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SIGNIFICANCE OF COMMUNITY-BASED BIOGAS
OVER HOUSEHOLD BIOGAS IN NEPAL- A
SUCCESSFUL CASE OF TECHNOLOGY
LEAPFROGGING IN THE EASTERNMOST REGION
Master’s Thesis Presented
to Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Master’s in International Cooperation Policy
(Sustainable Science)
Kapali Susan Raj
51218616
2020 July
1
Table of Contents 1.Introduction.................................................................................................................... 11
1.1 Preliminary background information ............................................................................ 11
1.2 Focus of Study ............................................................................................................... 14
1.3 Overall research aim and individual objective ............................................................... 16
1.4 Research methods ......................................................................................................... 16
1.5 Value of your research ................................................................................................... 18
2. Basic facts ...................................................................................................................... 19
2.1 Socioeconomic Condition of Nepal ................................................................................ 19
2.2 Energy Consumption..................................................................................................... 20
2.2.1 Total dependency of fossil fuel supply on Import and less storage capacity ............. 21
2.2.2 Inadequate Power Supply Systems .......................................................................... 22
2.2.3 Energy Crisis .......................................................................................................... 23
2.3 Biomass ......................................................................................................................... 24
2.3.1 Problems and Challenges of Biomass ...................................................................... 26
2.4 Basic information of biogas ........................................................................................... 28
2.5 Overview of Biogas technology in Nepal ........................................................................ 30
2.6 Community-Based Biogas Plants ................................................................................... 34
2.6.1 Strategies of Government for promotion of Community-based Biogas .................... 36
2.6.2 Various Waste Types for Production of Large-Scale Biogas in Nepal ....................... 41
2.7 Administrative division of Nepal.................................................................................... 43
2.8 General Information about Province 1 .......................................................................... 45
2.9 Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in Nepal ...................................................................... 46
2.10 Indicator Reduction on hunt for biomass and deforestation in Province 1 ................... 51
3. Literature Review .......................................................................................................... 53
3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 53
3.1.1 Advantages and Disadvantages of Biogas Technology.............................................. 54
3.1.2 Health and sanitation due to biogas ........................................................................ 60
3.1.3 Fertilizer and feed from bio-slurry .......................................................................... 61
3.1.4 Crop production utilizing the bio-slurry ................................................................. 63
3.1.5 Sustainability and biogas in Nepal .......................................................................... 63
3.2 Various Benefits of community Biogas Plants over household plants in Nepal ............... 64
4. Methodology .................................................................................................................. 70
4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 70
4.2 Research strategy .......................................................................................................... 70
4.3 Data Collection ............................................................................................................ 72
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4.4 Selection of Participants ................................................................................................ 74
4.5 Framework for data analysis ......................................................................................... 75
4.6 Limitation and potential Problems ................................................................................ 75
5. Discussion ...................................................................................................................... 76
5.1 Determinants of successful1 adoption of community-based biogas plants in Province 1. 76
5.1.1 Technology Leapfrogging of biogas development in Nepal ...................................... 77
5.1.2 Technology leapfrogging of the community-based biogas plants .............................. 79
5.1.3 Identification of Technology Leapfrogging of cooking fuel in Nepal ........................ 82
5.1.4 Technology leapfrogging of cooking fuel in Province 1 ............................................ 85
5.1.5 Implementation of new initiatives and policy for clean energy after formation of local
government in 2015 ......................................................................................................... 87
5.1.6 Energy deficiency due to undeclared blockade of India on Nepal ............................ 91
5.1.7 Inter Provincial Dependency on Agricultural .......................................................... 94
5.1.8 Interest of potential stakeholders and biogas companies in Province 1 .................... 97
6.Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 99
6.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 99
6.2 Key Findings ............................................................................................................... 100
6.3 Further research ......................................................................................................... 103
6.4 Recommendation......................................................................................................... 103
7. References ................................................................................................................... 106
8. Appendix ..................................................................................................................... 109
8.1 Results from survey of existing community-based biogas plants around Kathmandu valley 109
8.2 Questions asked to the official of AEPC ....................................................................... 110
8.3 Questions for the operators of six case study sites ........................................................ 111
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Certification Page
I, KAPALI Susan Raj (Student ID 51218616) hereby declare that the contents of this
master’s Thesis are original and true and have not been submitted at any other university or
educational institution for the award of degree or diploma.
Furthermore, all the information derived from other published or unpublished sources
has been cited and acknowledged appropriately.
KAPALI Susan Raj
51218616
4
Acknowledgement
I would like to convey my overwhelming gratitude to all the individuals involved for the providing
selfless support to complete this research.
My sincere gratitude goes to Professor Yamagata Tatsufumi, for his invaluable guidance, critical
suggestion, continuous support, stimulating ideas and encouragement throughout the study period.
I felt extremely privileged to research under his supervision. Thank you very much for providing
me this opportunity
I am greatly indebted to the official of biogas support program of AEPC, for generous advice and
support with results of your comprehensive research in the field of community-based biogas
plants in Nepal. I heartily appreciate his response and feedbacks at the progress update despite
his busy schedule.
I am also greatly thankful to every professor in the Sustainable Science (SS) division, for all the
knowledge, insights and the feedbacks during the joint seminar that contributes to the completion
of this study.
My sincere thanks to my parents and sister for believing in me and sending me to Japan and for
all the support and inspiration directly and indirectly. I must not forget to acknowledge my fellow
classmates, roommates and closets friend in Beppu and Nepal, for their invaluable love, support
and encouragement at every step of my life. I guarantee that I would not have come all this way
if I had not received support from all the above individuals.
5
Abstract
Nepal is a developing country with various natural resources that has high potential of
energy supply but is struggling to meet the energy demand even for cooking purpose. Since Nepal has
no known deposit of fossil fuels,100% of them are imported from India. Electricity, LPG and kerosene
are imported and is not affordable for the rural population of Nepal. Use of traditional biomass such
as firewood, agricultural wastes. etc. for cooking is above 80% in Nepal. Traditional biomass such as
firewood, agricultural residues are the reason for deforestation, emission of GHG gases, indoor
population and increase of respiratory diseases among locals. As a suitable solution for most of the
population engaging in agriculture, Biogas is getting attention and being widely adopted in rural Nepal.
