Regional Centre in Bangkok

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October 2009: Volume 2

IMPACTS & RESULTS

Ozone and Chemicals Portfolio

Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS)

Since 1992, UNDP has managed a global programme to phase out Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) in more than 100 countries worth over $500 million, supporting more than 1,900 projects. The portfolio in Asia Pacific is 55% of the total and when fully implemented, the projects in this region will have prevented over 35,000 metric tonnes of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) being released into the earth’s atmosphere. This translates to approximately 150 million tonnes of CO2-eq emission reductions. On the ground, these projects have allowed UNDP to engage in partnerships with industry associations in Asia and the Pacific, to assist thousands of enterprises in phasing out ODS, and to train over 55,000 refrigeration and air conditioning servicing technicians and 275,000 agricultural producers.

Since the Montreal Protocol came into effect, atmospheric concentrations of the most important ODS have either leveled off or decreased, and the production of ODS that exceeded 1.8 million tonnes annually in 1987, had been reduced to some 83,000 tonnes in 2005. As a result, the thinning of the ozone layer leveled off in 1998 and is now projected to return to pre-1980 levels between 2050 and 2075.

In the coming years UNDP will continue to play its role in providing assistance to countries to meet the new challenges of phasing out of Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) which have more widespread use than CFCs. UNDP is working as the lead agency for HCFC phase out in China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Fiji and as cooperating agency with UNEP and other agencies in Cambodia, Thailand and Nepal. The HCFC challenge will bring the climate and chemicals teams of UNDP closer together as we look for alternatives and technologies that are both Ozone friendly and Climate neutral. For the 2015 target of the Montreal Protocol, our Asia Pacific portfolio will contribute a net reduction (in allocated sectors and countries) of about 25,000 metric tonnes of HCFC (one third of the Asia-Pacific and one quarter of the global totals). Furthermore, the portfolio will reduce approximately 40 million tonnes CO2-eq reductions. For potential emission reductions until 2030, the estimated amount is 1 billion tonnes CO2-eq for Asia-Pacific.

Chemicals

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs): UNDP’s work on Chemicals other than Ozone Depleting Substances focuses primarily on the chemicals covered by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and our efforts are mainly on the industrial POPs such as Poly Chlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) which are primarily used in the power generation and distribution sector.  Most POPs projects are funded by the GEF, including projects in China to manage DDT and in Vietnam to manage Dioxin contaminated hotspots and pesticides.  UNDP has also provided assistance to nine countries in Asia and the Pacific, including Iran, Pakistan, the Cook Islands, Niue and Samoa to develop their National Implementation Plans for dealing with POPs.  These will in the future lead to further project development for POPs elimination.

 

Renewable Energy in India

The project “Optimizing Development of Small Hydel Resources in the Hilly Regions of India” was launched in 1994 and has reached completion in december 1999. A post-completion assessment has recently been conducted, with the impacts and results reported here.

The project has led to the development of a national strategy and a master plan with detailed investment proposals for the utilization of small hydropower resources in the Himalayan and sub-Himalayan regions. The national strategy and master plan was implemented and achieved an aggregate installed hydro capacity above the target. The Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources (MNES) took a conscious decision to undertake small hydro projects as a commercial activity with private sector participation. In order to achieve this objective, the Ministry announced fresh incentives to provide financial support for conducting feasibility studies and an interest subsidy for commercial projects. The strategies used to involve private sector and financial institutional participation has been very successful considering the response of the private sector for allotment of hydro development sites in various States.

Along side the national strategy, the project has also successfully supported: an assessment of existing small hydropower infrastructure and untapped potential; the establishment of zoning plans, long-term investment strategies for small hydel resources; a series of thematic studies. It has further led to the development and implementation of a load development/low wattage program, improving and upgrading the design of traditional water mills in order to make them mechanically efficient and to generate electricity for local needs.

Twenty pilot sites were identified for the installation and commissioning of demonstration units. Seventeen of the sites are functional and a gradual but steady improvement in the generation and capacity utilization of the plants has been observed. Through effective tail end injection of supplementary power, the demonstration plants have considerably improved and stabilized the availability of power in the target areas. As a result, power consumption in the post-project period is observed to have increased significantly in some of the target areas studied.

The increased availability of power has led to a steady increase in the use of domestic electrical appliances especially for lighting and entertainment applications leading in turn to some significant improvements in the quality of life particularly for women and children in the target areas.The project envisioned that 50% of the energy produced by the demonstration projects would be used for cooking and heating in the project area, thereby replacing fuel wood. Only around 25% of the power available is at present used for such applications. The fuel wood saving and corresponding reduction in emission is therefore likely to be much lower than what has been originally envisaged. With the total capacity of 4700 KW currently installed under the hilly hydro project the actual fuel wood savings per year as a consequence of the power generated works out to be only 1111 tons/year as compared to the 7100 tons/year anticipated in the project document. The corresponding GHG emission reduction is also much lower at 535 tons/ year as compared to what was envisaged.

However, according to the independent evaluation, the project has certainly served as the major catalyst for the creation of an additional installed capacity to the tune of 1530 MW in the small hydro sector in India. Of this capacity as much as 543 MW has been installed in the hilly regions and would under the most conservative assumptions lead to a GHG reduction of nearly 57,825 tons of CO2eq per year. The small hydro capacity of 987 MW installed in the non hilly areas is likely to replace the use of diesel, resulting in a GHG reduction of 2.3 million tons of CO2eq per year.

The project developed institutional and human capacities, from the local to national levels, needed for sustainable development of the mini-micro hydel sector in hilly regions. The project was unsuccessful in training individuals and organizations at the national, state and local levels to handle independently the planning, design, construction, maintenance, operation and management of small hydropower plants. Capacity was further built in selected institutions concerned with the Small Hydro Sector and created an experienced and trained pool of personnel for planning and implementation of SHPs.