Even though hydropower has been considered a key energy resource for economic prosperity, developing low cost, decentralised and environment- friendly renewable energy technologies have given new impetus to meet the growing energy needs of scattered settlements living in diverse topographies.

“One of the biggest achievements from the installation of renewable and alternative energy sources is that it has promoted energy equity where the poor and rural communities living in harsh topographical regions now have access to clean energy source for lighting and cooking purposes,” said Jagannath Shrestha, an energy expert with the Institute of Engineering, Pulchowk.

Of the total Rs 30 billion allocated in the current budget for energy related projects specifically for electricity generation, transmission lines and hydropower projects, about Rs 4 billion has been allotted for introducing various clean and renewable energy sources.

The budget has given priority to community based micro hydropower plants and solar energy systems, as around Rs 1.11 billion has been separated to install off-grid solar systems to around 125,000 low income households.

While using hydropowers to generate electricity is over a century old practice, the renewable energy technologies (RETs) were first adopted by the 7th five year plan (1985-1990).

Since then, the RETs have gained widespread attention and investment to a certain scale along with the implementation of subsidy mechanism through the establishment of Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC) in 1996.

Due to ever increasing dependency on imported energy sources, particularly fossil fuel, the environment and public health hazards associated with traditional practices in the use of biomass as a source of energy is on the rise. A decentralised, efficient, low cost and environment-friendly energy supply based in diverse indigenous renewable resources is the present need of the scattered households, a report on the Current status of renewable energy in Nepal: Opportunities and Challenges, published in 2011, said.

Last year, the government launched an ambitious campaign to make kitchens smoke-free by 2017, in other words about 3.4 million clean cooking solutions would be provided to all households by the given period.

The Clean Cooking Solutions for All by 2017 (CCS4All) is being implemented under the framework of National Rural and Renewable Energy Programme launched in 2012.

However, some of the major challenges to achieve the plan of smoke free kitchens by 2017 are lack of manpower, and financial and physical resources.

The AEPC, the sole government institution responsible for the development of renewable and alternative energy technologies, has been adding 200,000 ICS annually, and to successfully implement its plan, an additional 800,000 ICS is required every year until 2017.

Distribution of energy sources

Biomass    85 %

Petroleum products    9 %

Coal    3 %

Hydro Electricity    2 %

Renewables    1 %

Source: UNDP (2010)

Consumption in economic sectors

Residential    87%

Transport    6%

Industry    5%

Commercial (services)    1%

Agriculture    1%*

Source: NEA

Renewable energy technologies

-    Micro hydro—32 MW

-    Biogas / Biomass—350,000 households

-    Solar—600,000 households ( 14 MW)

-    Wind—100 Kilowatt

-    Improved Cooking Stoves- 900,000 households