As a replacement of traditional biomass, biogas has good potential for cooking and can be produced
in a simple plant digester by anaerobic decomposition of biodegradable waste from the household and
agricultural residues.
Biogas is one of the top priorities of Alternative Energy and Promotion Center (AEPC) and
other INGO’s government in Nepal since it is a reliable, low cost, clean energy to rural household.
However, Nepal has been focusing more on the household biogas rather than the community-based
biogas plants even though community biogas plants are suitable to meet the need the poorest portion
of the rural community. Hence, this study aims to explore the advantages of community-based biogas
plants over household biogas plants in Nepal. Furthermore, not many literatures are available in the
online sources regarding the status and exact number of community-based biogas plant. This research
also provides the information about the current number province wise, policy regarding the
community-based plants in Nepal. The easternmost region of Nepal i.e. Province 1 has the highest
number (121) of community-based plants installed from 2014 till 2019. The analysis part of this study
explores the determinants for the successful adoption of community-based plants in Province 1.
Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed in this research.
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The biogas project team of Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) were consulted to identify
the exact number of both household and community-based biogas plants, ongoing projects in Nepal.
The qualitative was required mostly for the empirical data analysis which was mainly based in the key
informant interview with the official of the biogas support team of AEPC and survey data from the
field visit in. The survey and initial interview were carried out on September 2019 in 7 community-
based plants and the head office of the AEPC in Kathmandu.
The term technology leapfrogging refers to “the implementation of a new and up-to-
date technology in an application area in which at least the previous version of that technology
has not been deployed” (Davison, Vogel, Haris, & Jones, 2000). Technology leapfrogging is one of
the major determinants for the successful adoption of community-based biogas in Province 1 and all
over the country since the model that is being installed are the latest models that were developed
decades ago in China and India. This research analyzed the technology leapfrogging from traditional
biomass to self-sustaining, clean energy in Province 1 and identified by the replacement of
cooking fuels from traditional biomass into biogas. The study also analyzes various policy and
new initiatives of the central and the local government of Nepal that contributed in the smooth
adoption of community-based plants. Other factors such as unofficial blockade imposed by India
caused the energy crisis in 2015, that triggered the need of self-sustaining clean energy like biogas.
Furthermore, this study pointed out the dependency of Province 1 in agriculture was another
reason for stakeholder and the government to be focused on implementing more biogas projects
in Province 1. The finding of this study can aid other parts of Nepal that are still lagging in
adoption of community-based biogas plants. This study will be helpful for the distributers as they
will be able to point out the reason why the adoption has been interrupted in other provinces.
Furthermore, to the future researchers, this study can provide revised information on the recent
status, policy, new projects of community-based biogas of Nepal.
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List of Tables
Table 1: The average composition of biogas
Table 2: Subsidy for Large Biogas Plants
Table 3: Administrative division of Nepal before and after 2015
Table 4: Total forest area and loss in the development region of Nepal in 2011-2018
Table 5: Various Benefits of community Biogas Plants over household plants in Nepal
Table 6: Sampling and data collection technique
Table 7: Number of community-based plants and growth rate (%) from 2014 till date
Table 8: Types of community-based biogas plants in Nepal.
Table 9: Energy consumption in Residential area for cooking purpose
Table 10: CO2 emissions from cooking fuel in 2015
Table 11: Nepal Rural Renewable Energy Program Targets after 2015
Table 12: Agricultural products in province of Nepal in 2016
List of Figures
Figure 1: Relationship between Biogas and Agriculture in Farming System
Figure 2: Stakeholders in Biogas Sector in Nepal
Figure 3: Number of community-based biogas plants in Nepal from 2014 until 2018
Figure 4: Progress of biogas technology 2018/19
Figure 5: Administrative Division of Nepal
Figure 6: Energy demand by fuel types
Figure 7: Fuels used for cooking in Nepal 2015 (million GJ)
Figure 8: Trend of LPG consumption in Nepal
Figure 9: Fuels used for cooking in Nepal 2015 (million GJ)
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Figure 10: Fuels used for cooking in Province 1, 2016
Figure 11: Biogas construction companies in different provinces of Nepal
Figure 12: Agricultural practices in provinces
List of Appendix
8.1 Results from survey of existing community-based biogas plants around Kathmandu valley.
8.2 Questions asked to the official of AEPC
8.3 Questions for the operators of six case study sites
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Abbreviations and Acronyms
ADB Asian Development Bank
AEPC Alternative Energy Promotion Center
BDC Biogas Development Committee
BSP Biogas Support Programme
CBS Central Bureau of Statistics
CDM Clean Development Mechanism
CER Carbon Emission Reduction
DOA Department of Agriculture
DGIS International Cooperation of the Netherlands
EIRR Economic Rates of Return
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GGC Gobar Gas and Agricultural Equipment Development Company
GHG Greenhouse gases
GoN Government of Nepal
IOC Indian Oil Corporation
ICS Improved Cooking Stoves
IRR Internal Rate of Return
LGs Local Governments
LPG Liquefied Petroleum Gas
MOALD Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development
MOA Ministry of Agriculture
MOE Ministry of Energy
MOF Ministry of Finance
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MSW Municipal Solid Waste
NBPA Nepal Biogas Promotion Association
NEA Nepal Electricity Authority
NOC Nepal Oil Corporation
NRREP National Rural and Renewable Energy Programme
PICs Product of Incomplete Combustion
SNV/N Netherlands Development Organization-Nepal
UNFCCC UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
W2E Waste to Energy
WHO World Health Organization
CH4 Methane
CO2 Carbon dioxide
H2 Hydrogen
N2 Nitrogen
H2O Water Vapor
H2S Hydrogen Supplied
MW Mega watt
Mt Mega ton
Ha Hectare
GJ Giga Joule
Ppm Parts per million
Kw Kilo Watt
NRs Nepali Rupees
USD United States Dollar
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1.Introduction
1.1 Preliminary background information
Nepal is a landlocked and developing country sandwiched between two huge nations;
China and India. Majority of the population is dependent on agriculture and small business. In
terms of energy, Nepal has no known deposit of fossil fuels except for some Lignite deposits up
to date. Therefore, traditional biomass fuels are still widely used such as wood, agricultural waste
and dung accounting 83.3 percent of energy and petroleum and coal accounting for remaining
16.7 percent (ADB, 2017). Nepal is enriched with renewable energy resources such as solar,
hydropower, wind, biogas, and different forms of biomass energy. Nepal is known for its abundant
hydropower and there has a long history of hydropower generation and projects. However, total
installed hydro power generation capacity of only 802.4 MW14 has been installed which is less
than 2% of its commercially exploitable hydropower generation potential. Nepal totally depends
on import of electricity, on the top of it the amount of imports has doubled, from 694 GWh in
FY2011 to 1,758 GWh in FY2016 (ADB, 2017).
