Collective research and hindsight within the Hydro Empowerment Network reveal that the long-term sustainability and impact of hydro mini-grids is dependent on how well the project is run as a viable and inclusive enterprise. This webinar - the 3rd in the series- will feature mini-grid practitioners in South and Southeast Asia who are leading the transition from grant dependent to enterprise based micro and mini-hydropower projects.  The webinar will present: 

• The Linkage between enterprise-based approaches and long-lived hydro mini-grids;
• Best practices to transition from grant-dependent to local social enterprise models, based on micro hydro experience in Nepal, Malaysia, and Indonesia; 
• Solutions to scale their efforts to more micro hydro communities, including how to make better use of funding resources that currently go toward grant-dependent projects. 

More information about the vita of the speakers can be found on Energypedia!

Moderator: Ranisha Basnet

Thematic Discussant: Dipti Vaghela, Co-Founder and Manager of HPNET

Date: Tuesday, 17 September 2019 at 2:00 pm CEST

More information on Energypedia!

Register here for the Webinar!

In collaboration with Tonibung, Green Empowerment and with financial support from WISIONS, HPNET developed an open-source design for building a Load Indicator Device for micro hydropower systems. This device helps communities, applying these systems, to control their energy demand to the possible supply of the system. 

It is not unusual, that the capacities of the hydropower system are over-expanded when too many devices are connected to it. Eventually this leads to power outages of the whole installed hydropower system. Load Indicator Devices help the communities to have visual control over their energy consumption and having better measure on the capacities of their installed micro hydropower system. As soon as the system is approaching a critical threshold, the device will raise an alarm sound and let the communities know, that the current usage of connected appliances it too demanding for the system. 

Read here more about the device from HPNET: TONIBUNG DEVELOPS CANARY LOAD INDICATOR DEVICE

Direct Link to the construction manual of the device: Click here at this Link!

Learn more about Open-Source Technologies for rural communities at this this webinar from WISIONS

The exchange project Exchange: Demand-Side Solutions to Financing Sustainable Energy in Southeast Asia (SEPS16) generally aimed to foster and support the upscaling, implementation, delivery and impact of renewable energy technologies in Southeast Asia. Based on previously existing knowledge and experiences, main goals for the exchange have been developed:

1. Empowering entrepreneurs by peer-to-peer learning and knowledge exchange based on best practices
2. Capacity-building for renewable energy entrepreneurs by providing specialized trainings on important topics in finance e.g. financial vocabulary, communicating business plans and building partnerships with the adequate investors 
3. Developing a platform for direct dialogue between entrepreneurs and investors for clearing out knowledge asymmetries e.g. risk vs. return, unfamiliarity with the technology, local context, loan structures etc. 
4. Establishing market connections to support implementation and delivery of low-carbon technology solutions in Southeast Asia. 

, running surveys, tailoring the platform to target audiences and eventually presenting the developed platform to the stakeholders. Related to this, the project resulted in a two-day knowledge exchange event on 26th and 27th of February 2019 in Yangon (Myanmar), where the participants  from different social enterprises and SMEs across Southeast Asia discussed the results and findings of NEXUS. By holding workshops and trainings for strengthening the capabilities of entrepreneurs, bringing investors and entrepreneurs together and presenting LIFT to the audience, the event was a clear success. Over 100 participants representing 77 organizations from more than 10 countries across Asia attended the event contributed to intense networking, knowledge sharing and optimization of NEXUS' knowledge and financing platform. 

Based on these experiences and accompanying research and dialogue between the stakeholders, NEXUS gathered the collected data into an online visualization tool, the Finance Solution Map. The online visualization makes 125 existing funds accessible to the user, who is able to filter potential funding opportunities according to his/her demands for the project. Until this moment, this online tool is the largest directory of financing schemes in the field of renewable energy in Southeast Asia. Furthermore, while designing the Finance Solutions Map, the LIFT program has been facilitated, including all the initiatives implemented by NEXUS in partnership with WISIONS: trainings, workshops, articles, case studies, knowledge content, webinars, reports and the finance solutions directory. All of these intend to address the knowledge and finance barriers, and accelerate sustainable and renewable energy technology entrepreneurship in Southeast Asia. In order to deliver the Finance Solutions Map and the LIFT program to the audience, NEXUS opened the online platform on their website.

Altogether combined, you can find there the maps, other research outputs and information related to capacity building and knowledge sharing. In addition to the map, LIFT also includes financial tools and definitions, content, several knowledge materials such as case studies, reports, infographics, webinars and the financial insights articles written post-event that summarized the key take-aways from the training sessions. 

Here you can find the Finance Solutions Map

And here the LIFT Program

To know more about the exchange program itself, you can click her: Exchange: Demand-Side Solutions to Financing Sustainable Energy in Southeast Asia (SEPS16)