NEPeD devises to strengthen micro hydro in Northeast India

EMN
Dimapur, April 29

Nagaland Empowerment of People through Energy Development (NEPeD), supported by International Rivers, has announced to organise a workshop on ‘Community Micro Hydro in Northeast India: Challenges and opportunities’ in the conference hall of Nagaland Bamboo Development Agency (NBDA), Dimapur, on May 8 and 9
The aim of the workshop is to better understand and strengthen community micro hydro projects in northeast India by bringing together international and regional experts, policy makers, government energy development agencies, community organizers, and civil society.
The workshop will focus on the status, challenges, and solutions for micro hydro projects in the northeastern states of India. Factors for project success will be discussed, including technical, social, financial, institutional, and policy elements. Experts from successfully scaled and innovative micro hydro programs in Nepal and Sri Lanka will be present as resource persons.The agenda will include a tour of NEPeD’s promising local fabrication unit at Center for Excellence in Renewable Energy Studies (CERES) along with a tour to an installed pico hydro site. Most important will be the presence of micro hydro practitioners and energy development agencies of northeast India namely Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura, to share their field realities.
Concept of workshop is to ensure that micro hydro in northeast India have a holistic approach that is built upon the region’s strong culture of community and strengthening watersheds/ecosystems. It is also aimed at an integrated approach that connects micro hydro implementation with a strategy for reducing poverty and drudgery and increasing local economic development as well as to have a sustainable and scaled approach that transforms pilot projects into a robust, long-term program built upon local capacity building, quality assurance, productive use, and innovation.
The objectives of the workshop are to bring together international and regional experts, policy makers, government agencies, practitioners, community organizers, and civil society to strengthen community micro hydro projects in northeast India with the aims to characterize the baseline of community micro hydro projects in northeast India: cost-benefits to communities, policy mechanisms, and practitioner realities; identify bottlenecks to community micro hydro development in northeast India; understand how best practices from scaled and sustained micro hydro programmes namely northern India, Nagaland, Nepal, and Sri Lanka could be applied to the northeast India context; consider scope and opportunity for grid-connected and mini-grid micro hydro in northeast India; dialogue on identified issues and opportunities to establish next steps in alleviating challenges and nurturing best policy and practice for robust community micro hydro in northeast India; and document, publish, and disseminate the outcomes and recommendations of the workshop.
It has envisioned for an increased awareness among decision makers and local stakeholders of bad and good micro hydro practices; and how micro hydro can trigger an alternative, development model. Besides, decision makers would be able to identify solutions and explore probable next steps for alleviating sustainability issues with existing micro hydro projects and scaling successful pilot projects.