Nepal has long been reeling under acute power shortage. Many believe that one way to deal with the ongoing power crisis is promoting renewable and alternative energy. In this context, the Post caught up with Ram Prasad Dhital,  executive director of Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC), to talk on the status of renewable and alternative energy production, and the programmes being run by AEPC in the field. Excerpts:

How can alternative energy help reduce the ongoing power shortage?

There are various ways alternative energy can be used to reduce power shortage. There are over half a million inverters inside the Kathmandu Valley which are fully dependent on the power supply from national grid for charging. If we can charge them by solar power, the consumption of the electricity from the national grid could be brought down to a large extent. There is also a high potential of generating electricity from the wastes that are generated in the Capital and various parts of the country. If we were to harness the alternative energy potential, there could be a great relief from the problem of power shortage. The alternative energy contributes to some one percent of the total energy consumption while the share of hydro-electricity is somewhere around two percent

Feeding the power generated from alternative energy sources to the national grid has been in plan for a long time. Why has not been executed yet?

We are seriously working on this area and are in regular correspondence with the Nepal Electricity Authority to execute it at the earliest possible.  We are happy to know that the recent board meeting of the NEA has decided to connect the technically feasible micro-hydro projects into the national grid. This is the biggest achievement in this sector so far. This will allow all feasible projects to be easily connected to the grid and these projects will be sustainable in the long run. At the same time, the community will also get additional revenue from the grid. However, there should be an assurance of sustainable and quality energy production to connect.

There was a plan to provide subsidy in solar installation for in the urban areas to promote the use of alternative energy. What progress has been made so far?

The government initiated the urban solar programme last year, but it was not successfully implemented because of various reasons. There were too much of a paperwork involved in the process. We are now revising the policy based on the lesson that we have learned from that experience. The plan is to provide some installation subsidy and to introduce accelerated depreciation. We are also planning to expand solar system in public places like district court and streets, both in the urban and rural areas. In addition, the government through the budget has endorsed a plan to install 150,000 solar home systems in the rural part of the country.

The Karnali Ujjyalo Programme (KUP) faced a huge criticism for being inefficient. What is AEPC doing to ensure that the ongoing programme does not face the same situation?

We’ve learned a lesson from the KUP. After that case, we have institutionalised monitoring unit in AEPC. The problem was caused by lack of project monitoring. Now we are fully conscious and committed to ensure sustainable and quality service. We have proper mechanism for monitoring quality and compliance system to ensure the quality.

How is NRREP functioning?

Earlier, the alternative power development projects were operated separately. With the introduction of NRREP, the entire programmes are run in an integrated manner. It has three components—technical support, productive end use and central energy fund—with due focus in improving the access of the energy. With this, the development works, subsidy and credit are mobilised from central energy fund. This is administered by professional banks at the centre and district level.

What are the future plans of AEPC?

So far our strength has been in subsidy, small solar home system and Improved Cooking Stoves. As per the government programme, we have to upscale our works to mini grid from small hydropower, hybrid energy production from solar and wind, power production from waste, among others. However, it is necessary to upscale AEPC for execution. AEPC is a semi-autonomous body, with the government acting as the executive authority. The former Cabinet had approved a bill for AEPC Act which envisions making AEPC autonomous.