Decentralized hydropower solutions are bringing hope and tangible benefits to communities in Papua New Guinea, where remote communities accepted darkness after sunset as daily reality, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.
For communities in Mount Hagen and Hogave, micro hydropower has become a community achievement and source of hope for improved livelihoods. In Hogave, when the 20-kW micro-hydro system started supplying electricity to the village facilities including the school, locals experienced previously unimaginable benefits.
Kumoro Kima, who has taught for nine years at the village elementary school, was able to trim the long hours he used to spend for class preparation with the help of a mobile phone and tablet. And the availability of electricity improved his students’ learning process. Lighting allows them to extend the hours devoted to studying, and the hydropower plant raised their awareness of the role of water in generating electricity.
The micro-hydro plant supplies clean and reliable power and is cost-effective. As explained by the founding director of the Hogave Conservation Centre and one of the tribe’s elders, David Kima, “Previously, we used fuel from diesel generators, which constantly runs out quickly, so we had to send a vehicle up to Goroka town to transport the fuel. That’s 63 km, or about a two or three-hour drive. With the micro-hydro, the timing and costs of going up to town and coming back were reduced and cut down.”
Cost-efficiency means a lot for small communities in massive need of economic growth, IRENA said. Decentralized renewable energy solutions such as the one in Hogave offer a wide range of socio-economic benefits to communities.
In Mount Hagen, another small hydro power plant is changing the lives of the community living around the Rondon Ridge Lodge. Built as an eco-resort, the lodge has been using clean electricity supplied by a 120-kW mini-hydro plant since its establishment in 2005.
Accomplished completely by locals over 12 months of construction, the project built local skills and created about 30 jobs. The system continues to benefit the surrounding community as it sustainably supplies free electricity to the lodge and its vicinity, boosting tourism in the area. The lodge hired locals for the power system’s operation and maintenance, as well as to support the lodge’s operation and tourism activities. Currently, 95% of the lodge’s staff are locals.
Women account for 20% of the employees. Though still a modest share, this has indirectly improved gender and social equity in the area. Kere Kila, a local woman who serves as a supervisor at the lodge, observed the positive ripple effects of the renewables-powered tourism on local economies. “Since I started working at the lodge, I see local women really benefit from the business. They get more income because they can sell their handicrafts to the tourists,” she said.
These two projects are prime examples of how decentralized renewable energy solutions can catalyze sustainable development in last-mile communities, IRENA said. But they are just a fraction of what Papua New Guinea can potentially deploy. Out of its theoretical maximum 251 GW of hydropower potential, the country only generated 327 MW of hydropower by 2023. Still, Papua New Guinea was able to add 66 MW last year after capacity had been at a standstill for years. There is much more to be done, especially with the government aiming for an ambitious target of 70% renewables generation by 2030.