Sustainable supply of energy is one of the major challenges in Nepal. Nepal falls under
one of the lowest energy consuming countries of the world. About 50 percent of country’s 3,915
villages have access to electricity with 16 hours of electricity per day in the dry season. Major
areas of the country have unreliable and inadequate supply of energy due to various reasons. Due
to lack of access to commercial energy, the rural villages are compelled to depend on the
traditional fuels for lighting and cooking needs. Women are especially responsible for cooking,
so they are mostly engaged in finding and collecting fire hood. It is also injurious to health as it
emits a huge amount of smoke and cause indoor pollution. Indoor air pollution caused by burning
firewood for cooking purpose is the fourth major cause of the death among the poor and least
developed country like Nepal. Furthermore, about 7,500 people die annually in Nepal due to
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diseases caused by indoor air pollution. (WHO, 2012). Among various fuel problems and risks
the most general ones are a) very expensive and uncertain availability of fuel such as petrol,
kerosene, diesel, b) unstable and very weak supply of electricity and c) the risk of haphazard
deforestation activities for meeting the energy needs. Therefore, development and utilization of
available renewable energy resources is very essential in Nepal.
According to the calculation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) ,a standard biogas plant saves greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions of between 3
and 5 tons each year in Nepal, compared with existing traditional biomass sources such as firewood.
Furthermore, the reduction in the use of traditional biomass will ultimately decrease deforestation
(UNFCCC, 2018). Biogas is considered to have potential for cooking and heating purpose in Nepal
as 80% of the population still relies on agriculture. There is a close relationship between
agriculture and biogas as shown in the figure 1 of this paper. The agricultural residues can be used
as feed essential for the biogas production and the bio-slurry that is acquired after the anaerobic
digestion can be used in the agricultural field as organic fertilizer. Currently, the agricultural waste,
cattle dung and biodegradable household waste are used for anaerobic decomposition to produce
methane gas in Nepal.
According to BSP-Nepal, the rural communities has been able to exploit various direct
and indirect benefits of biogas plant in Nepal (BSP, 2009). Some of the major benefits that rural
communities in Nepal are getting after the adoption of biogas are as follows;
1. Biogas is widely used as energy source for cooking. Biogas stoves for household cooking has
been successfully working under water pressure in rural areas.
2. Biogas fueled lamps are popular in non- electrified rural areas of Nepal. Those lamps are
highly efficient as it emits light equivalent to 40-100 candle powers and have less risk of fire.
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3. Biogas are being utilized in the absorption type refrigerating machines with ammonia water
and thermo-syphon. This feature has very high importance for temperature adjustments in
areas with less electrification of Nepal.
4. Biogas is being used to operate spark ignition engines and four stroke diesels used in vehicles
such as tractors, and dual fuel engines for operating irrigation canals and grain mills in Nepal.
5. Bio-slurry after the anaerobic digestion is being used as an organic fertilizer. The digested
bio-slurry contains high nutrients and is more nutritious than the traditional compost.
6. Adoption of biogas has reduced the use of firewood resulting in improvement in the health
and sanitation.
7. Although biogas does not generate direct cash in a household, it does reduce the expenses
used of modern cooking fuels like kerosene, modern lightening appliances, cleaning
expenditure and medical expenses that was caused due to smoke.
8. The adoption of biogas has reduced traditional biomass consumption which covers 80 percent
of total energy demand of Nepal (WECS, 2013). The reduction of haphazard deforestation
and GHG emission from burning of the firewood has reduced significantly.
The government of Nepal has made biogas development its top priority in recent years
by supporting the rural household through subsidies and long-term loans that are mentioned in-
depth in chapter 5 of this research. The Ministry of Energy (MOE) has initiated a specific
department named Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC) in the capital city which is
working as a headquarter for its sub-division in other parts of the Nepal. The aim of this step is to
provide reliable, low cost and less complicated energy supply as is an easily available source of
energy that can be managed with locally available resources which otherwise are wasted or used
inefficiently. The development of biogas technology has positive impact in the physical health
14
and economy of rural household. In 2014, more than 100 registered biogas companies have been
established and 33,000 domestic biogas plants and exists in rural Nepal (BSB-Nepal, 2010).
Despite of all these initiatives the replication of the technology is still slow. The traditionally
designed plants have their limitation. During the cold season the biogas yield are comparatively
very low which is one of the major problems. Most of the domestic plants are operated with cattle
dung which has less capacity to produce gas and the quantity plays the vital role to sustain the
biogas production. Households having a smaller number of cattle and biodegradable wastes are
unable to supply suitable amount of manure for biogas production resulting is less gas yield
(Bajgain, 2005). Community-based plants can be an appropriate solution to solve the less feed
problem since it will be collected from the several households. Furthermore, those who are not
economic capable enough to afford the household plants can be also be benefitted by the
community-based biogas plants (Finlay & Bulmer, 2013).
1.2 Focus of Study
Since Nepal has no known deposit of fossil fuels and unable to export adequate amount
of modern fuels for cooking, there is a need for self-sustainable clean energy source that is
affordable to the poorest communities of the rural areas. About at 83.3% of the population of
Nepal still relies on the traditional biomass for cooking purposes according to the report from
ministry of energy in 2015 (ADB, 2017). Although, there are numerous negative impacts of
traditional biomass on health and the surrounding environments, the pace for adoption of more
clean energy sources is still slow. Among the renewable resources biogas is one of the potential
fuel sources for solving the fuel crisis in rural Nepal. Community-based biogas plant can be a
potential solution as several households can be connected and large amount of gas can be
produced and decreasing energy crisis for cooking purposes. Furthermore, households can obtain
15
gas regardless of their economic condition. The government has implemented several policies for
promoting the biogas with subsidies and interest free loans for the locals. As a result, there has
been significant number of installations of household biogas plants in the rural areas of Nepal.
