A village with 58 households who had never seen a light bulb in their house filled with light. Children no longer studying by candlelight or burning wood.

Source: ecopreneurist

Installation of the micro hydro plants has multiple impacts on the lives of rural population. In rural areas
where people typically depend on forest wood for fuel, micro hydro power can diminish the environmental degradation caused by cutting trees as well as reduce health risks such as respiratory and eyes infections. Micro hydro plants also give economically and environmentally sound options by creating green jobs in the areas where people have scarcity of income generation.

Northern parts of Pakistan are good examples of the viability of these projects or rural and hard to reach locales. They are especially suited to area with plentiful sources of water but which lack facility of electricity connection from the national grid due to extremely hard terrain. Experience from installation of micro-hydro power plants shows that investments in this field are not only economical, but also exciting in terms of new jobs for local communities and service providers. The micro hydro power plants can provide small scale business opportunities for both the local companies as well as to local communities.

A small 15 KV capacity plant can easily provide hydro electricity to 60 to 80 households in a hard, hilly location. A locally made turbine costs 200,000 to 300,000 PKR (2,381- 3,571 USD) to install. The small project also needs distribution lines and polls to supply electricity to the households. In addition, two people can be easily trained to maintain the plant locally. A village with 60 to 80 households can collect monthly cash saving of 4,000 PKR (48 USD) by collecting 50 PKR (less than 1 USD) from each household, which will be enough to pay the monthly salaries to two local persons @ 1,000 PKR (12 USD) in a village. There are no expenses on recurring costs such as fuel or monthly billing, so communities are able to net up to 24, 000 PKR  (286 USD) per year. A small shop for electricity appliance such as light bulbs, switch boards, radio and even television, etc. can also provide income generation opportunities at local level.

Farming communities are also able to utilize the water of hydro power plant in number of ways. Water can be diverted from the plant to fields for activities like kitchen gardening, multi cropping and fish ponds. This is particularly beneficial in areas which mainly depend upon rain water for conventional crops production. In Pakistan, where unexpected monsoon rains and flooding result in lose of human lives and precious assets every year, micro hydro power plants give an excellent source for disaster mitigation through storage of rain and river water, particularly in the northern parts of the country. Experts are of the view that due to a lack of water storage and rain water harvesting arrangements, excessive rains triggered flash floods in Pakistan this monsoon season  that gave less time to the people in KPK province to evacuate from flood inundated areas.
Micro hydro power is one of the best means of enterprise development for local communities and investment for green investors. Investment in micro hydro power production can be seen as a means to produce green and sustainable entrepreneurs and reduce the risks of investment losses.

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