However, the expansion of LPG in Nepal has its own downsides. The revenue earned on each cylinder (NPR 1,375) is collected by the Nepal Oil Corporation (NoC) plus a sizeable sum goes to the Nepal Government as tax. Furthermore, some of the money is earned by India in terms of import earnings, contributing to Nepal’s already widening trade deficit.

India buys gas from Gulf countries where Nepali migrants make up for a remarkable size of the Gulf workforce. Indirectly, their income sent in the form of remittance is given back to the countries they work for.

LPG imports contributes to 2.5 percent of Nepal’s total import bill of NPR 1.5 trillion. This is a large amount, especially after Nepal imported 400,000 tons of LPG, last year. Nepal’s LPG imports in February 2019 alone was more than 35,000 metric tons.

Not just the monetary losses, but Nepal is also guilty of contributing to the greenhouse gases.

Besides this, Nepal is also spending a considerable amount of money on the delivery of these cylinders across the country.

The Solution?

It’s time to consider the potential of energy. Nepal produces its own fair share of clean hydroelectricity. The Khulekhani reservoir reached its maximum level, following rains this year in Nepal. This is where Nepal should take its opportunity and cut away from its dependence on LPG for cooking. Instead of LPG stoves, Nepalis should adopt the usage of electric rice cookers and induction stoves at least during the daytime.

Cooking at least one meal of rice in electric cookers, pre-heating water using solar water heaters can save Nepal a lot of money spent on imports of LPG and energy.

The Nepal Electrical Authority (NEA) can also support this cause by introducing time-of-the-day metering. The cost of the hydropower should vary during the day, peak hours in the evening and night. This will serve as an incentive to cook at certain hours of the day.

It’s time that Nepal also considers using the energy it generates rather than exporting it until it has more than enough for itself.

Soon differential tariff and real-time meters will become defining parameters. Extensive number of hydropower projects and speed of progress towards project completion are synonymous of hydropower’s reliability in terms of cost and quality.

If we only dedicate our time to using electricity for cooking during the day, it can save billions of Nepal expenditure on imports.

The post Nepal’s Solution to Swelling LPG Imports- Electricity appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The two countries agreed to the ‘Nepal-India energy banking deal’ at the 13^th meeting of the Power Exchange Committee (PEC) held in New Delhi, India on December 26, 2018.

This long-awaited ‘power or energy banking’ deal aims to help the two nations in effective and uninterrupted utilization of power.

The energy banking mechanism fulfils Nepal’s long-standing wish to export its surplus power to India, especially during the monsoon season, and also leverage the benefit of importing similar amount of power in exchange whenever required.

According to Kulman Ghising, Managing Director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and Nepal’s delegation lead at the PEC meeting, the new agreement will also boost Indo-Nepal bilateral energy trade.

As part of the meeting, the two sides agreed on draft guidelines pertaining to the agreement needed to implement methodology and structure of energy banking.

The draft of the new deal is expected to be approved at the energy secretary-level joint steering committee meeting to be held in January 2019.

“The agreement has been forged on the guideline prepared for energy banking and will be implemented following approval from the secretary-level joint steering committee meeting,” adds Ghising.

Ghising terms the deal as a ‘milestone’ achievement in the history of Nepal hydropower sector.

According to NEA Spokesperson Prabal Adhikari, Nepal also made a proposal for an ‘energy book’ for the first 5-7 years with India and India agreed to the same.

“Nepal will book for energy in the first five to seven years as it will take almost four years to construct the transmission line. The model of the investment mechanism will be finalised by the joint steering committee meeting,” said Adhikari.

Over the years till date, NEA has been purchasing power on a need-to-need basis from Indian states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand under the ‘purchase-and-pay’ mechanism.

Hope the Himalayan nation’s power sector will progress to the next level under the new ‘milestone’ agreement.