Due to the success of household size biogas plants in the rural areas of Nepal, the interest
in biogas plants at both the community and institutional level has grown in Nepal. However, the
diffusion of community-based biogas plant is not as convincing as the domestic ones even though
community-based plant seems to have more merits than household plants. There has been not
much research contrasting community biogas and the existing domestic plants. This study also
argues about the advantages of the community-based plants over household plants in rural areas
of Nepal. Furthermore, this research mainly focuses on identifying the diffusion of community-
based plants in different provinces of Nepal. The analysis part elaborates the determinants for the
successful adoption in the easternmost region (mentioned as Province 1 below) that lies in the
eastern most part on Nepal. The determinants have been analyzed from different evidence
collected from different authorities of Nepal. Technology leapfrogging of cooking fuel and
appliance is a significant factor for the successful adoption of community-based biogas
technology is Province 1. The hypothesis has been explained with detail figures and evidences of
how the cooking fuel is being replaced by biogas from traditional biogas in rural Nepal and
Province 1. Other determinants such as empowerment of local government after administrative
divisions, realization of over dependence of fossil and fuels on import, and so on has been
elaborated with proper evidence to identify the determinants of successful adoption of
community-based biogas plants in Nepal.
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1.3 Overall research aim and individual objective
The overall research aim is to review the present status of diffusion of community-based
plants and determinants for expansion of community biogas plants in the eastern part of Nepal.
The study mainly addresses the following research questions:
1. What are the advantages of replacing household biogas plants with the community-based
biogas plants in rural Nepal?
2. What are the potential determinants of successful diffusion of community-based biogas plants
in eastern most region (Province 1) of Nepal?
The following specific topics have been elaborated to address the above research questions.
➢ Analysis of benefits of community-based plants over the household biogas plants in rural
Nepal
➢ Identify the exact numbers of community-based biogas plants and ongoing projects in all 7
provinces of Nepal.
➢ Identify and Analysis of the potential determinants of diffusion of community-based biogas
plants in eastern most region i.e. the Province 1.
➢ Identify the evidences that indicates the benefits from the community-based biogas plants
in rural Nepal.
1.4 Research methods
Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed in this research.
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The biogas project team of Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) were
consulted to identify the exact number of both household and community-based biogas plants,
ongoing projects in Nepal. After the quantitative data were acquired, the variable growth rate
overtime is calculated to examine the growth rate of community-based biogas pants in the whole
country. Similarly, after the number of community-based biogas plants in different provinces were
identified and the province with significant number (Province 1) of community-based plants was
chosen for analyzing the determinates for successful adoption. The exact number of community-
based plants in Nepal is 299 among which 121 plants are in Province 1 that lies in the eastern
most part of Nepal. The installment of highest number of community-based plants is one of the
main reasons for the selection of the case study site. For the further analysis of the determinants,
overall energy situation and agriculture related data were collected from the Ministry of energy
(MOE) and Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MOALD) of Nepal. The
obtained data showed that Province 1 has quite significant production of cereal and cash crops
compared to other provinces which means the amount of agricultural residue is bound to be higher
which is another reason for selecting this site for case study. More agricultural residue contributes
as a large amount of feed in the digester. There was higher possibility that the local government
and the private sectors were attracted in implementing large number of community-based biogas
plants in Province 1 due to the higher production of agricultural products. The hypothesis was
consulted and verified with the official of AEPC.
The qualitative was required mostly for the empirical data analysis which was mainly
based in the key informant interview with the official of the biogas support team of AEPC and
survey data from the field visit in the existing community-based biogas plants around Kathmandu
district. Most of the peer reviewed journals and reports in the literature review section was
obtained from the online databases; research gate and science direct. After the data collection the
18
determinants of the successful diffusion in Province 1 were analyzed and a hypothesis was built.
To check if those evidence and the hypothesis were correct, an online interview with biogas
project program manager of AECP was taken. Lots of feedback regarding the hypothesis were
received which were again rectified and consulted again thorough email.
The survey was carried out on September 2019 in 7 community-based plants with the
operators of those plants as a preliminary study. The scope of the interview was regarding the
technical details, operational parameters, maintenance, gas and bio-slurry production and benefits
to the locals. The data from the survey was basically to identify the present condition of
community-based biogas plants and the perspective of the locals regarding the biogas plant. Since
the results from the survey was not very relevant to the research question, the data has not been
included in the main body of this research. Instead the results are summarized in a table and
included in the appendix section of this research.
1.5 Value of your research
The main purpose of the research is to promote community-based biogas plants in rural
Nepal and reduce the environmental impacts caused due use of obsolete traditional biomass fuel
for cooking. Since biogas can be operated from the locally available resources such as organic
waste and agricultural residues, it is inexpensive, environmentally friendly and an appropriate
solution for the cooking energy crisis in rural Nepal. The study analyzes about the advantages of
community-based biogas plants over household biogas plants in rural Nepal and argues the
potential and efficiency of community-based plants in rural Nepal. The research provides the
exact number both community- based (until 2018) and household biogas plants (until 2016) with
the province-wise breakdown numbers that was provided by AEPC during the visit in 2019.
According to AEPC, the up to date exact numbers of the biogas plants have not been announced
19
in the online sources. Therefore, the researchers or interested candidates can obtain the number
from this study. This research examines the possible reasons for the successful diffusion of
community biogas technology in Province 1.
Furthermore, the analysis of the ‘determinants of the successful adoption of community-based
biogas plants in Province 1’ can be an example for other provinces to analysis their condition. The
initiatives of Province 1 for the adoption of community-based biogas plants that are mentioned in
this research can be a motivation for other provinces. This study will be helpful for the distributers
as they will be able to point out the reason why the adoption has been interrupted in other
provinces. Furthermore, to the future researchers, this study can provide revised information on
the recent status, policy, new projects of community-based biogas of Nepal.
