Month: September 2022

Pashupati Renewables wishes all a very Happy Dashain celebration with their family and friends!

Pashupati Renewables participated in the International Conference on “Building Back Better and Greener with Sustainable Hydropower” organized by Nepal Hydropower Association (NHA) and International Hydropower Association (IHA). All PRPL team members attended the Conference from September 12 to 13, 2022. Dr. Sandip Shah moderated one of the sessions, Session 2, on establishing power trade in Nepal titled “Unlocking Regional Hydropower Trade”.

Location: Hotel Hyatt Regency, Kathmandu, Nepal

Panelists:

1. Sandip Kumar Dev, Joint Secretary, MoEWRI, Nepal – Chair
2. Dr Sandip Shah, Chairman, Pashupati Renewables – Moderator
3. Ram Hari Dhakal, Senior Specialist, USAID Urja Nepal Project
4. Mohammad Hossain, Director General, Power Cell, Bangladesh
5. Karma P. Dorji, Director, Department of Hydropower and Power System, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Bhutan
6. Sanjay Narayan Bade, CEO, GMR, India
7. Ashish Garg, Vice President, IPPAN, Nepal

Minutes:

1. A moderated discussion took place on the following topics:
   • Importance of growing bilateral transaction of energy among the BBIN (Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, and Nepal) countries,
   • Demand growth of the BBIN nations in the upcoming decades,
   • Regulations required to promote trade between the four countries,
   • Environmental challenges regarding Hydropower development,
   • Changes necessary to the security gauge for the betterment of regional trade,
   • Plans for the export of power from Nepal and,
   • Presence of political risks hampering the development of multilateral trade.
2. Questions were asked by audience members regarding the discussed topics.

Media coverage: https://urjakhabar.com/en/news/1809460313

Pashupati Renewables attended an online conference organized by Solar Quarter on the 25th of August 2022 for Nepal Solar Week 2022.

Location: The session titled ” Solar Utility Market Outlook & Tech Trends Shaping Large Scale Solar”, was hosted online on First View.

Minutes:

1. Opening Remarks were made by Dr. Sandip Shah where he talked about
   • History of Solar in Nepal,
   • Potential of Solar in Nepal,
   • The development process for Solar in Nepal, and
   • Comparison between scenarios in Nepal and India.
2. A Techno-Commercial Presentation was done by Mr. Aniket Dey, Business Head for Nepal – FIMER about the latest technological advancements made by FIMER
3. A discussion then took place between a panel of experts, namely,
   • Dr. Sandip Shah, who was moderating the discussion,
   • Mr. Mayank Rohilla, Director – ReEnergo Developers,
   • Mr. Prawin Aryal, CEO – Energy Division, Golyan Group
   • Mr. Guna Raj Dhakal, Chairman – Renewable Energy Confederation Nepal

where they discussed several topics including

• Current Technology and Technological Advancement,
• Comparison between the development of Solar and Hydro projects,
• Current Policy of Nepal towards Solar and how it can be improved, and
• Current Industry Standard and the improvements that can be made.
• The session ended with a Q&A section which included questions regarding
  • Recent Grid connected Solar Projects,
  • The INPS Grid Expansion, and
  • Policies regarding Commercial Solar Projects.

Notable Quotes:

“Solar is not competing with the Hydropower Sector, Solar intends to supplement.” – Dr. Sandip Shah

“You can’t compare apples and oranges. Solar needs to be looked at as a separate entity instead of just a proxy for hydro.” – Mayank Rohilla

The whole session was live streamed on Youtube and is available to watch: https://youtu.be/2TMGmbc0c2Y