The government has come up with various loan and subsidy programmes in its Renewable Energy Subsidy Policy 2016 with the aim of providing clean, reliable and accessible energy using renewable and alternative energy technologies.
The government has come up with various loan and subsidy programmes in its Renewable Energy Subsidy Policy 2016 with the aim of providing clean, reliable and accessible energy using renewable and alternative energy technologies.
According to the policy, the government would offer cash subsidy of Rs 20,000 for the installation of solar energy system with the capacity of 200 watts or above. For the households that wish to install a solar energy system with the capacity of 500 watts or above, the government would offer loan without collateral and an exemption of interest by up to 75 percent.
The policy formulated by the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) has also proposed providing free 10-watt solar energy for the earthquake affected households in 14 districts.
Subsidy schemes have also been proposed for micro-hydro projects, solar energy system between 11 and 50 watt and solar pumps for earthquake-affected households.
The subsidy mechanism for renewable energy technologies will be revised every two years.
The subsidy amount and loans for the interested households both in rural and urban areas will be mobilised through the Central Renewable Energy Fund administered by the AEPC.
AEPC Executive Director Ram Prasad Dhital said one of the major features of the policy is that it encourages active involvement of public and private sectors to develop renewable energy technologies.
The policy has envisioned reducing the overall subsidy to 40 percent from the existing 80 percent provided by the government, and encourage private sector investment and soft loans from the banking sector, along with resource mobilisation from the community, to fulfil the shortfall in developing projects. According to the new policy, 30 percent of the cost will be provided as soft loan while the remaining 30 percent will be mobilised by the communities or private sector.
The government in support from various development partners and donor agencies has already generated around 26 megawatt electricity from micro hydro projects, installed over 350,000 biogas plants, 700,000 solar energy systems and over 1.2 million improved cooking stoves, all benefiting over 3 million households across the country.
Around 26 percent of the total population of the country has now access to electricity generated by various forms of alternative and renewable energy technologies.
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