ANNOUNCEMENT

"Renewable Energy Technologies for Mountain Areas of the Asia Pacific region" 
(Nov 16- Dec 19, 2001)

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| Agenda |   Objective | Weekly Themes | Expected Outcomes |

1. AGENDA

2. OBJECTIVE

To promote an active exchange of information on decentralised renewable energy systems (diagnosis, potential, limitations, factual experiences, alternative technologies, economic and socio-cultural contexts, financial strategies) in mountain regions on a regional scale, focusing on small-scale hydropower, thermal/photovoltaic solar energy, and biomass-based gas and improved cooking stove technologies.

3. WEEKLY THEMES

THEME 1: Microhydro
(Moderator: Girish Kharel)

When hydroelectricity as a source of power was first developed more than a hundred years ago it started off as 'microhydro'. With increasing industrialisation and the consequent increase in demand for energy, hydropower technology was improved. Consequently the size of hydropower plants increased both to meet demand and also to take advantage of economies of scale. Nowadays small-scale hydropower or 'microhydro' is seen as an 'alternative' source of power, particularly for remote areas. Almost always these remote areas are in mountain areas.

In Nepal microhydro has made significant progress in the last 25 years. The initial development started with crossflow turbines of around 10 kW to drive mills for processing rice, grinding grain and extracting oil from oil seeds. So far there are over 1200 microhydro plants in Nepal and more than a dozen companies providing equipment and services for the microhydro industry.

Microhydro has been tried in all mountain areas. It has been more successful in some places and less successful in others. There is little doubt that microhydro can play a very important role in providing energy and,  in particular, electricity to mountain areas and can make a significant contribution to improving the standards of living of mountain people.

1. What is the role of microhydro in development/poverty alleviation? Does it add or detract from development?
2.  Is microhydro technology, knowledge and capital accessible to the people who need them?
3. Can mountain communities use the energy from microhydro to improve their economic and living conditions? How?
4. What are the innovations in policies and technology to facilitate the delivery of microhydro to users and clients?
5. What are the social, economic and environmental impacts of microhydro?
6. How can the policy and financial environment be improved to promote microhydro?
7. How can the cost of microhydro be reduced so that it becomes affordable to mountain communities?

THEME 2: Solar

a) Solar Energy Technologies (Thermal)
(Moderator: Gyani Ratna Shakya, Director/Chief, Faculty of Technology, Royal Nepal Academy of Science & Technology (RONAST))

Converting the sun’s radiant energy to heat is the most common and well-developed solar conversion technology today. Solar energy is a very large, inexhaustible source of energy. The temperature level and amount of converted energy are key parameters determining the efficiency of the conversion scheme. Despite its abundance, this energy form is diluted in nature with available solar radiation flux rarely exceeding 1kW/m2 even in the earth’s hottest region. The intermittency in its availability is another limitation in the use of this energy source. Hence, an important role is played by energy storage and distribution of this energy.

Solar power intercepted by the earth is in the order of 1.8 X 10¹¹ MW, thousands of times larger than all the commercial energy consumption on earth. Thus making it one of the most promising of the unconventional energy sources. Thermal solar energy is being widely used for water heating, solar-drying, cooking, space heating, solar cooling and for vegetable cultivation etc.

Nepal has been using solar energy technologies for more than 25 years. The most successful commercial solar thermal technology is solar water heaters. It is mainly being used in residential buildings, hotels, lodges, tourist resorts, schools and hospitals. Use of solar dryers, cookers and solar stills is also seen in urban as well as rural areas of Nepal.

The discussions will focus on but will not be limited to the following issues.

1. What are the potentials of solar energy technology use in mountain countries?
2. What measures need to be adopted for making it efficient and within reach of the poorer population?
3. What are the mechanisms to promote solar energy technologies as an income generating activity?
4. How best can this energy source be used for acquiring higher efficiency and increasing its range of utility in mountain countries?
5. What are the recent developments in terms of making these technologies affordable and effective for mountain countries?
6. How can information technology play an important role in promoting  solar energy technologies at the village level?

b) Application of Photo Voltaic (PV) Technology in Remote Areas
(Moderator: still to be decided)

To extend development activities, energy is essential, but the technology for energy generation should be sustainable for a long period of time and, above all,  should be environmentally friendly. It is estimated that two billion people living on our planet still do not have access to electricity. This means that these people are deprived of all the facilities that depend upon electricity- one of the most important blessings of mother nature. There is a strong correlation between the physical quality of life index (PQLI) and electricity consumption. Most of these two billion people will continue to live without enjoying electricity as utility companies will not be able to extend their network in the near future. Economics simply do not allow for expansion of these companies.

