Renewable Energy In Urban Context Challenges And Opportunities

The workshop on “Renewable Energy In Urban Context Challenges And Opportunities” was conducted on November 22, 2015 at Hotel Himalaya, Lalitpur. The workshop was organized by UN-Habitat, Clean Energy Nepal, FNCII and Institute of Engineering with the support of European Union under the project Green Homes: Promoting Sustainable Housing

Nepal does not have its own reserves of gas, coal or oil. Nepal’s economic and social development is being hampered by its inadequate energy supply. The hydropower is one of the major sources for energy in Nepal along with other potential renewable such as Solar and Wind energy. The total existing installed generation capacity was reported to be 787 MW. Of the total grid capacity 729.1 MW is provided from hydropower plants, whereas 53.4 MW consists of thermal generation (PDNA, NPC, 2015). In the dry season the actual generation from the installed hydropower plants could reach as low as 400 MW. According to the national census published in 2013, about 75 percent of the total population in Nepal (27.5 million) is estimated to have connections to grid (about 50 percent) and off-grid (about 25 percent) electricity (NPC, 2015). Nepal’s average annual per capita electricity consumption is about 161 kWh (CBS, 2013) – one of the lowest consumption in South Asia. The grid connected consumers are facing acute power crisis with load shedding reaching up to 14 hours in dry season.  There is need of more diversification of energy sources in the post disaster and energy crisis due to blockade from India. Certainly the introduction of renewable energy sources such as Solar Home System at household level can be one of the best solutions to cope up with power crisis in urban areas.
Most recently, Nepal along with other countries has adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that consists of 17 goals and 169 targets to be attained by 2030. AEPC has just recently brought new urban subsidy policy where they have introduced Net Metering concept to promote solar home system in urban areas to tackle energy crisis.

In this context, the workshop was successful to bring together diverse stakeholders and open discussion on how promoting of renewable energy mix through net metering can help Nepal to move toward the SDG goal 7 of Ensuring Access to Affordable, Reliable, Sustainable and Modern Energy for All.