On 26 May 2024, CEMSOJ inaugurated a 15-kW Sankhar Khola Micro Hydropower Project at Dhirang village of Raksirang rural municipality in remote hills of Makawanpur district in southern Nepal. The project will bring stable electricity for at least 120 households – all Indigenous Chepangs – from Dhirang, Darang, Garling and other villages in Ward no. 7 of the rural municipality.

Upon request of the Sankhar Khola Micro Hydropower Project User Committee, the project was reconstructed and upgraded under Phase 3 of CEMSOJ‘s Community-based Renewable Energy Project (CbREP) initiative. Feasibility study for the project was undertaken on 15 and 16 January 2024.

Heartfelt gratitude to the User Committee and the Chepang communities for putting their trust on us and labour contribution through for the project. Thanks to generous contribution from Pawanka Fund for the project and facilitation of the Asia Indigenous Peoples Network on Extractive Industries and Energy (AIPNEE) and Right Energy Partnership with Indigenous Peoples (REP). Also, thanks to Tiba: Nepa: Engineering Concern for producing and supplying the equipment and providing technical services for the project.

See pictures from the feasibility study and inauguration of the project below.