Civil Insight: A Technical Magazine Volume 3 | Page 78

Civil Insight (2019)
An interview with Er. Kumar Pandey
the only nation in this region to have such a
private-sector contribution to electricity
generation in the national system. However, no
one should think this has been easy. The
addition of every Kilowatt has been a challenge.
One must note that the projects that are
presently generating were built through the
internal conflict, through the long political
transition process, through the great earthquake
and the economic blockade. These projects saw
social, political and financial challenges. But
they were somehow able to overcome those
challenges and are now generating electricity.
There are new challenges every day be it social,
political, financial, or technical. In the days to
come, the major challenge will be that of a
market for generated energy. Beyond that, we
will have challenges in finance and transmission
capacity. Federalism will pose new challenges as
we continue to navigate the nuances of local
governance. And there will be many other
challenges we will continue to face. With the
help of the government and our own resolve to
succeed we should be able to sort them out.
Nepal’s future prosperity lies in its ability to
develop and export energy. I strongly believe
that Nepal’s energy must meet its needs first. It
must create jobs here; it must support industry
and commerce, and it must be used to improve
the living standard of the people of Nepal. Our
energy must replace imports of petroleum
products and other fossil fuels as well as
contribute to the preservation of our forests.
We need to be an energy-secured nation. The
amount of energy that we cannot consume can
be useful for our neighbors, who also desire
clean energy. Burning coal or other fossil fuel
in our neighboring countries will impact us
tremendously. It will affect the environment
and attribute to climate change in the country.
I would say we have made historic progress in
the last 20 years in the generation of
hydropower. But the future is challenging.
Exporting electricity has huge legal,
administrative, political,
and
technical
challenges, not to mention the financial
hurdles. It requires cooperation and
coordination among several agencies within
the governments of the region. Trading of
electricity requires physical connectivity
between trading partners. Most importantly, it
requires us to be able to generate energy at
competitive rates to compete with other
energy producers. These are not easy obstacles
to overcome, and yet, we have no choice but
to move ahead accepting these difficulties. Our
government must opt for surmountable ways
within its power and purviews to resolve these
issues. We, the private sector, must work in a
hard and smart way to be more efficient and
produce electricity at competitive prices.
Q) Does Nepal need to focus more on
developing additional hydropower projects, or
should we place emphasis on demand- and
supply-management
of
the
prevailing
hydroelectricity capacity?
I think, for the present, managing our demand
and supply and expanding and upgrading our
distribution networks need to be a priority. This
has been neglected for a long time. But we also
need to continue to augment supply.
Remember, it takes almost 10 years to start
generation from the time we start studying a
river section. Never forget that initiating the
study of a river today will provide energy only 10
years later. Therefore, we should not reduce
investment in hydropower studies for
generation, as the demand nationally and
regionally after 10 years can be very high,
probably much more than what we can imagine
today.
Q) The contribution of private sector in
hydropower
development
has
been
significant. As the Vice President of IPPAN,
how would you like to elucidate the ease of
developing a hydropower project in Nepal?
What are the common problems that the
private producers face?
IPPAN members take great pride in being able
to serve our country and to move towards
being an energy-secured nation. We have been
active for about two decades. Nepal might be
Q) What are your views on the BOOT policy
currently
adopted
for
hydropower
development in Nepal? Do you think it needs
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