2. Basic facts
2.1 Socioeconomic Condition of Nepal
Nepal is a landlocked and developing country sandwiched between two huge nations,
China and India. It is situated between 26º and 30º latitude and between 80º and 88º east longitude
covering 147 km2 and stretch about 145-241 km north to south,850 km east to west. Due to the
diverse altitude that ranges from less than 100 meters to 8848 meters above the sea level the
country`s climate varies from subtropical to arctic. According to the census of 2015 the population
of Nepal is 28.5 million of which about 50% lie on the plains, 43% in the hill region and remaining
7% in the high-altitude region. From 2010 to 2015 the annual gross domestic product (GDP)
averaged over 5.5% despite of political conflicts. However, the catastrophic earthquake on April
2015 depleted the economy of the country and is still struggling to get back in the tracks. The
main occupation of the people is agriculture that accounts one-third of the GDP. Then comes the
industrial sector with 15%, followed by the services such as transport, communication sector,
20
trade etc. Industrial products such as tea, species, garments are exported and the petroleum
products, metals are imported from the neighboring countries. Due to greater use of the petroleum
products in the energy sector, the carbon di oxide emission per capita has significantly increased.
2.2 Energy Consumption
There are no known deposits of fossil fuels except for some lignite deposits in Nepal.
The main source of primary energy consists of biomass oil, hydro, coal and electricity. Biomass
used mainly consists of firewood, animal dung and agricultural waste is widely used due poor
state of the economy and lack of other alternative energy sources mainly in the rural areas.
Residential sector has the largest share in the consumption of energy. Although the industrial and
the transport sector share minimal consumption now, these sectors are bound to develop rapidly
in the future.
Nepal is enriched with renewable energy resources such as solar, hydropower, wind,
biogas, and different forms of biomass energy. According to the Nepal Electricity Authority
(NEA), around 12% of the population had access to electricity through renewable energy sources
in 2013. Among which 12MW electricity generation came from solar photovoltaic (PV) systems,
around 23MW from micro-hydro schemes, and wind energy generating less than 20 kilowatts
(kW). The existing supply system have high costs of grid connection, but consumption rates are
extremely low due to less population density and scattered population especially in remote areas.
Therefore, transformation from energy supply system into a more sustainable system using clean
and renewable energy resources is a must for Nepal.
The existing centralized energy supply systems has been considered to ineffective due to the
above reasons. Thus, decentralized renewable energy supply systems, biogas, solar PV, micro-
21
hydro, and improved cooking stoves, can be considered to provide environment- friendly and
viable options in the context of Nepal.
According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the renewable energy technologies
that are geographically and socio economically feasible and be used in Nepal include;
(i) biomass and biogas (coal briquettes, gasifiers, improved cooking stoves);
(ii) micro-hydro (up to 100 kW);
(iii) solar thermal energy (solar water heaters, solar dryers, solar cookers); and
(iv) solar PV (solar home systems, solar water pumps, solar battery chargers) (ADB, 2017)
Since 2013, the government has issued a subsidy policy for renewable energy with the aim to
accelerate the production and delivery of high-quality renewable energy services. Furthermore,
the policy has been initiated by using various technologies, to households, communities, and
micro, small, and medium enterprises both in urban and rural areas. The main objective is to
benefit all social groups around the country that can lead to equitable economic growth.
Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) that works under the ministry of energy prepared
a subsidy delivery mechanism for renewable energy to be implemented though out the country
which has been considered by the Parliament.
2.2.1 Total dependency of fossil fuel supply on Import and less storage capacity
Since there are no proven fossil fuel reserves in Nepal, except for few reserves with
Ignite deposits in that are located extremely limited transportation options available, 100% fossil
fuel demand is met by imports from India (ADB, 2017). The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has
been supplying petroleum products such as diesel, gasoline, and kerosene to Nepal for the past 4
decades at Indian market rates under a long-term contract. However, the contract existed only in
the papers as the undeclared blockade paralyzed this agreement. On the other hand, Nepal has not
22
been able to increase the storage capacity as the oil storage capacity is insufficient even for 20
days of national sales. The Asian Development Bank has stated that Ministry of Energy of Nepal
should address this storage capacity issue immediately and increase the capacity in a phased
manner from 20 days to 160–180 days. Appropriate steps and planning should be done improve
Nepal’s energy security since the import sources are diversified and the blockade is uncertain.
2.2.2 Inadequate Power Supply Systems
Nepal is known for its abundant hydropower resources and significant potential to
generate and export electricity. Despite of that, Nepal totally depends on import of electricity, on
the top of it the amount of imports has doubled, from 694 GWh in FY2011 to 1,758 GWh in
FY2016 (ADB, 2017). Although the annual increase in NEA generation is 0.3%, the average
annual growth rate of 20.4% of electric consumption. On the other hand, the existing hydropower
plants with storage-type consists of only 13% of the total hydropower capacity. Due to large
number of run of-the-river hydropower plants with less storage capacity the electricity scarcity
hits hard during the dry season. The demand for electricity rises significantly for heating purposes
despite the water flow in the river's decreases affecting the power generation to meet the demand.
The existing plan of NEA foresees the installation of over 2,000 MW of new capacity by 2022.
However, funding constraints and the inadequate planning forecasts that this target may not be
achieved until the targeted year. The diagnostic studies done my officials of ADB identifies that
this as a one of the major interruptions to Nepal’s inclusive economic growth. The government’s
strategy to tackle this issue is to prioritize reservoir-based projects over run-of-the-river projects.
According to ADB the key benefits by sustainable development of hydropower potential in Nepal
with are following as follows:
(i) Improve electricity potential with higher potential;
23
(ii) solution for the current acute energy deficit through a reliable source;
(iii) import of electricity to India and other neighboring countries generating foreign exchange
for socio economic development; and
(iv) reduced import and dependency on carbon-intensive fossil fuels and other expensive
conventional fuel sources from India.
2.2.3 Energy Crisis
Due to the acute shortage of power and petroleum products and totally dependency
Nepal is now facing an unprecedented energy crisis. Inadequate projects and planning, slow
project implementation, and significant underinvestment in baseload generating capacity are also
the reasons for Nepal to be backwards in terms of renewable energy. The total installed hydro
power generation capacity of only 802.4 MW14 has been installed which is less than 2% of its
commercially exploitable hydropower generation potential of Nepal. In 2014, the total primary
energy supply was 11,690 kilotons of oil equivalent in which 326 kilotons of oil equivalent was
supplied by hydro power generation (Nepal Electricity Authority , 2016).
