Overview
Nepal has a tremendous potential for hydroelectricity production. Across the county, micro hydroelectric power (MHP) projects are constructed to provide basic electricity supply to local people. These island microgrid systems are limited in their performance due to their power restrictions. While a typical run-of-the-river electric generator has a constant nominal (equals peak) power output, load demand fluctuates well below this peak power output and cannot surpass it. This grossly limits electricity harvest and causes much potential energy to go to waste. Power intensive activities such as cooking cannot be covered by electric supply due to generator power constraints, Country-wide biomass is resorted to for cooking, covering 69% of the total Nepali energy consumption. Exposure to smoke from biomass-based cooking is an acute health risk, giving rise to yearly 4 million premature deaths globally. This is a typical power and energy matching problem with fatal consequences for the population.
This situation is combated in this project by introducing Hydrogen production, storage, distribution, and Hydrogen-based cooking. The hydrogen powered stoves are developed and tested with local partners. The school of social work support the development process by integrating social sciences research findings (interviews with local families and focus groups) into the design process.
