The EnergyWaterFood Nexus at Decentralized Scales

Lucy Stevens

• Publisher: Practical Action Publishing
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9781780446424
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Global Development Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

The Energy–Water–Food Nexus at Decentralized Scales uses Practical Action's experiences with micro-hydro schemes to connect global nexus debates to the experiences of and solutions for remote off-grid communities and smallholder farmers. Through examples in Peru, Nepal, and Zimbabwe it exemplifies the need for an integrated approach to energy, water, and food security and shows that decentralized energy provision has a huge potential to deliver the services that communities need and have a right to, while balancing the constraints of an increasingly resource-scarce environment.

Learning from the past: nexus synergies and trade-offs

Practical Action has long-standing and internationally recognized field experience in decentralized energy provision of all kinds. In particular, we have worked on micro-hydro systems³ for decades in Nepal, Peru, and Zimbabwe.

In this section, we draw on studies looking back at micro-hydro schemes that have been running for at least five years. These studies were initially commissioned to review the technical, social, and economic sustainability of the schemes. However, we now review their findings in the light of what they reveal about the energy–water–food nexus.

Peru

In 1992, Practical Action began a programme of scaling up the installation of micro-hydro schemes in Peru. In 2005 we commissioned a study to evaluate the sustainability of these schemes, taking a sample of 9 out of the 29 that had been completed at that time (Calderón Cockburn, 2005). Table 1 gives some basic information about a selection of them. In all the communities, agriculture was the backbone of livelihoods; 65 per cent of families had farm land, and among the 35 per cent that did not, most worked as agricultural labourers. People also made some money from value-addition activities such as knitting and weaving.

Table 1 Micro-hydro schemes evaluated in Peru for the looking back study, 2005

Location: District/ Province/ Department	Started operating in	Power (kW)	Households connected: Original/2005/2014	Comments
Conchán Chota Cajamarca	1995	80	114 368 450	A milk cooling plant was added. By 2014 power had been increased to 150 kW to cater for additional users
Chetilla Cajamarca Cajamarca	2001	80	89 89 250	Very isolated area. Expansion of the scheme required installation of a power booster
Huarango San Ignacio Cajamarca	2000	50	150 150 150	Service is affected when there is a prolonged dry spell – or when rains have been too heavy
‘Yumahual’ scheme, Magdalena Cajamarca Cajamarca	1997	25	5	A scheme which only serves a small private enterprise rearing chickens. Still functioning in 2014
Incahuasi Ferreñafe Lambayeque	1999	50	150 150 Mkt only	Very isolated area. There is less power during the dry season so street lights are switched off, but power for households is maintained. By 2014 serving only the market as households are connected to the national grid
‘Chalan’ scheme, M. Iglesias Celendín Cajamarca	1994	25	87 87 –	This scheme faced operational and management problems. Only about 50% of households were connected, and power levels insufficient. No longer in use by 2014 due to arrival of the national grid

From a technical perspective, the sustainability of the schemes has been very good. By 2014 they were all still functioning except two which had been overtaken by the arrival of the national grid. Four had a power booster or additional installed capacity to reach additional users. The 2005 study found that impacts from the schemes included:

• increased access to energy services (lighting, food processing, cooling, and ICTs especially TV);

• spending on energy reduced significantly (by 2–3 times);

• significant impacts on the quality of education (materials, teaching, homework) and health care provision;

• 60 per cent said that family incomes had improved (small businesses – restaurants, bars, carpentry, bakeries).

However, the report found that electrification had no direct impact on the mainstream agricultural practices of cultivation or livestock rearing. In the design phase of the micro-hydros, no particular consideration was paid to how energy (or water) could support these practices, and any benefit to agriculture-related activities of knitting and weaving were incidental. The systems were designed on the basis of the availability of water and hence total potential energy that could be generated, and on payment capacity, rather than on eventual productive uses for increasing incomes. The project focus was on electricity alone, and did not consider any other types of energy which could have had a closer connection to agricultural livelihoods such as biogas production.

Power house of the Conchán micro-hydro, Cajamarca, Peru

In general there was enough water to operate the micro-hydros and supply sufficient drinking water (especially as the water is returned to the river once it has passed through the turbine). However, some trade-offs were reported. In Chalan, the river level was affected by farmers in the higher lands building irrigation canals, disrupting electricit...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• The global debate on nexus issues
• Learning from the past: nexus synergies and trade-offs
• Planning for the nexus: examples from Zimbabwe
• Conclusion
• Notes
• References
• Copyright