The post ‘Energy Banking Deal’ with India, A New Milestone for Nepal Hydropower appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Along with the new guidelines on cross-border trading of electricity, the Indian Government added a new provision allowing power trade between any two countries using Indian power lines upon an agreement with the Indian Government’s Central Transmission Utility.

“Where tripartite agreement is signed for transaction across India, the participating entities shall sign a transmission agreement with the Central Transmission Utility of India to obtain transmission corridor access,” say the newly-issued Guidelines on Cross Border Trade Import/Export of Electricity.

Indian Government had failed to recognize the trilateral agreement while issuing guidelines on cross-border electricity trade for the first time in 2017.

Experts feel that the new guidelines replacing the old ones issued in 2017 will provide an opportunity for Bangladesh and Nepal to enjoy power trading through Indian territory.

“This will foster power trade between Nepal and Bangladesh, giving opportunity to the former to export surplus electricity that it is on the track to generate within a few years,” says Semana Dahal, a lawyer and also an advisor to the Government of Nepal on infrastructure projects.

Responding on India’s move, Nepal Energy Ministry Minister said that the new decision would also give due boost to Nepal’s hydropower sector.

“The new guidelines were introduced along with the spirit of the Power Trade Agreement (PTA) signed between Nepal and India in 2014 which requires both countries to allow non-discriminatory access to cross-border electricity market,” says Dinesh Kumar Ghimire, Joint Secretary at the Energy Ministry.

The Indian Government also removed older guidelines that allow India Government-owned Nepali-based hydropower projects (or those with majority Indian share) to export power only to India.

And, other companies open to selling power to India were mandated to receive approval of the designated authority on a case-by-case basis.

That move discouraged foreign investors and electricity exporting firms of Nepal keen on building export-oriented hydropower projects targeting the Indian market.

“The approval for export could be refused if the designated authority is not satisfied with equity ownership or Indian government does not concur as per the new guidelines. This leaves some room for discretion,” says Dahal.

Dahal argues that the guidelines lack precision and most of the matters in them will further need clarification in the regulations to be issued by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) or Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) of India.

The post India Relaxes Norms for Power Export from Nepal appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The country’s hydropower potential is estimated at 85,000 MW with 43,000 MW being economically-viable.

The country is currently having a installed hydropower capacity of 752 MW and rivers are the only source of the plants operating in the country.

The electricity demand in the country is growing at an annual rate of 28%. 92 percent of the country’s energy needs are met by the hydropower sector.

Interestingly, 2001 alone saw over 100 hydropower project proposals in Nepal. Nepal’s first hydro power plant was built in Pharping with the support of the United Kingdom.

The post Abundant Hydropower Potential appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The new system, powered by 20-kW capacitive wind turbines and 15-kW capacitive solar PV panels, generates 110 units of energy per day, surpassing the village’s daily power demand of 87 kWh and is currently catering to 83 rural households.

“Access to clean, reliable and affordable energy will help the village to connect to the world through internet and mobile phones, and will create opportunities to boost local income. The electricity from the mini-grid will also open the door for commercial activities,” says Mukhtor Khamudkhanov, Director, ADB Nepal.

The project worth USD 16.2 million, partly financed by the Government of Nepal, was part of ADB’s South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation Power System Expansion Project and was also supported by the Scaling up Of Renewable Energy Program under the Climate Investment Fund and the local community.

Whereas, the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) installed and operated the project that aims at boosting power access to rural Nepal.

Prior to this, Nepali Government had launched its first mini grid wind-solar system in Dhaubadi in western Nepal, six years ago.

“The success of Dhaubadi and Hariharpurgadi projects has demonstrated that clean energy is indeed a viable option to provide reliable energy access to rural Nepal through wind-solar hybrid systems,” says Ram Prasad Dhital, Executive Director, AEPC.

“Implementation of innovative renewable energy solutions will help the country to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs),” opines Prakash Mathema, Secretary at the Ministry of Population and Environment, Nepal.

The post Nepal’s Largest Hybrid Power Project Goes Live! appeared first on Nepali Sansar.