Need To Promote Solar Power

Nepal is one of the countries that receive ample sunlight all the year round owing to its favourable geographical location. Almost all parts of the country are favourable for developing solar power. The country receives an average of 300 days of direct solar exposure with a fluctuation of not more than 33 per cent. Even if the country receives around six per cent of sunlight during the day, enough electricity can be generated for use during the day in industries, educational institutions, medical facilities, offices, shopping malls and other places.   

Solar panels can be placed on rooftops, on the ground, on lakes and hydropower reservoirs. Some can be placed in food-growing areas. Widely-spaced solar panels shade just 10 per cent of the crops but production is not hampered as wind speeds and evaporation rates get reduced. Solar power is a clean renewable form of energy. Solar power is cheaper than fossil fuels and hydroelectricity. Nepal has high potential for solar power: 50,000 terawatt-hours per year. This figure is 100 times as high as hydropower and 7,000 as high as the current electricity consumption in the country. 

Electric vehicle 

Solar power can be used for various purposes: heating, lighting, cooking, refrigeration, operation of machines (TVs, radios, water pumps, grain grinders, etc.) and the like. What is more, it can also be used in industries, transportation, educational institutions, medical facilities, communications, etc. Nepal has to spend a huge sum of money on petrol and diesel as petroleum products are not produced in the country. Consumption of fossil fuels is one of the factors leading to the trade deficit. The government has been promoting electric vehicles for the last few years. But the progress on this front is dismal. If electric transportation could supplant fossil fuel-based transportation, a lot of foreign reserves could be saved. 

The world is grappling with climate change. Fossil fuels are responsible for aggravating climate change. In fact, coal, gas and oil are the agents of climate change. That is why countries, including Nepal, have set a target of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. To achieve the target, the solar power industry needs to be upgraded by 30 times during the current decade (2020s). Therefore, there is an acute need for Nepal to promote solar power in order to notch up the target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

There was load-shedding in Nepal till 2018. When there was load-shedding, the demand for alternative power, including solar power, was high. With the elimination of load-shedding, the demand for solar power has drastically come down. Nepal is not fully self-sufficient in hydropower. It has to import electricity when there is less generation of hydropower. When there is excess hydropower, it is exported, though. This implies that there is a mismatch between the demand for and production of electricity. Solar power and other forms of alternative power like wind power can come in handy in redressing such an imbalance. Installing solar panels on the rooftops of houses is an easy proposition. Rooftops can generate up to 500 megawatts of electricity. 

So supplying households with solar power is not a big deal. Rather, households can sell surplus power to the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and get a net bill as per the consumption. This process is called net metering or net billing. This will help end sole dependence on the NEA for electricity. Nepal has many remote places not yet connected to the national grid. People living in such places are forced to live in darkness. Irrespective of whether such places can be electrified in the near future, provision of solar power can be a viable option for such places. Solar power comes in handy during disasters such as landslides, floods and earthquakes. Solar power can be installed in such disaster-hit areas to meet the demand for power of the disaster victims and also for easy communications. 

Solar power can be stored for use when needed. Storage can be managed through the pumped hydro energy system and batteries. The former is much cheaper than the latter. Hydrogen or other storage technologies for overnight or longer-term storage have 95 per cent of the global storage market. According to the Global Pumped Hydro Atlas, Nepal has about 2,800 storage sites. None of these sites requires river damming, which is rewarding from an ecological and social point of view. It may be noted that solar power with support from pumped storage hydropower can provide 100 per cent renewable energy.

In fact, there is more than enough sunlight for households, industries, transportation and other sectors in Nepal. If solar power can be developed in sufficient quantity, every Nepali can enjoy the same power consumption as people in the developed countries can. When solar power is produced on a massive scale, its cost will come down drastically. Imports of fossil fuels will come down. The production cost of industries will be reduced. And other sectors will also reap benefits from solar power. All this will have a favourable impact on the economy. On the other hand, the target of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 can also be easily achieved. 

The government should, therefore, promote the solar power sector. It should encourage households, industries, transport entrepreneurs, educational institutions, medical institutions and other sectors to use solar power. But for this, the government should come up with an appropriate policy. The present policy of a reservation cap of 10 to 15 per cent of solar power or renewable energy is a disincentive to the development of solar power. This means the generation of solar power is restricted to 10 to 15 per cent of the total power. The cap needs to be increased and solar power should also be integrated into the national grid. After all, the ample generation of solar power and other alternative sources of power is the need of the hour.   

(Maharjan has been regularly writing on contemporary issues for this daily since 2000. uttam.maharjan1964@gmail.com)