As a supplement and of the low generation capacity and fulfill the energy demands,
Nepal Imports from India. However, the supply is considered to still inadequate even to get
close to the ever-increasing demand. This has resulted in hours of power cut per day all around
the country and the situation is predicted to get worse if appropriate action is not taken
immediately. Moreover, the political instability and conflict between the political parties of the
southern region has worsen the situation of renewable energy since 2015. The blockade by native
people in the plain region along the Indian border due to disagreement between the political
leaders has created a serious fuel crisis since in the hilly and the mountainous region of Nepal.
24
Furthermore, the undeclared blockade by India in 2015 has also compelled people to step back
and use the tradition biomass increasing deforestation and CO2 emission.
To tackle this situation the government has introduced new rules for use of private transportation
to be used on alternate days based on their car numbers. Charcoal and firewood were asked to be
used for cooking purpose although the government was aware of environment degradation and
pollution caused by this method. The economic and social development of Nepal has been
seriously constrained due to the energy crisis. Furthermore, wealthy communities with electric
cooking appliances disobeyed restrictions and switched to electricity for cooking resulted in
causing some distribution transformers to burn due of overloading.
2.3 Biomass
More than 25% of the population of Nepal are deprived of either on-grid or off-grid
electricity (ADB, 2017). About 85% of the total fine energy mix is provided by traditional biomass.
According to the National Census 2011, about 4 million out of 5.4 million households are still
using traditional biomass such as firewood for cooking and heating. Reducing the use of biomass
has been one of the greatest challenges for the government and NGO`s/INGO`s as it has an
adverse effect on the human health and environment. In the report published by World Health
Organization (WHO) in 2012, indoor air pollution caused by burning firewood for cooking
purpose is the fourth major cause of the death among the poor and least developed country.
Furthermore, another study from the WHO states that about 7,500 people die annually in Nepal
due to diseases caused by indoor air pollution. According to another study, women and children
who engaged a long time in cooking indoors are mostly affected by the pollution. On the other
hand, overuse consumption of firewood results in deforestation activities causing depleting of the
forest resources. Moreover, women's and children are engaged in collecting firewood from the
25
forest increasing their workload and consuming time from their daily life. The use traditional
stoves not only emit excessive smoke consuming excessive firewood but also are extremely slow
method for cooking making the women always busy.
As a solution for avoiding such situation, APEC which works under the government has
been focusing on the expansion and the promotion of renewable and clean energy technologies
such as biogas, solar cooker/dryer, improved cooking stoves (ICS). The recent report of ‘National
Living Standards Survey’ states that about 3 million households in Nepal have only access to
improved cooking stoves. The use of ICS has resulted in reduction of indoor air pollution by 62%
according to the study conducted by AEPC in 2009 and 2010. Furthermore, the study also stated
that the reduction in the consumption in the firewood was 43% on an average together with the
significant reduction in the engagement of women in the kitchen by adoption of ICS in rural area.
According to the figures of APEC, 1.3 million households have installed ICS, 365000 households
have installed biogas and 600 households have initiated to use renewable energy for cooking so
far.
The Government of Nepal is working continuously with support from the development
partners, foreign partners and implemented the National Rural and Renewable Energy Programme
as an integrated programmed in renewable energy sector. Government has also provisioned a
subsidy for the development and promotion of renewable energy through utilization of different
internal and external resources including carbon trade. A campaign named “clean cooking
solution for all” has been initiated with the aim of creating household's indoor air pollution free
by installing and distributing clean cooking technologies. This campaign was initiated with the
objective to expand utilization of renewable energy technology and fulfillment of the United
Nation`s “Sustainable Development Goals” and “Sustainable Energy for all”. The Government
has implemented the national action plan and investment prospectus are also being formulated for
26
increasing and enhancing access to clean and sustainable energy in both rural and urban parts
Nepal. Furthermore, a separate agroforestry policy is being implemented incorporating various
aspects of agroforestry in the community forests of Nepal. Apart from this, projects based on
municipal waste ‘Biomass to electricity’ has been considered for 50 larger municipalities with
high population density that can met the required need of waste for smooth operation. However,
many researches stated that the biomass to electricity projects may not be suitable and impractical
since the communities lacks well-established waste collection system and pilot projects to
demonstrate technical feasibility.
2.3.1 Problems and Challenges of Biomass
Due to the low awareness and economic condition of most of the population the
development and adoption of latest and the improved technologies have not been possible. The
report from APEC has pointed out the lack of cooperation, coordination, action plan and
integrated viewpoint among the stakeholders and government agencies of the energy sector. The
report also stressed about the allocation of financial resources for the biomass energy is not
proportional even though it contributes more than two thirds of the country’s total energy demand.
Furthermore, the report stress upon the lack of planning of suitable projects for the proper
management of forest by the effective use of biogas energy. Information regarding the possibility
of generating energy using locally available residues of different products in not adequate. Even
at this age Nepal lacks identification and effective management of all the traditional energy
sources. Due to less awareness regarding air pollution and lack of promotion the adoption of ICS
and biogas by the locals is still limited. Despite the provision of subsidy for ICP and biogas stoves
the technology has not been easily available all around the country.
27
One of the reasons that the report from the APEC reflects is gap between the
organizational structure. The biomass energy related sectors like forestry, agriculture and animal
husbandry are under different agencies due to which there the lack of adequate coordination
between these departments. Not only that, there is a lack of human resources and other resources
in the government and the local bodies for effective planning, analyzing, management and
efficient use of biomass energy. Due to high illiteracy rate mostly in the rural areas there is lack
of adequate awareness regarding environmental degradation caused by the over exploitation of
biomass energy and implementation of suitable measures to prevent such degradation. There is a
great gap between the rich and poor people which has created a social psychology towards the
differences in types of energy used by these class. To upgrade their standards the poor
communities, focus has been concentrated into getting LPG connection which is common among
the rich societies. The poor communities have a mind set for following the rich and using LPG
rather than adopting and utilizing the locally available biomass energy efficiently.