What is then the alternative? It is high time we thought about generation of electricity in a decentralised way using locally available resources such as solar energy. Ever since the creation of our planet, the sun has provided it with a constant and practically never-ending supply of energy. Harnessing this source of energy will safeguard the environment for future generations. Solar energy/sunlight could be changed into electrical energy with the help of photovoltaic (PV) device invented by French Scientist Bequirel in 1839. Today PV application has become a mature, widely accepted and environmentally friendly technology, especially in remote areas of this world. The cost of photovoltaic power has come down 250 times, reaching US$ 4 per peak watt in the last 40 years. The efficiency of electrical devices is  increasing, their power consumption decreasing and  prices are coming down. This all means one thing - a suitable environment is being created for the application of Photovoltaic Technology in remote areas.

There are many multinational companies producing hundreds of megawatts of power using different types of PV cells. Even developing countries are extensively using PV power both for stand-alone and grid connected applications. Countries like Germany, Japan, USA, Sweden etc are implementing roof top programs often with significant subsidies. In Germany this programme is known as '10,000 Roof Top Programme'.

Similar changes are taking place in developing countries also. For example, PV power in Nepal has reached about 1600 kWp (September 2001) from a humble beginning of about 100 kWp in 1990. About 55% of this PV power is being used in rural telecommunication services. (More than 95% of people living in remote areas of Nepal still do not have access to electricity).

Now the question is how can we use PV power in a most sensible way to improve the PQLI of people living in remote mountain areas? The specific issues could be but not limited to:

- purification of water using PV power;
- water pumping and drip irrigation for high value cash crops such as medicinal plants;
- acceleration of a drying process using PV power;
- reducing the drudgery of women using PV power;
- provision of low-cost lighting system using PV power;
- enabling access to satellite TV programs;
- enabling access to simplex and duplex information using PV power;
- operation of solar-powered science laboratory in a remote area school;
- operation of a solar-powered computer in a remote area school;
- operation of a solar-powered health clinic;
- income generating activities using PV power;
- performance of PV power due to 'albedo effect' in mountain areas; and
- selection of appropriate types of PV cells for high mountain areas.

The participants working in the above-mentioned or similar areas are requested to share their experiences (case studies, research findings) in this e-conference. It would be very interesting to discuss issues such as the following.

1) How can stand-alone PV power help mountain people in bridging the knowledge gap and reducing poverty?
2) What are the barriers for mountain people in using PV power for their needs? 
3) What roles can local leaders, NGOs, INGOs, CBOs, GOs play in eliminating these barriers? 

THEME 3: Biomass
(Moderator: Govinda Prasad Devkota, Executive Director, Universal Consultancy Services Pvt Ltd) 

Biomass as a source of energy mainly consists of fuel wood, agricultural residue and animal dung. Fuelwood and other biomass fuels are burned in traditional stoves of various kinds. Agricultural residue can be converted into bio-briquettes or burned directly for energy purposes. Conversion of biomass technology into other efficient and convenient energy forms include biogas; briquettes, gasifiers, ethanol and improved cooking stoves.

Biogas technology is one of the most trusted and popular alternative energy sources used mostly for cooking and lighting and slurry as fertiliser, particularly in the rural areas of the South Asia and Pacific regions. Several countries in the world have produced biogas from animal dung, night soil and agricultural residue or from both but in different ways and for different reasons. Western nations are keen to develop a biogas system for their farmers as an alternative energy source to suit their local climates but their systems are highly mechanised and capital- intensive. Biogas plants installed in the South Asia and Pacific regions are mostly  family-sized plants that are used for cooking and lighting. However, these plants are of various designs and capacities.

Wood and biomass including agricultural residue are important energy sources in developing countries. If these residues are densified, they can be burned more efficiently. Rice husk, sawdust biomass char such as wood, leaves, twigs and other agricultural residues are the main raw materials used for producing bio-briquettes. Similarly ethanol from baggasses and gasifiers are the other sources of biomass. Biomass is used mostly by households for cooking and space heating.

One of the causes for increased fuelwood uses in  rural households is the traditional design of the mud stove that does not exploit the end use efficiency of the fuelwood used. In addition,  smoke from inefficient stoves also causes health hazards. Improved cooking stoves are a simple and low cost technology that offers multiple benefits to users,  including biomass fuel wood efficiency. It can save significant amounts of fuelwood as compared to consumption by  traditional stoves.

These issues may arise.

