Renewable Energy: Huge Potentialsby SANDIP PAUDEL | 16-08-2019 03:16 |
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![]() Nepal Scenario in context of Energy Demand, Supply and Management Nepal is one of the least developed countries with more than 80% of its population residing in rural areas. It has no oil, gas, or coal reserves, and its energy sector is dominated by the traditional energy sources like firewood, crop residues, and animal dung mainly for domestic use. The major sources of renewable energy are mini and micro hydropower, solar energy, various forms of biomass energy, biogas and wind energy etc. But still around 85% of the total final energy consumption in Nepal is met by traditional biomass energy and around 28% of households in Nepal do not have access to electricity. Nepal aims to achieve universal access to clean, reliable and affordable renewable energy solutions by 2030. It is expected to reduce dependence on traditional and imported energy by increasing access to renewable energy. The use of solar energy is more reliable than traditional electricity in Nepal. Private installations of solar panels are more frequent in urban areas used as a backup during the power outages. On average, Nepal has 6.8 sunshine hours per day with the intensity of solar radiation ranging from 3.9 to 5.1 kWh per meter square, with a commercial potential of solar power for grid connection estimated to be 2,100 MW. Solar and Wind Energy Resource Assessment project has made an attempt to map the wind resource potential in Nepal and has shown a very good prospect of wind energy with the prediction of about 3,000 MW of wind energy. In this backdrop, the use of the renewables has been seen as viable alternatives to meet the existing demand of power supply for country. Despite huge potentials country have yet to exploit the solar energy to meet the energy needs. |