Report on the development status of small hydro power and renewable energy in the West Asia region - Call for Submissions


Lesley Pocock


Publisher and Managing Director
Publisher and Managing Director
medi+WORLD International
World CME
Publisher
World Family Medicine
Middle East Journal of Family Medicine
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Email: lesleypocock@mediworld.com.au

The International Centre on Small Hydro Power (ICSHP under the auspices of UNIDO) is coordinating a report, entitled World Small Hydropower Development Report on the development status of small hydro power in the West Asia region. 'West Asia' includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Georgia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, UAE, Yemen.

Small Hydro Power (SHP) is a proven, clean, environmentally sound form of energy with solutions to rural electrification and promoting poverty alleviation in remote rural areas. Unlike the large hydroelectric dams/projects which occupy large area, disturb the natural ground and pose environmental threat leading to demographic changes, SHP is very small in scale with a general definition of hydropower up to 10 MW. However different countries may have their own definition. For example: Canada considers up to 50 MW and India considers up to 25 MW as small hydro power category.

Hydropower has been used for several thousand years and at the end of the 17th century, it was the main source of mechanical power in Europe. Technological developments, including highly-efficient water turbine designs and electric generators, together with the growth in demand for electricity, led to the rise of hydroelectric power.

Small Hydropower (SHP) has many benefits and advantage over other technologies, especially those based on fossil fuels. Beside the advantages shared with other renewable energy sources (clean, indigenous, local job creation, security of supply), SHP are highly efficient (from 70% to 90%), have relatively low operation and maintenance costs, a lifespan up to 100 years and therefore an attractive energy pay-back ratio even for developing countries. Most of all, small hydro is a mature and reliable technology that has already been installed for more than 30 years all over the world.

With the upcoming UNCSD (Rio+20) in June 2012, climate change and sustainable development are again at the forefront of our mind. This report is an effort supported by its editorial board members who are based at UNIDO, UNESCAP, ESHA, OLADE, IC-SHP, UNIDO Regional Centres in India and Africa, National Hydropower Association (US), CanMET, NISTEP in Japan, SOPAC etc. Hydropower is an integral incontributor to energy mix worldwide and with growing environmental awareness, small hydro has gained much importance.

If any readers have detail of any relevant Small Hydro Power projects or data to input into this report, or data on renewable energy in the West Asia region, or any other relevant comments please forward to the Editor. lesleypocock@mediworld.com.au