Gram Vikas has implemented four units of mirco hydro projects in Thuamul Rampur block

Note: Our sincere thanks to Dipti Vaghela for commenting in this blog, here we post her comment again for our readers about contribution of Gram Vikas in Thuamul Rampur. Indeed when I visited I was told about these four units but could not visit due to time constrain.

Dipti Vaghela says:
Thanks to Akshaya Babu, I've come to know of this blog devoted to Kalahandi!

Here is more info on the micro hydro in Orissa:

1. There are nearly 11 working units in Orissa, the oldest one having worked for over a decade now in Koraput.

2. Gram Vikas has implemented 4 units in Thuamul Rampur block. With each project, we have learned new lessons:
a. Amthagouda (5-20kW)--This system is under repair and will be re-commissioned next month.

b. Karlapat (15-25kW)--This system is functioning well, after we started involving local technicians for preventive maintenance. Now we are focusing on establishing livelihoods usage, e.g. oil mill.

c. Purna Guma (4-10kW)--This project is working well because it has local technology. Thanks to Practical Action in Sri Lanka, we were able to teach a local fabrication shop in Bhawanipatna how to fabricate the turbine for this project. We have learned not to depend on Bangalore and Delhi for our hardware needs, as those suppliers do not like returning to Kalahandi. Also in this project, we did not use Gram Vikas field staff. Instead, we found the natural leaders of the community--the village youth--and encouraged them to coordinate the implementation as much as possible.

d. Karnivel (4-10kw)--This beautiful, small village has raised my expectations of communities in Thaumul Rampur. Having only 15 households, this village has done double the work of the earlier projects, in half the time, with half the households. The lights were turned on April 1 with no major isses. We are working with OTELP to see how micro hydro electricity can be combined with OTELP's great efforts.

We have identified 5 more sites, but it is important that we do new micro hydro projects with knowledge about other electrification efforts (REC, OREDA, NTPC), so that we make the most of renewable energy collectively.