The Role of Small Hydro Power Plants in the Rural Development in Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast. Case study: Pamir Energy Company

Abstract

The main idea of this paper is to analyze the development in the rural remote districts. Energy is the essential factor for driving the living standard of the population. More in details this paper aims to study the role of the small hydro power plants for the rural development. Rural electrification project is one of the first factors for the development. Current paper is based on the case study in the remote rural province of the eastern Tajikistan, calls Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO). GBAO is one of the three provinces located in Tajikistan. After the collapse of the Soviet Union the life conditions were very bad there. GBAO was faced with the energy crisis during this period. The study conducted the qualitative and descriptive research methods and found that the electricity generated from the small hydro power plants is very crucial for the living standard; otherwise people could not improve their quality of life without electricity in GBAO. More in details this study found the positive impact on enterprise development, health care services, education sphere, living standards and the environment in GBAO. With the access to the clean renewable electricity, today the population of GBAO upgrades new businesses, the new health care facilities were installed in the medical establishment, which exactly need the electricity. Students are studying in the warm and light classes equipped with the new modern technologies, which also consumes electricity. The population living condition change well than the past times, when there was not accessible electricity in the region. The environment is now growing, because people stopped to cut the trees for collecting wood and using only electricity. The clean renewable energy is very useful for the health and people are very satisfied with the electricity bills in GBAO. In general, the PE and the small hydro power plants shows the very good result and impact in the rural development providing the population of GBAO 24 hours and 7 day per week with clean renewable electricity.