Decentralized Energy Access and the Millenium Development Goals: An Analysis of the Development of Benefits of Microhydropower in Rural Nepal

Decentralized, off-grid power supplies such as micro hydropower can be perceived as expensive investments by poor countries like Nepal. Can these investments be justified by the benefits that electricity brings to villages in remote mountainous regions? This book describes research into the development gains brought to such villages, measured in terms of progress towards achieving the millennium development goals. Indicators relating to income, education, gender equality, maternal and child health and environmental impact were measured in villages benefiting from micro hydropower, compared with neighbouring villages without an electricity supply. Decentralized Energy Access and the Millennium Development Goals provides conclusive evidence of these transformative benefits and recommends that Nepal, and countries like it, scale up investments in its microhydropower programme. Published in association with UNDP and AEP, Nepal.

Gwénaëlle Legros is consultant with the Sustainable Energy Programme within UNDP’s Environment and Energy Group in New York. She has been working over the last ten years in the fields of energy and sustainable development conducting research, statistical and analytical work or implementing renewable energy projects in developing countries.

Kamal Rijal is a Policy Advisor with the Sustainable Energy Programme within UNDP’s Environment and Energy Group in New York. Prior to joining UNDP, he served as an Energy Specialist with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development and as a Senior Advisor with the Government of Nepal’s National Planning Commission.

Bahareh Seyed is an Energy Policy Specialist with the Sustainable Energy Programme within the Environment and Energy Group of UNDP in New York. Prior to joining the Headquarters in New York, she was based at UNDP in Burkina Faso. She has also been engaged in leading and managing multiple development projects in Central America and South East Asia working with civil society and private sector organizations.