A second round of climate change training brought together technical school teachers from Chubut, Neuquén, and Mendoza. The sessions covered climate impacts, social consequences, carbon footprints, and climate justice, equipping teachers to inspire climate-conscious youth.
Micro-Hydro Power Resource & Services Centre in Pakistan
One of our SEPS projects aims to improve the reliability and sustainability of micro-hydro power plants in Chitral, Pakistan. A “Resource & Service Centre”, established by our partners GFA Entec, is providing servicing and training infrastructure to local communities operating micro-hydro plants.
International experience has shown that it is almost impossible to operate technical infrastructure in rural areas on a sustainable basis without the support of regular and effective maintenance and repair services. This is the case in Chitral, a landlocked district in Pakistan, where many of the micro-hydro power plants were built prior to 2009, are poorly designed and are operated by inadequately trained personnel.
The Micro-Hydro Resource & Service Centre (MRSC) specifically aims to improve the sustainable operation of micro-hydro plants by providing economically sustainable maintenance and repair services. Therefore, the MRSC is managed in a business-like manner and provides its services on a commercial basis. Communities operating micro-hydro plants have to pay appropriate fees for training and product servicing.
The MRSC was launched in October 2017 with a number of introductory and promotional workshops. The centre consists of a fully equipped workshop suitable for making major repairs and overhauling micro-hydro equipment. The MRSC also hosts training facilities for regular operator training sessions and refresher courses. The key feature is the servicing infrastructure, which is maintained by well-trained service technicians working both at the MRSC and at a number of remote servicing points throughout the Chitral district. The remote servicing point technicians provide preventive maintenance and basic repair services in a defined servicing zone consisting of around 20 micro-hydro plants.
The concept is not technology specific and could be replicated in virtually any rural infrastructure context.
More general information is available on our SEPS Project page: Micro Hydro Power Resource & Services Centre in Chitral, Pakistan