There are different types of energy crops used in the world such as maize, wheat, triticale
etc. that contains that allows a higher amount of methane to be produces. However, there has not
been significant procedures or necessary measures for research and identification of a suitable
species and land/area for cultivation of energy crops in Nepal. In the same way, if the energy crops
are to be adopted in the future, there should be thorough research and security studies about the
adverse impact of cultivating energy crops on food security which is yet to be initiated by the
ministry of agriculture. Biodiesel and bioethanol have a great potential in Nepal, but the
promotion, generation, distribution and utilization have not been effective in both the regional
and international experiences. Similarly, application of liquid biofuel as the mechanism for partial
substitution of petrol and diesel, feasibility study, quality control, laboratory production and sales
distribution network has not been initiated yet in Nepal.
28
Due to rapid development, population growth and an increase in income the energy
consumption pattern has been changing significantly. Increased dependency on costly imported
LPG from India for cooking has significantly increased in urban areas. Since Nepal is divided
into three geographical regions the availability of biomass energy resources is not same in all the
regions. On one hand, there is a degradation of forest resources due to over exploitation by the
increased demand in the areas such as hilly reason, where there is less availability of forest
resources than needs. On the other hand, the areas with subtropical climate with surplus of forest
resources that the demand the proper exploitation of biomass has not been achieved. Therefore,
proper management of biomass energy resources is highly essential due to its regional imbalance
in the availability of those resources.
Assess to the impacts and effectiveness of the biomass energy promotion program is
extremely difficult as adequate data related to operational status of the biogas plants and ICS
installed are insufficient for analyzing. Conducting several awareness programs for increasing
awareness among the locals from rural areas on effective use of biomass energy with utilization
of appropriate modern technologies has been a challenge. One of the major reasons is the lack of
education and consciousness towards environment among the locals. Instant adoption of modern
technologies for many people in affordable price is even more challenging due to the with low
purchasing power. Thus, implementing a campaign such as “Clean Cooking solutions for All” for
making every household free from indoor air pollution by distribution of clean energy solutions
seems to be highly challenging.
2.4 Basic information of biogas
Biogas is a methane rich gas that is produced by the breakdown of organic matter in the
absence of oxygen (anaerobic digestion) by the action of methanogenic bacteria in a digester. This
whole process is known as the biogas process and heavily depends on the presence methanogens;
29
methanic bacteria. Biogas gas comprises of methane, CO2 and other gases as shown in Table 1
In the biogas process requirements of energy sources like hydrogen, fat or sugar should be present
in a suitable proportion for continued growth and function of the methanogens (Karlsson, et al.,
2014); presence of electronic acceptor for anaerobic respiration (Ruiz-Aguilar, et al., 2015);
presence of carbon and oxygen to increase the biomass of the micro-organism(Madigan, et al.,
2015); depending on the type of bacteria there will be need of specific trace element and vitamins
(Scherer, 1913). Furthermore, various other factors such as the temperature, pH and the
concentrations of salts and oxygen have very crucial impact on the production of biogas (Schnurer,
2009). Biogas is a colorless and odorless gas that is quite like the LP gas as both are virtually
smoke-free combustion and burns with a clean blue flame. According to the researchers, generally
1m3 of biogas produced in a household plant is enough to cook three-time meals for a family
consisting five or six members (FAO, 2005).
Substances Symbol Composition (% volume)
Methane 𝐶𝐻4 50-70
Carbon dioxide 𝐶𝑂2 30-40
Hydrogen 𝐻2 5-10
Nitrogen 𝑁2 1-2
Water Vapor 𝐻2𝑂 0.3
Hydrogen Supplied 𝐻2𝑆 (0.01-0.09 ppm)
Table 1: The average composition of biogas
Adapted from: Karki et. al. (2005)
30
Biogas technology converts organic matter into energy and organic fertilizer. There are
two outputs of biogas, the gas which is utilized as a fuel and the bio-slurry with its fertilizing
properties are used as fertilizers (FAO, 2005). There is a close relationship between biogas and
agriculture. The output after the anaerobic digestion; bio-slurry can be profitable returned to the
agricultural fields as fertilizer and feed for animals like pig, fish, etc. Therefore, the relationship
between biogas and agriculture is an indicator of “eco-friendly “nature of technology as shown in
the figure 1 below (CMS, 1996).
Figure 1: Relationship between Biogas and Agriculture in Farming System
(Retrieved from: Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC),2017)
2.5 Overview of Biogas technology in Nepal
The start of biogas experiment in Nepal was first initiated by a schoolteacher at St.
Xavier’s School, Godavari in Kathmandu in 1955. The biogas system was an experiment that was
made of 200-litre oil drum with a metallic gas holder on top. There were no further initiatives
taken in biogas field until the world was hit with an energy crisis in 1973 that triggered the interest
in biogas sector globally. In 1976, Tribhuwan University of Kritipur created a specific department
Fertilizer & feed
Farm
Livestock
Crops
Agriculture BY-
PRODUCT Bio Digester
Gas
Bio-slurry Input
Input
31
named Biogas Development Committee (BDC) as a part of the Energy Research and
Development Group (ERDG). The same fiscal year later was observed as ‘Agriculture Year’ by
the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA). Furthermore, biogas was also included in a special program
as counter measure for controlling deforestation and GHG emission from burning of the
traditional biomass.
The government also initiated new policy that provided interest-free loan to the farmers
that were willing to adopt household biogas plants. In 1976, the first installation of 250 household
plants were installed by private contractors under the supervision of Department of Agriculture
(DOA). In 1975 Department of Agriculture (DOA) initiated by promoting the biogas technology
by disbursing loans to the farmers that were interested in installing the system in their household.
Other than lending money the bank also made significant effort on organizing training and
awareness programs and information dissemination. In 1977, Gobar Gas and Agricultural
Equipment Development Company (GGC) was established with an objective of promoting and
installing biogas technology all over the country. Until 1990, GCC was the only organization that
was working actively for the promotion of biogas plants and training the users and staffs.
