Arunachal Pradesh Faces Power Crisis

Generator used by Alice School and surrounding community

The state of Arunachal Pradesh has been facing a power crisis for the past two and a half months, as reported by Zee News. The demand for power far exceeds the grid’s capacity, which can provide up to 84 Megawatts.  However, the supply often fluctuates between 34 Megawatts and 84 Megawatts during peak hours, compared with a peak hour demand of 130 Megawatts. The ever-increasing demand can be attributed to small and medium development and infrastructural projects being implemented all over the state.

A solution to the problem is apparent in the many rivers that traverse the state; Arunachal Pradesh has an estimated capacity of 58,000 Megawatts of hydropower. Despite the huge opportunity, only micro hydropower projects are currently generating power to meet localized needs. With many rivers drying up, larger hydropower projects are stunted even before they are implemented.

Thus, attention must be given to environmental preservation, as well as alternative energy sources, to ensure that Arunachal Pradesh can keep up with growing power demands, especially in rural areas.

The village of Boddishata Deban, where Friends of Humanity’s partner, the Alice School is located, is plagued by power cuts and shortages of electricity. In an effort to stem the problem, the school has purchased a generator for community use, which has helped to mitigate the problem, in addition to ensuring the school and adjoining hostel have a reliable power supply.

While small community efforts have success in fulfilling local needs, a larger plan of action is needed to ensure power capacity meets demand across the growing state of Arunachal Pradesh.

To learn more about the Alice School and its impact in the community, click here.

Alternative Energy Debates in Nepal

Solar PV cells adorn the roofs of homes in the village of Mohoriguan

Kathmandu, March 29—Despite the fact that most of Nepal’s urban residents have turned to solar power, officials at the country’s main power utility, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), do not believe in the feasibility of solar power. An article in Power Engineering quotes one executive as saying, “solar power is just ornamental.” In reality, it is anything but.

Solar power is the way of the future, especially in Nepal where traditional hydro power supplies consistently fail to meet the demands of the population. Though hydropower may be limited, sunshine is not; Nepal enjoys an average of 300 sunny days per year, and can generate an average of 5 kW/m². While diesel-generated electricity can cost up to Rs 30 per unit, the cost of solar energy is less than half that amount, and dropping. The NEA’s arguments that solar power is expensive and cannot be retained through reverse metering have been refuted by a number of experts, including Professor Jagan Nath Shrestha of the Pulchok Engineering Campus and Ram Prasad Dhital, assistant director at the Alternative Energy Promotion Center. Unfortunately, institutional barriers to change prevent solar energy from being widely adopted, despite consumer frustrations at constant power shortages and cuts.

Still, the NEA remains skeptical, even after solar photovoltaic systems set up to feed the power grid—one of which was set up at the Rural Integrated Development Services (RIDS) Nepal, a partner of Friends of Humanity—proved successful at transmitting surplus d

aytime power.

While much of the debate centers around urban areas, RIDS Nepal has proven the benefits of solar power in rural communities through installing solar panels in villages as part of the Family of Four initiative, and has installed nearly 700 solar lighting systems to date, limiting the environmental impact of the villages while encouraging self-sustainability.

Click here to help Friends of Humanity support RIDS Nepal and the Family of Four initiative.