1. What is the development trend for biomass, its end use application and promotional activities? What innovative mechanism is there to deliver modern energy services to poorer communities in developing countries?
2. How can biomass technology  be efficiently (and cost effectively) used by the rural and urban poor? How can poor rural families get access to clean and efficient cooking fuels?
3. What are the social and environmental impacts of biomass? How can we further develop and disseminate the technology, especially in the South Asia and Pacific regions?
4. What are the future potentials and prospects of biomass technology such as biogas?

Sub-Theme: Biomass based Improved Cooking-Stove (ICS) Technology for Rural Mountain Communities
(Moderator: Mr. Rajan Thapa,  National ICS Programme Coordinator, Centre for Rural Technology, Nepal)

Forest resources and other biomass (primarily fuel wood) are important sources of household energy in rural and even semi-urban areas all over the developing countries. The demand for biomass energy is rapidly growing as a result of both population increase and an increase in the various types of economic activity in rural communities. This has led to overexploitation of biomass (wood) resources for fuel and other uses and clearing of forests for agricultural land causing a serious problem in fuelwood supply and environmental degradation. Alternatives to wood and biomass-based energy are not feasible for the vast majority of households in rural areas in the foreseeable future.

In the last decade considerable research efforts  have been directed towards the development of the ways and means of efficient and emission free use of biomass fuels. Accordingly, different models/ designs of cooking stoves are available today for using biomass in various forms. Furthermore, over the years, research has been initiated for conversion of different forms of biomass into superior fuels (like charcoal, wood gas etc).

Despite these, the use of biomass fuels in cooking and heating is still very inefficient and unhealthy for most of the rural population in developing countries. Exposure to indoor pollution is a serious health risk for women and children, and this can be mitigated by wider dissemination of fuel efficient and smokeless, improved cooking stoves.

Notwithstanding the efforts and initiatives undertaken by various governments and NGOs in many countries in the last 20 years, the improved cooking stove programme has been a  limited success because of supply-oriented, top-down, target-oriented, subsidised and inappropriate dissemination approaches.

His Majesty's Government of Nepal (HMG/N) has accorded high priority to the development and promotion of Improved Cooking stoves in the mid-hills and mountain areas.

Since the early 1990s new initiatives for ICS dissemination have been undertaken by various organisations with new stove designs that can be built completely from cheap, readily available materials and with different financial arrangements such as partial subsidies or without subsidies, equity participation by users etc. This has brought about some positive outcomes, however, not on the larger scale  or to the desirable extent.

Thus there is a need to change approaches from top-down, target-oriented, subsidized approach to bottom-up, cost-effective, demand-driven, self-construction approach in order to attain wider dissemination of ICS across the majority of the  rural population in the Asia and Pacific region for reduced biomass consumption, improvement of kitchen, indoor environment and health, reduction in women's workload and improvement of food and nutrition.

1. What could be the various appropriate ICS dissemination approaches (popularisation and commercialisation) for attaining wider dissemination in the different socio-cultural contexts of various countries?
2. Are there sufficient designs and models of ICS to address the different needs and preferences of different people?
3. Has there been a sufficient level of awareness and information about advantages linked to ICS created among potential users in rural areas?
4. How can a sustainable, cost effective scaling up and spread effect of ICS be achieved in the present and future ICS promotion activities/scenarios?
5. How can the capacity of local institutions to disseminate ICS without external support be enhanced?
6. Is the subsidy still necessary for ICS dissemination? Does it help the spontaneous spread of sustainable ICS?

THEME 4: Policies Conducive to Promotion of Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs) in Mountain Communities  
(Moderator: Mr. Bikash Pandey, Country Representative, Director - Renewable Energy Project Support Office, Winrock International, Nepal)

Mountain communities require access to a range of renewable energy technologies (RETs) to reduce indoor air pollution, to lower pressure on unsustainable use of biomass resources, to power agricultural processing for electric lighting, TV and radio, for power to add value to tourism and for industries and enterprises to create jobs, and perhaps even for exporting energy. The most suitable RETs for mountain areas and the institutional framework under which they may be promoted will have been discussed in the previous weeks. The last week of discussions will focus on the policies of the government, of donors, of credit institutions, and of international climate change mechanisms that will be most favourable to the promotion of all RETs. The discussions will include but not be limited to the following questions.

4. EXPECTED OUTCOMES

*Synopses of key research issues related to RETs.
*Case studies on barriers to adoption of RETs, and 'success stories.
*Synthesis report of the RETs e-conference
*An advocacy tool for bringing about change at policy level.

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