India wants to encourage more privately owned, small-scale hydropower projects to cut its climate emissions, but questions about environmental impacts remain
In the western Himalayas, the entire village of Hamal is powered by a small hydroelectric plant on the edge of the Shalvi river. It produces enough power to light up 100 homes at a time, ending the village’s once-endemic power cuts.
Small hydro projects, producing up to 25MW, have the potential to transform India’s rural communities and are being driven by companies such as Vaishnavi Consultants, which completed the Hamal project in 2014.
Related: The hydropower paradox: is this energy as clean as it seems?