National 6 (Spotlight Weekly)

Solar Power

Solar Power can provide a viable source for alternative energy in a country like Nepal

By AKSHAY SHARMA

Many more urban household now can afford solar energy for hot water as compared to the past in Nepal. Although the mountains of Nepal are endowed with great hydroelectric potential, many of the villages at lower elevations do not have local hydro resources available to them.

While electricity is available in the larger towns and villages near Kathmandu, the more distant villages do not have access to the utility grid, as line extensions through the high, rugged mountains are prohibitively expensive.

Currently, only 18% of Nepal's 20 million people have access to electricity. The vast remainders depend on kerosene and dry-cell batteries for illumination after dark, and have no access to television or radio for news and entertainment
"Solar energy and especially solar panels for heating water is not a luxury nowadays. It has become a necessity," says Suraj Rai, a student of sociology, who lives in Mati Devi and enjoys the hot water in these chilly days thanks to his solar panels.
Purna G. Maharjan of Narayan Hardware who is installs the solar panel says, "It is good and a competitive market to invest your money in. I usually charge my customers Rs. 9,000 per panel because I have to pay each worker for installation process Rs 4,000."

Various INGO/ NGO and the Government too are keen on promoting sun as the alternative energy by providing solar energy based programs to the rural places in Nepal.There are more than three dozens organizations that are working to promote the solar energy. Alternative Energy Promotion Center AEPC has been carrying out various activities of which the Solar Energy Support Program (SSP) is the major one. SSP has planned to install approximately 25,000 SHS and a number of community-based institutional systems equivalent to more than 0.8 MWp by the year 2003/04 on a demand driven basis.

To date the Wisdom Light Group has installed over 1,000 systems, from simple 32kW residential, costing under $ 500, to complex kilowatt level systems in Primary School and Hospital, costing over $ 20,000 in remote areas throughout Nepal. Wisdom Light Group is now installing similar systems in Bhutan and Tibet, the company boasts.

In the late 1970's, the photovoltaic industry attracted the interest of large energy companies and government agencies. With their investment of capital, a tremendous acceleration in module development took place. Today whole product lines are available with modules designed to withstand environmental wear for decades.

The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) boast that, "we brought solar electricity to the village of Pulimarang in collaboration with the Center for Renewable Energy (CRE) in Katmandu, a non-profit organization working to promote decentralized energy options for Nepalese rural electrification. With support from the Moriah Fund, solar home systems (SHS) were installed in sixty-five homes and a community center in Nepal's first solar powered village."

Each of the solar home systems in Pulimarang consisted of a Siemens Pro Charger 35-watt panel, a 70 amp-hour battery, and a charge controller. The systems power three 9-watt fluorescent lights, as well as a television or a radio. They were supplied by the Solar Electricity Company, a Kathmandu-based solar PV distributor.

The SHS were installed by technicians from CRE, working in conjunction with Solar Electricity Co. Initial financing for forty-seven $425 solar electric systems project was provided by SELF. Villagers could pay for the systems with cash, or pay 20% down, and finance the rest over a one to three year period. Monthly loan payments on the systems are roughly equivalent to what Pulimarang families are currently paying for lighting in the form of kerosene and dry-cell batteries.

Although, the solar energy is yet to be harnessed widely, those consumers who are using it have found it to be cheap and efficient. n