Permalink: https://photo.greenpeace.org/archive/Decentralised-Energy-Documentation-in-Kerala-27MZIFI3K7ZF.htmlConceptually similarDecentralised Energy Documentation in KeralaGP029W8Completed★★★★Decentralised Energy Documentation in KeralaGP029WHCompleted★★★★Decentralised Energy Documentation in KeralaGP029W6Completed★★★★Decentralised Energy Documentation in KeralaGP029V5Completed★★★★Decentralised Energy Documentation in KeralaGP029W5Completed★★★★Decentralised Energy Documentation in KeralaGP029VDCompleted★★★★Decentralised Energy Documentation in KeralaGP029VXCompleted★★★★Decentralised Energy Documentation in KeralaGP029W7Completed★★★★Decentralised Energy Documentation in KeralaGP029W0Completed★★★★View AllGP029WIDecentralised Energy Documentation in KeralaSamuel Thomas, 39, one of the two engineers of the Pathanpara micro-hydro project. He says they had to figure out a lot of the specifications of the system by trail and error, as they progressed. “I felt that, in four years of studying engineering, we had learnt nothing. In three months, we learnt everything,” he says. The system was built by the engineers and the residents of Pathanpara, and entirely funded by community donations.Locations:India-Kerala-South AsiaDate:15 Aug, 2010Credit:© Selvaprakash Lakshmanan / GreenpeaceMaximum size:2352px X 1568pxKeywords:Climate (campaign title)-Day-KWCI (GPI)-Men-One person-Outdoors-Renewable energyShoot:Decentralised Renewable Energy Documentation in KeralaThe Pathanpara micro-hydro system was built in 1997 in a small, unelectrified hamlet in the Western Ghats in Kerala, south-west India. It was installed on one of the perennial streams that are common in this verdant mountain region, and generates a peak electrical capacity of 5kW. Funded by community donations and designed by two local engineers, the system was built in part as opposition to proposals of a nuclear power plant nearby. “We wanted to prove it was possible to create power without doing any big-big thing,” says Anil Kumar, one of the engineers who created the system. “Big nuclear, big dams… all these things are harmful.”At its peak, the micro-hydro system provided electricity to 75 households and some commercial units. It continues to distribute power today, despite competition from the main electricity grid, which entered the village in 2002. The system is managed by an elected committee of villagers and its customers are loyal – after all, electricity tariffs haven’t changed in ten years.
