Webinar on Review on Policies and Practices for Promotion of Biomass Energy Friday - July 24, 2020

Renewable Energy Confederation of Nepal (RECON), in association with Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC), Federation of Community Forest Users Nepal (FECOFUN) and Tribhuvan University  - Institute of Forestry (TU-IoF) organized a webinar on Review on Policies and Practices for Promotion of Biomass Energy Friday, July 24, 2020. The online event was supported by Green and Inclusive Nepal Programme (GIE Nepal Project)to organise as RECON has been working with the project since 2017 for lobby and advocacies on promotion and development of RETs with focus on accessibility, affordability and availability of the renewable energy systems to end users including the unprivileged communities also with emphasis to conducive working environment for private sector who provide service and systems.   

Participating leaders and professionals underlined on need of attention on segmentation market according to users' quality and extent, more efforts on assessment of biomass potential to tap, wider awareness on appropriate use of biomass as fuel and so on. 

Former Minister and Coordinator of Advisors' Committee of RECON Er. Ganesh Shah speaking keynote said that government agencies should work with private sector keeping in view better use of developed science, technology and innovation. Forest and agriculture are the main sources of biomass energy used traditionally but time has come to enhance quality of uses and upgrade the biomass based products for industrial uses as well. Entrepreneurs those who are putting efforts should be encouraged and supported so as such entrepreneurships will be increased. Leading responsible institutions should carry on research, development and innovations activities. Academia and industries should go together to streamline the ideas to translate into action where financial institutions should support the entrepreneurs, he stressed. Centre of Excellency for Biomass Energy Technology could be created in Nepal to integrate technologies, studies, researches and other relevant activities to showcase and documented for knowledge banking and sharing, he opined.     

    

Secretary at Ministry of Environment and Forestry Dr. Bishwa Nath Oli, on the occasion, elaborated that the government has been seriously putting efforts on Biomass Energy to be well utilised. Some important documents have been made to bring the efforts into functionalities. Some influential documents are under formulation so useful recommendations made by the event may be taken into consideration. The government agencies and private sector should be together to bring desirable results, he opined.

Deputy Executive Director of Alternative Energy Promotion Centre Mr. Nawa Raj Dhakal, Chief of Technical Department of Nepal Academy of Science and Technology Dr. Rabindra Dhakal and Biomass Energy Entrepreneur Mr. Prachin Lal Shrestha made presentations on Review on Policies and Practices for Promotion of Biomass Energy, SDGs through Biomass Technologies: Research, Development and Dissemination, and Biomass in Nepal : Challenges and Opportunity respectively on the occasion.

 

Likewise, Assistant Dean of TU-Institute of Forestry Dr. Jitnarayan Shah, Chairperson of Federation of Community Forest Users Nepal Ms. Bharati Pathak, Nepal Country Manager of Clean Cooking Solution Ms. Karuna Bajracharya and Treasurer of RECON and President of Rural Technology Promoters Association Nepal Mr. Hasta Pandit commented on the presentations with view to support promotion and development of biomass energy for domestic consumption and industrial uses. They mentioned need of partnering the stakeholders mainly umbrella organisations, academia, entrepreneurs and financial institutions. They also stressed on need of changes in policies and strategies to achieve desired achievements.

 The event was moderated by RE and Gender Expert and Programme Manager of GIE Nepal Project Dr. Indira Shakya. Elaborating the objective of the event, she opined that proper attention on drudgery reduction, indoor air pollution and income generation activities should be priority and resources to utilise should be linked to the users' benefit.

 

Chairperson of RECON Mr. Guna Raj Dhakal mentioned that biomass energy should be taken with modern thoughts so as maximum consumers could be benefitted with modern technologies to utilise biomass energy. Therefore, concerned authorities should consider on research and development, capacity building, simplified policies and regulations, easier financial systems and crating reliable market systems to enhance, he added.

Title	Attachment
Review on Policies and Practices for Promotion of Biomass Energy	Download	Mr. Nawa Raj Dhakal
SDGs through Biomass Technologies: Research, Development and Dissemination	Download	Dr. Rabindra Dhakal
Biomass in Nepal : Challenges and Opportunity	Download	Mr. Prachin Lal Shrestha