Kathmandu. The government has given special priority to renewable energy and energy efficiency program in the budget for the coming fiscal year. A budget of Rs 2.62 billion has been allocated for this purpose.

Out of this, Rs 1.19 billion has been allocated from the government and Rs 1.43 billion from foreign aid.

Likewise, the program of expanding access to electricity through the adoption of energy efficiency and expansion of renewable energy through the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre under the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation is under continuous implementation.

Similarly, clean cooking energy technology promotion, productivity increase, waste to energy production, small and medium enterprises promotion and energy efficiency program are also being implemented in the country.

Likewise, the budget has been allocated for the implementation of renewable energy programme through the Challenge Fund, green hydrogen, capacity building of the local and provincial governments, technical assistance, monitoring evaluation of technology, environment and social protection, gender and social inclusion, among others.

According to the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre, point 31 of the annual policy and programme of the federal government for the coming fiscal year states that off-grid solar, wind and micro hydropower systems will be expanded in the areas where the national grid is not reached.

Tax exemption, concessional electricity tariff, capital incentive and cost-friendly policies will be implemented to promote strategic green industries such as green hydrogen, green ammonia and chemical fertilizers.

Likewise, the policy and programmes have also included the introduction of green hydrogen infrastructure that will expand commercial use in the transport sector. The annual programme and budget of the Centre have been set as per the guidelines of the government. The government has set a target to expand micro and small hydropower and solar mini-grid systems in areas where there is no national grid.

NEC’s executive director Nawaraj Dhakal said the government has set a target to generate 2.5 MW of electricity through micro, small hydropower and solar mini-grid.

Similarly, the government has given high priority to the promotion and expansion of clean cooking energy technology. Under the clean energy technology for cooking, a program has been put forward to expand clean energy technology including electric stove, biogas and improved stove to 250,000 households. Likewise, there is a plan to construct 10 institutional and commercial biogas plants and nine large-capacity waste to energy projects.

Likewise, the government has laid emphasis on productivity growth, agriculture, decarbonization and business promotion through the budget. Under the programme, 27 MW solar rooftop system, 120 solar drinking water and irrigation projects, replacement of LPG used for heating in 1,000 commercial and corporate sectors through bio-pellet ovens, 10 solar thermal systems and 500 KW peak capacity agrovoltaic based solar energy model projects will be implemented.

Likewise, energy testing and implementation of energy testing recommendations, energy efficient model schools and development of quality and standards related to energy efficiency, climate change mitigation and carbon trading have been given priority for energy efficiency.

Capacity building of local and provincial governments, study, research and model projects related to new technologies including green hydrogen will be conducted.

According to the Centre, the budget has been allocated for the promotion of renewable energy through the Sustainable Energy Challenge Fund, for the reconstruction and maintenance of disaster-damaged projects and for the activities of connecting off-grid projects to the national grid.