Renewable Energy and Other Strategies for Mitigating the Energy Crisis in Nepal

The overarching aim of this research is to carefully review Nepal’s energy scenario from the technical and socio-economic perspective in order to determine the optimal near-term as well as long-term strategies to overcome the energy crisis. Renewable energy sources are pivotal to this research due to the abundant availability of these resources in Nepal. The long-term energy supply and demand forecast for Nepal overthe next 30 years was obtained in Long-Range Energy Planning (LEAP) software.Other quantitative results were obtained using software packages, including PVsyst,Meteo, and HOMER. In many other cases, energy data collected from open literature,government and regulator reports were analysed. There are also several case studies considered in the thesis.The PV rooftop energy systems for Nepalese town and rural households can minimise the energy trade deficit with neighbouring India, enhance energy security,and improve local employment opportunities as well as improve utilisation of the local resources. In particular, a 3kW PV rooftop system was designed and simulated inMATLAB/Simulink, and the corresponding PV and IV curves were obtained,including analysing the effects of environmental temperature and solar irradiation. The design was followed by techno-economic feasibility, assuming typical households in the Kathmandu valley. The study outcome is that the PV system for a residential building in Kathmandu is economically feasible, and it can provide nearly 6,000kWh/year of energy.The potential energy efficiency improvements in the cement industry were studied using data collected directly at one of the major cement plants in Nepal. The cement production processes are very energy-intensive, and they have not changed for years.Since the energy costs in Nepal are abnormally high, they represent over half of the cement production costs. It creates substantial pressure to conserve energy and materials while reducing the carbon footprint. Other important factors that must be considered apart from energy issues are production efficiency and sustainability, and how to exploit innovations and encourage investments.The chaotic energy situation in Nepal is exacerbated by rather significant electricity distribution losses and frequent cases of electricity theft. These two issues are significant contributors to a widening gap between energy supply and demand. iv Other such issues include overpriced and delayed hydropower projects, insufficient and outdated infrastructure, lack of energy conservation, deficient energy management, inadequately low efficiency of equipment, unsustainable energy pricing strategies, indecisive energy market regulations, reliance on energy imports, and especially inadequate exploitation of vast amounts of renewable energy resources. All these factors are also adversely affecting the geopolitical, environmental, and socioeconomic situation in Nepal. The developments in the energy sector in Nepal are also discussed in light of the relevant energy policies which have been adopted by the government over the past two decades.The results presented in the thesis can be used by the government regulators and energy policy planners, and possibly also by the public and private energy companies.It should be noted that the findings and observations in the thesis are also applicable to other countries with a similar development status and geography as Nepal.