Micro-hydro Costs

In a micro-hydro project in Kathamba, Kenya, implemented by the Micro Hydro Centre at Nottingham Trent University, the local community contributed nearly all of the labor as well as the land for the turbine house, building materials for the intake and turbine house, and distribution poles made from local trees . The reported cash expenditure of the Kathamba project was US$3,788 for a 1.1 kW system ($3,444 per kW). A second micro-hydro project implemented by the same organization in Thima, Kenya had a total project cost of US$6,365 for a 2.2 kW system ($2,893 per kW), while a third project in Nepal reported total costs of US$9,763 for a 4.4 kW system ($2,219 per kW). All of these projects relied on community contributions to reduce out-of-pocket costs.

Source: P. Maher, " Community Pico Hydro in Sub-Saharan Africa / Case Study Two / Thima, Kirinyaga District, Kenya." Micro Hydro Centre, The Nottingham Trend University, 07/02/02. URL:http://www.eee.ntu.ac.uk/research/microhydro/picosite.