Micro and pico-hydro plants are a renewable, non-polluting way of harnessing energy from falling water, such as steep mountain rivers. Small scale run of the river systems can generate power for homes, hospitals, schools and workshops.
We support small-scale hydro schemes that generate up to 5MW of power. They convert the energy of flowing water into electricity, provides poor communities in rural areas with an affordable, easy to maintain and long-term solution to their energy needs.
In many countries the national electricity grids are underserved and small hydro power can make a sustainable contribution to solve this power shortage and help the economic development of the country
We are supporting the development of private-led micro and pico-hydro systems in Peru, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania.
High efficiency water wheels provide power for remote communities in Peru 
Two years ago a team of engineers from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP) won an award from the the 2009 IDEAS Energy Innovation Contest. Their winning their proposal set out out to develop and test a range of high efficiency water wheels, able to provide electricity to communities.
Since receiving the grant funding from GVEP, the team has installed five water wheels on the Peruvian coast and Andes, and also trained 28 technicians to maintain them.
In Cusco, the three overshot-type water wheels (where the water falls from a pipe above the wheel) are able to produce 1.44 kW of energy, enough to cover the electricity needs of five families. The wheels can also pump up to 14 cubic meters of water, thereby helping to improve the fields for livestock of local farmers.
In the coffee-producing area of Huiro, in Cusco, the wheels help 16 families of farmers to increase their output. Before, in order to pulp 1,000 kilos of coffee they had to work hard for 15 days. Now, thanks to the wheel, the same quantity can be pulped in three days.
As regards carbon savings, the five wheels have saved 1.68t of CO
2.In addition, the team plans to construct communal teaching centres. These are dedicated to technology transfer and to skills development among the population. Thanks to the newly acquired skills the local communities will be able to construct, install, use and maintain clean energy technology, adaptable to the population’s needs, as well as impart such knowledge to other people.
Recently the project has attracted further funding from the EU, which will be used to create a series of mini-grid systems with river generators in more rural communities in high Andean areas. The systems will generate electricity for domestic use and will provide water for irrigation to more than 6,500 residents of 32 communities in Cusco and Huancavelica regions.
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