Energy Minister Basnet calls on international community to invest in Nepal's energy sector

Kathmandu: Minister for Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation, Shakti Bahadur Basnet, has said the government has undertaken planned-wise efforts for the sustainable development of the energy sector in the country.

In his address to the Third Asian and the Pacific Energy Forum in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday, the Minister said Nepal aimed to generate additional 28,000 megawatts of electricity by the next 12 years. According to the Minister's secretariat, the Minister apprised the session that Nepal has already connected 2,800 MW of electricity to the national grid and it posed abundant potentialities for the production of run-of-river, semi-reservoir, and reservoir-based hydropower production.

He added that Nepal has equal potential for the development of renewable energy. An off-grid energy system is needed in Nepal due to its diverse geography, according to the Minister who added that the distribution of renewable energy in Nepal was taking place through small and medium–scale transmission lines.

As the Minister briefed the session, Nepal has accorded priority to energy security and efforts are underway to ensure cross-border trade of surplus production of electricity. 'Nepal wants capacity enhancement of transmission and distribution systems, promotion of clean energy, and production, transmission, distribution, and trade expansion with the mobilization of domestic and foreign and public-private investments,' he said.

Minister Basnet utilized the Forum to call on the international investors to invest in Nepal's energy sector. Stating that Nepal was highly vulnerable to climate, the Minister said renewable energy was the priority of Nepal for also the environmental security.

He said the Nepal aimed to reduce carbon emissions to nil by 2045 and was working accordingly, and it expected the support and cooperation from the international community to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

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