Abstract
Nepal could rely on its huge renewable energy potentials to meet its energy demand sustainably. Also, renewable energy sources are considered by several national policy makers and international organizations as an engine for socio-economic development of the country, which can provide access to electricity to everybody and stimulate economic activity and economic growth. Several efforts were taken by the national government to stimulate deployment of renewable energy electricity generation capacities. However, the country is still not able to cover its energy needs with renewable energy despite decades of efforts for their deployment. The assumption of this research was that uncertainty in energy policy and planning gaps in Nepal are connected with the dominance of a limited number of discourses and ignorance of other voices which might be helpful. Nowadays, evidence exists that a multi-stakeholder and multi-sector perspective is extremely important for sustainable development. We provide evaluation of various perspectives, including technical, social, economic, environmental, and political. We collect empirical data in frames of a comprehensive stakeholders’ process in Nepal. The stakeholders’ preferences are analyzed through various methods of decision support sciences such as multi criteria decision analysis. To fast track hydropower development, the government has classified them into five categories based on their generation capacity. Assessment of each category and their collective comparison on multiperspectives has never been tried. Hence, such an assessment leading towards their prioritization is the objective of the study. It may help to identify a suitable strategy or policy to maximize national benefits. The study carried within the framework of five alternatives (categories) of hydropower schemes and nine different hydropower perspectives applicable in Nepalese context. The scoring method based is on secondary source evidence is applied for assessment. The study ranks medium schemes (25 to 100 MW) as best in Nepalese context.
Highlights
Nepal, an Asian country situated between the two fastest growing economies of India and China, is very rich of hydropower resources
We have reviewed alternatives on simple scoring, but the scenario or ranking will be influenced if we properly allocate the weights to different perspectives
Our methodology included the scoring method with weights allocated to perspectives delivered the assessment for each alternative with their detail and scores
Summary
An Asian country situated between the two fastest growing economies of India and China, is very rich of hydropower resources. Hydro energy is considered by several national policy makers and international organizations as an engine for socio-economic development of the country, which can provide access to electricity to everybody and stimulate economic activity and economic growth. The practice of energy planning was dominated for too long of a time by decisions made on an ad hoc basis [11], which were frequently driven by donors’ interests or vested interests of national politicians, bilateral, or multilateral organizations Such an approach did not allow for holistic development of the hydro sector and resulted in the development of strategies which were only focusing on such tasks as provision of energy and were ignoring various co-benefits of hydropower development. It would certainly be useful to evaluate which perspectives are more important and could influence if changes occur in coming days, with changing national context like a strengthened economy, built infrastructure, human capacity enhanced
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
