeline amidst disasters & a blueprint for RE

By: Syeda Masooma

Floods and landslides, and the resulting death and destruction has now become an expected occurrence in Pakistan. While the extent of the damage and destruction continues to intensify with every passing year, it does not come as a surprise anymore.

One of the worst affected areas in the country, every year, is the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In 2024, in one month alone (between July 1 and August 1), over 100 people have lost their lives to monsoon rains and flash floods, with significant damage to infrastructure in Chitral, Mansehra, Swat, Karak, and Bannu.

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The nefarious series of carbon emissions causing higher temperature causing more floods continues seemingly unabated, but so does the resilience and innovation of the communities most affected by these climate phenomena. In a double-whammy case, not only do these areas suffer the most damage from floods and landslides, but they are also among the first to be affected by a disruption in the power supply in the event of any minor to major weather shift.

Not only that, but the frequent landslides and floods also mean that the areas high up in northern Pakistan are also cut off the accessibility of these regions several times during the year. That is where the self-reliance of the indigenous people kicks in, setting an example for the rest of the country in the process. It manifests in the form of micro-hydropower projects (MHPs).

In the high mountain valleys of Pakistan, residents have ingeniously harnessed the same water that sometimes causes their destruction to generate electricity. These community-managed and operated power plants function similarly to large state-owned power companies, but with the key difference of having their own independent sources of power generation.

Up until the turn of the decade, most MHPs came with a generation capacity of five to 100 kilowatts (kW) of electricity. However, according to Aga Khan Rural Support Programme Pakistan, currently these MHPs come with a generation capacity of 15 to 500 kW. In Chitral, for instance, there are 33 completed MHPs operational since August 2017, with 22 more at various stages of completion.

Due to lack of consolidated data, and the current wave of flash floods, it is difficult to estimate the damage that has been caused to these MHPs. But historical accounts would make it fair to assume that soon after the floods pass through, the communities will once again rebuild these, and more, MHPs to ensure continued power supply to thousands of households not connected to any of the main power grids.

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This article is meant to shed light on the benefits offered by the MHPs in Chitral, for energy supply as well as to the local communities, and the potential to replicate the model in other areas of the country. While this piece will focus on hydropower, it is pertinent to mention that the community benefits of these MHPs are equally likely if renewable energy projects (solar panels on water bodies, for example) are established in the regions with less altitude and water flow, like Sindh or Southern Punjab.

In Pakistan, MHPs have been led and popularised by primarily two organizations – the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) and the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP), both of whom have been recipients of the Ashden international award for their work in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJ&K) region.

As per 2022 data, 178 community-based mini/micro hydel functional projects are supplying 13,000 kW of clean energy to 27,471 households with over 95 per cent in Chitral district. Out of these 55 have been awarded to AKRSP by the Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organization (PEDO). A report by AKRSP in 2022 said, “After the completion of 55 projects, the communities will be responsible for managing its operation including the repairs.

The operational costs will be recovered from the bills received from the consumers through tariffs established by the communities. The consumption of the energy is recorded and measured by digital power energy meters fixed at each consumer’s location. The cumulative supply of electricity from the total 55 projects will benefit 79,385 individuals in Chitral district.”

HOW ARE MHPS MANAGED AND OPERATED?

Engineer Muhammad Darjat the Pioneer of Micro Hydro Power of AKRSP, Muhammad Darjat spoke to HUM English to shed some light on the models of operation and maintenance of these MHPs.

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He said that usually up to 200 kW, the beneficiary community takes care of the operations. “The community opens a joint account in any bank of their choice, tariffs are fixed and bills are collected by the community which varies from project to project.”

The community also pays the salary of the operator from the revenue collected by the sale of electricity. Regular maintenance and repair are undertaken by the community themselves, which reduces pressure on the financial resources of the government.

For bigger projects, Darjat elaborated, professionally trained staff is hired under ‘community-based power utility model’. These projects are registered companies and the main beneficiary community is also a shareholder. Making local people stakeholders creates a sense of ownership, which in turn ensures the survival of these projects.

