Alpine villages are generating their own electricity   

Electricity is the boon of modern civilisation. However, producing it often involves a lot of hassles, be it from water, solar power plants or geothermal systems. To tackle this, villagers in northern Italian Alpine region, especially Furtalm, a mountain farm located in South Tyrol, are using the geographical formations around them to their advantage. They are making their own electricity from small hydropower houses that are constantly watered by the waterfalls around.  

This region, that is often deemed as Europe’s powerhouse, has set up its own electricity-producing plants by taking advantage of the inbuilt valley-spanning reservoirs and underwater giant waterpipes. The situation is such that now almost every farm has its own small plants that supply electricity to the whole of it, which is sufficient to run all kinds of new-age appliances. To top it all, this electricity is free for all.  

Sources also cite that annually, these tiny hydropower plants produce as much as 7300 gigawatt per hour each, enough to export more than half of it to the rest of Italy, especially during summer. Not only that, power produced in South Tyrol is 90 per cent of the entire power generated across the country. What’s more interesting is that, 80 per cent of the electricity produced by South Tyrol is powered by 30 big plants alone. But that still doesn’t steal the limelight of what the mini farm-based hydropower plants are doing, making themselves self-reliant. In fact, about 1000 hydropower plants in that region are either small or medium-sized with their functions ranging from powering a single farm, to multiple farms to that of an entire valley.  

Now, what’s amazing is that, most of these are run-of-the-river diversion plants which is nothing but a part of a hilly river diverted by small dams or weirs, using pipes into a turbine. These plants end up producing 220 kilowatts to 3 megawatts of power. In fact, now, inspired by South Tyrol, many other Alpine regions across the continent are establishing small or mid-sized plants, enabling villages and farms to be self-sufficient, all the while contributing to their nation’s overall hydropower production. That isn’t all either. These small hydropower houses are also pioneering low-impact and sustainable source of energy, something that’s expected to take a global precedence. With the world experiencing frequent blackouts and skyrocketing energy prices, finding such renewable alternatives are being lauded.  

As you can guess, the emergence of these small electricity-manufacturing plants is also providing locally-viable livelihoods to the natives. Moreover, all other kinds of cooperatives such as factories, offices, schools and hospitals are also having access to easy and cheaper sources of energy, thanks to such tiny powerhouses.  

Wondering why solar and wind aren’t being used in place of water, well, it’s because solar panels can only be installed on roofs which is quite expensive; while winds are often unreliable and are also opposed by several hiking communities of the region. In contrast, these Alpine regions have regular and access to water, which is cost-effective as well.