The Nepal Weekly 
February 21, 2023
The Independent Power Producers’ Association, Nepal (IPPAN) has announced that it is organising power summit on March 28-29 in Kathmandu with the theme “Broadening Green Energy Markets”. The conference will be the biggest event in Nepal dedicated to the development of hydropower. This will be the eighth edition of Power Summit organised by IPPAN.
According to IPPAN, the event will showcase viable power projects totalling 5,000 MW with engagement of the Project Bank of Investment Board Nepal and the private sector during the summit. IPPAN press note says that the investors will have an opportunity to discuss and understand power projects for investments.
IPPAN has said that Nepal has now entered into an era of self-reliance in electricity generation and heading towards being an energy-surplus nation. With the recent addition of the 86MW Solu Dudhkoshi Hydropower project to the national grid, the installed capacity has reached 2520 MW. An additional 600MW capacity shall be added in 2023 with the total installed capacity of power projects reaching 6,700 MW by 2027. The private sector contribution is expected to reach 80 percent of installed capacity from the present 55 percent.
According to the press statement, with the sluggish peak demand at 1,700MW, the current year’s wet season surplus is expected to reach 1,000MW, and the time has come for Nepal to seriously explore the market for the energy consumption.
Nepal is making improvements on the supply side of green energy, IPPAN has mentioned stressing as it is high time to focus on the demand side as well. “We are now ready to ‘broaden green energy markets’ first at home, and then in the region,” mentions the press note.
Broadening the green energy markets, according to the IPPAN means enabling transportation, agriculture, industry, cooking, and commerce to both grow rapidly and make a complete switch to green energy away from fossil fuels which Nepal has to import at a huge cost to the economy.
The summit will have 13 sessions to cover issues ranging from markets for Nepal’s power, transmission infrastructure, demand for Nepal’s hydropower, technology and innovation, thinking beyond hydropower to solar, hydrogen, regulatory framework, cross-border power trade, sustainable and climate-resilient development, environment social and governance, regionals interest and energy security. The organisers claim that there will be 800 participants from the power sector including 300 international delegates from more than 25 countries.