These projects run also with a business plan and also come with focus on the end use of the generated energy. “These power utility companies have introduced prepaid meters to ensure transparent energy consumption, tariff collection, and utilization,” Darjat explained.

The business structure of these community operated power projects, then, also offer an investment opportunity to the private sector above and beyond the local communities. It also reduces dependency on the government, and demonstrates cost-effective access to reliable clean energy with a focus on off-grid locations. This small caveat of MHPs makes them an efficient model to be scaled up in on-grid locations as well, Darjat said.

BENEFITS, CHALLENGES, AND POSITIVE EXTERNALITIES OF MHPS

According to an article published in Dawn in 2018, such MHPs come with all the benefits of a full-fledged hydropower project, with the negative impacts significantly cut down simply because of the size of the operation. The MHPs, like bigger hydropower projects burn no fuel and do not produce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, other pollutants, or wastes associated with fossil fuels or nuclear power.

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While the construction and initial flooding of the reservoirs of such projects do come with indirect GHG emissions, the smaller size also means that these emissions are notably less than the bigger hydropower projects. Another major flaw of bigger hydropower projects – virtually eliminated in MHPs – is the negative environmental impacts on local ecosystems and habitats, including damming of rivers which alters their natural flow regime and temperature, which in turn changes the aquatic habitat.

One major challenge exclusive to MHPs, however, is the community disagreements, which may arise on the charges and distribution of the generated electricity. An offshoot of this challenge is the breaking down of the equipment of these MHPs, which sometimes has to be transported to nearby bigger cities or replaced at hefty costs.

According to an SRSP model denoted in Dawn’s article, a sustainable way out for both these challenges have been found in the establishment of operation and maintenance committees. Members of these power committees are selected by the villagers themselves and then organizations like (AKRSP and) SRSP help in building their technical capacities. This training encompasses managerial as well as technical expertise required by the community members to keep the MHP up and running.

These committees determine tariffs, give connections, collect revenue, ensure continuous maintenance of all parts and monitor the micro-catchment area for sustained water flow. Bank accounts are opened and money set aside for any unforeseen repair and rehabilitation in case of a major breakdown.

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So while community disagreements pose a challenge, the very model of community ownership also becomes an invaluable source of vocational training for the local communities, as well as creating local jobs. Having uninterrupted supply of electricity also improves other facilities available to the local communities, such as health services at the government-run basic health units.

The third challenge of the MHPs, however, is perhaps the biggest and most damaging – their vulnerability to extreme weather events like floods. Due to increased frequency and intensity of floods, MHPs insufficiently protected against floods are destroyed. Villages become dark again as the rehabilitation cost is too big to be afforded by the communities. This is where the government’s assistance becomes key to the process.

It is notable here that these MHPs are lending a helping hand to the government in more than one way. Latest data from the Power Division of the Ministry of Energy shows that the circular debt in Pakistan’s power sector increased by Rs 84 billion in January 2024, reaching Rs 2.636 trillion as compared to Rs 2.551 trillion by the end of December 2023. Locally generated and distributed energy means hundreds of thousands of citizens being supplied with electricity without adding any burden to this circular debt.

Furthermore, large hydropower projects like big dams require huge financial investment and take much longer to build, MHPs are quicker and can be quickly tailored to increasing or decreasing energy demand. This means that by focusing on MHPs the variation in the electricity demand and the resulting impact on the national grid can be reduced. MHPs, along with other hydropower projects, can also be immensely useful in reaching our national goals of reducing carbon emissions.

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In conclusion, micro-hydro power projects in Pakistan demonstrate a model of resilience and innovation in the face of several cost and climate challenges. These community-managed projects offer a sustainable, decentralised approach to energy generation, reducing the burden on the national grid and providing reliable power to off-grid locations. By continuing to support and expand MHPs, Pakistan can address both its energy needs and environmental goals, while empowering local communities to take charge of their energy resources.