Pico-hydro technology is an ideal mechanism to implement the Government of India’s objective to electrify the remote villages with non-conventional energy sources by the end of the Eleventh Plan, 2012. Pico hydro can play a critical role in supplying poor and isolated communities with energy, both for poverty elevation and rural development.
A viable alternative
Pico-hydro technology is an environment friendly and cheaper mechanism of generating small capacity renewable energy to electrify a few households or a small village. It is fast becoming a viable alternative to grid extension, diesel generators, and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, specially on account of the savings it gives in cost. It has been implemented successfully in Vietnam, Philippines, Nepal, Sub-Saharan Africa and Kenya.
Pico Hydro projects come with power generation capacity of up to 10kW by converting energy in water flowing down a gradient into electrical energy. Water from a natural stream flowing down a gradient is tapped at a convenient higher elevation, passed through a water conducting system and then let into a turbine installed at a lower elevation. The turbine drives an electrical generator producing electricity.
Pico-hydro technology - an environment friendly and cheaper mechanism of generating small capacity renewable energy
