Kabul, 24 February, 2011: More than 6,200 households in rural or remote parts of Afghanistan will be hooked up to a clean power supply through water-driven energy projects launched by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Households that previously relied on polluting kerosene oil and other flammable fuel sources for cooking and for heating homes and businesses will receive more than 700 kilowatts of electricity from 34 hydropower turbines. These compact turbines, installed in rivers or dams, convert clean hydropower into electricity for between 40 to1,000 families.
“This is a big change for Afghanistan. Smoke from the old fuel would billow out into the rooms, affecting children and others,” says Guillermo Garcia, a Kabul-based project manager for UNDP. “It wasn’t healthy. But now they’re using clean electricity.”
Six turbines built since last year are already in operation, supplying 153 kW to more than 1,200 households in five provinces of Afghanistan. It’s just a start.
About 85 percent of rural Afghanistan lacks electricity, and the country’s urban centres experience only intermittent or unreliable supplies. UNDP, through the National Area-Based Development Programme (NABDP), works with the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development to support and fund community-driven projects like the micro-hydro power projects.
NABDP works with residents to form District Development Assemblies (DDAs), which identify community needs and priorities and devise community-oriented project plans. DDAs play an advisory role, coordinating the needs of the communities with traditional government structures such as shuras, as well as provincial and district governments. As a clear indication of the country’s enormous energy needs, communities have requested more than 150 micro hydro turbines, which can range in cost from $25,000 to $165,000. Already, 28 micro generators are under construction, with a total expected output of 550kW that will benefit more than 5,000 households.
The assemblies have also brought new schools, water supply and sanitation, and irrigation projects to their communities.
The Energy for Rural Development in Afghanistan (ERDA) is one of the major components of the National Area-Based Development Programme (NABDP) and is designed to support the community for various energy options. Currently, NABDP/ERDA works in 7 provinces across Afghanistan (Badakhshan, Takhar, Samangam, Ghor, Herat, Bamiyan, Panjshir), and is supported by the governments of Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and the UK. Please visit: http://www.mrrd-nabdp.org.
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