ROLE AND SUSTAINABILITY MICRO HYDROPOWER: - THE CASE STUDY OF LELTA RIVER MICRO HYDROPOWER IN ALETA WONEDO, SIDAMA ZONE, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The overall aim of the study was assessment of sustainability of Micro hydropower to the local community in Aleta Wonedo Woreda in the Southern Ethiopia. From Woreda two representatives Kebeles namely Agara Sodicha and Gordama were selected purposively based on presence of Micro hydropower plant. Demographic, socio-economic and electric end user appliance type and quantity inventory data were gathered from randomly selected 134 household. Using water balance model the result of maximum and minimum readable level allowed the flow rate measurement of 0.616 m3 / s and 0.062 m3 / s respectively. The power in KW output were 21.2 in December, 19.47 in December with probability of 92.3%, and 20.4 in January. Then electric end user appliance type and quantity per household identified. Moreover, a total 32 key informants used to categorize the households into age, six and monthly electric service fee. Focus group discussions were also held to triangulate the information collected during household survey. The survey result indicated that 67% of household unsatisfied on electric tariff against the service, they receive and 100% of power line connected to domestic lighting. Beside this 1% percent of household use all type appliance such as TV, charging and domestic lighting even radio play. A sustainability assessment model for the operation of micro hydropower plants in a rural area of Aleta Wonedo Woreda, Southern Ethiopia was developed. Our model includes 32 assessment indicators taking into account economic, social, environmental, and technical sustainability dimensions and a scoring system (ranging from 1 to 5, with 5 being the best). It was found that the environmental dimension shows the best performance with a score of 3.833 for the studied MHP, followed by social (2.625), economic (2.5), and technical dimensions (1.7). Future electric demand forecasting result show, that the demand of electricity at 2020 E.C will reach (229±18.75) MWh. Finally concluded that communities are very keen to sustainability of MHP and participation community requires improvement.