Title	Community Based Rural Income through Sustainable Energy Project (RISE) in Laos
Project Type	Feasibility Study
Swiss Partner	Helvetas - www.helvetas.org
Technology	Small Hydropower ; Photovoltaic
Description	Laos belongs to the poorest countries in South-East Asia. The population of remote upland areas expresses access to electricity as a pressing need. However, it will take twenty years more until the national grid may reach these remote pockets. There are approximately 40 known villages in Laos where small scale hydroelectric turbines have been installed but are no longer in use, largely due to bad design, poor quality materials and poor maintenance. Helvetas enters with the Laotian company Sunlabob into an innovative private-public partnership to rehabilitate in a pilot project three selected hybrid village grids. These grids shall provide renewable energy to households and small scale enterprises along agricultural value chains. The project pays particular attention to capacity building on community level. This guarantees a proper management and maintenance of the village grids.
Country	Laos
Swiss Contribution	The Swiss contribution focuses its effort on the sustainable approach. The project sets up innovative relationships and financial arrangements among the main stakeholders in order to assure sustainability. Well tested models of the institutional arrangements, in particular between the private partner (energy seller) and public sector (villages), are a precondition for a future replication of the approach.
Website	www.helvetas.org www.sunlabob.com
Project State	completed
Documentation	Final report (german, 0.35 MB pdf)