Over 142,000 Nepali households look set to receive electricity from the Nepal Micro Hydro Project. The project for which recently a emissions reductions purchase agreement was signed will aid the implementation and construction of micro hydro power schemes.
Adding their signatures to the agreement were representatives from the Alternative Energy Promotion Center and the World Bank. The project which is being executed under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol is one of many that the World Bank is championing to bring electricity to areas and communities in rural settings which have traditionally been underserved. The goals of the project are to by 2011 to have the equivalent of 15 MW installed , the projects are all micro scale varying from 5 all the way up to 500 kw.
The scheme in Nepal will see local communities manage these developments and projects, it is hoped that in total by 2012 191,000 tons of CO2 emissions will be offset via this method . The C02 offsets will come from replacing diesel generators used in these local communities thus far to meet electricity needs. Furthermore the project will inject much needed foreign currency into a country which is paying a heavy price for its lack of natural resources such as coal or gas, which are more traditional methods of generating power in developing countries. The projects which are meant to be sustainable will see between a third and half the investment being subsidized.