In July 1992, the Biogas Support Programme Phase I (BSP I) was launched with an
objective of installing 7000 plants by the funds provided by the International Cooperation of the
Netherlands (DGIS) and the Government of Nepal (GoN). The main objective of this step was to
provide low cost, reliable and less complicated clean energy supply as a source of energy for
cooking with locally available resources replacing the traditional biomass. During BSP I, 6824
household plants were installed by 1994 followed by BSPII with an objective of 13,000 plants in
1997 which exceeded the targeted number. BSP III was initiated with a target of 100,000 plants
which was also nearly accomplished. Furthermore, in December 2003 Biogas Support
Programme was transformed into Biogas Sector Partnership- Nepal and started Phase IV with
32
135000 plants as a target. All the programme were successful attempts and the household biogas
technology was diffused all the 17 districts and over 2800 VDCs (BSB-Nepal, 2010)
Government of Nepal
Ministry of Science, Technology & Environment
Executive Agency
AEPC (NRREP)
Partners other Actors
Winrock
Renewable
World
National International
Biogas Support Program SNV
Nepal Biogas Promotion Association DANIDA
DEECCS NORAD
Private Sectors GIZ
kfW
World Bank
WWF
ADB
Figure 2: Stakeholders in Biogas Sector in Nepal
(Retrieved from Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC),2017)
33
At present the biogas technology is being implemented and promoted by the National
Rural and Renewable Energy Programme (NRREP) under the framework of Alternative Energy
Promotion Center (AEPC) which falls under the GoN and Netherlands Development Organization
(SNV), the Norwegian Government (BSP-N, 2015). Now, AEPC has been responsible for the
promotion of innovative clean energy technologies including biogas projects. It is also focusing
on the issues such as social inclusion, gender, regional balance, technology shifting,
decentralization etc. which are obstructing the smooth diffusion of biogas system. In context of
Nepal among all the renewable energy projects, biogas intervention through household plant
installations has been successful in living standards of the rural people. In 2014, more than 350
thousand household plants haven been installed out of 140 thousand targets across the country.
The large biogas program was included in the government subsidy policy and delivery mechanism
only after the implementation of National Rural and Renewable Energy Program (NRREP) in
2012. With some ground works in 2012 and 2013, the first batch of large plants were built under
subsidy support of AEPC in 2014. Although some large plants were built before 2012 through
efforts from some NGOs and private parties, they have not been formally documented and their
current status is also unknown.
More than 100 biogas companies under the supervision of AEPC was registered only in
2014 which had positive impact on the economy from the increase in the employment opportunity
and improvement in the physical health of rural household in Nepal (BSP-N, 2012). Among the
330,000 household biogas plants installed in the BSP phases, 95% of the total plants remained in
operation till 2014 (BSP-Nepal, 2005). However, the biogas plants installed were traditionally
designed plants that have their limitation and requires high initial investment even after including
the subsidies from the government. Since the biogas were only operated with the cattle dung from
34
one or two animal, the gas production was quite low due to the less amount of feed. Furthermore,
the households with smaller number of domesticated animals and biodegradable waste are
struggling to supply the suitable amount of feed for the biogas production resulting in less
production of biogas (Bajgain, 2005). Community-based plants can be an appropriate solution to
solve the less feed problem since it will be collected from the several households. Furthermore,
those who are not economic capable enough to afford the household plants can be also be
benefitted by the community-based biogas plants (Finlay & Bulmer, 2013). The advantages of
community-based biogas over the household plants are elaborated in the section 3.2 of this paper.
2.6 Community-Based Biogas Plants
As the name suggests community-based biogas plants are plants larger than household
plants and have a different mode of operation. These plants are established by a community or
group of individuals with the aim of common use. Household level biogas plants are generally
smaller in size ranging from 3 to 10m3 whereas the community-based plants are larger varying
from 10 to 100m3. Since these plants are constructed and operated to fulfill in proportion to the
population the size can be bigger than 10m3. The plant is a common asset, so people have mutual
share in input of the digestion material and for the output; biogas and bio-slurry as fertilizer. The
community-based biogas plants in developing countries like Nepal generally use buffalo or cow
dung and waste from crops etc. as input in the digester. However, there has been increase in pilot
projects in Nepal, which uses variety of other organic matters such as kitchen waste, poultry waste,
human excreta, and other biodegradables.
35
Fig. Community-based biogas plant
(Retrieved from: Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC),2017)
According to AEPC, most of those pilot projects has been proven to run successfully and
some are still running in the experiment basis. In the project of 200 liter, the average gas
production from the agricultural wastes and the organic household wastes is 30-40 liters of
methane per day that is enough for boiling 1.4 liters of water starting from 20-degree C. The bio-
slurry that was produced after the anaerobic digestion was used as manure in the kitchen garden
that has remarkable growth of mustard plant and cauliflower compared to the plants for which
pesticides were used (AEPC, 2015). The Schechen Monastry that lies in the capital city
Kathmandu are using kitchen waste mixed with human excreta as inputs. Furthermore, Machan
Wildlife Resort located in Chitwan are using elephant dung with human excreta (Karki,
2009),Pathari Village Development Committee in Morang district are also utilizing the human
36
excreta from the public toilets (CMS, 1998). Production of biogas from kitchen waste has been
used traditionally in Nepal, India, China and other developing countries. Generally, the secondary
input; kitchen waste is fed into the digester along with other organic matter like cow and buffalo
dung.
2.6.1 Strategies of Government for promotion of Community-based Biogas
Unlike household biogas plants, Community-based biogas plants are relatively a newly
introduced concept in Nepal, where possibility of biogas generation from collective communal
waste produced from various sources are being explored. For sustaining the present energy crisis
and decreasing use of traditional biomass, Nepal should start utilizing biodegradables other than
animal dung to fulfill the energy needs of its rural communities. Latrine/sewage waste, Municipal
Solid Waste (MSW), agricultural wastes (straws, husk, cobs etc.) and kitchen waste are some of
the example of biodegradable waste that must be utilized yet. Energy generation from these waste
materials can help in the mitigation of environment pollution through waste management and
minimum CO2 emission thereby uplifting the health and sanitation of the locals.APEC has
realized the significance of community based-biogas plant after thorough feasibility study for
community based-biogas plant in rural community of Nepal. Recently, APEC has taken several
new initiatives and have installed numbers of community-based biogas plants varying from 12m3
to 100m3. Other several projects have been initiated with the aim of standardizing biogas plants
of different sizes ranging from 15-100m3 capacities.
Since the community-based biogas plants are constructed by the maximum financial
support from the government and other stakeholder, it is common resource with many locals
having ownership. The access to the plant by different actors might include a self-interested
37
rational actor who will try to increase the exploitation of the resources for his/her full benefit, but
the costs are divided equally among other actors as argued by Hardin in the Tragedy of Commons.
The tragic result of many locals thinking this was might become a reason for failure in smooth
operation of community-based biogas plants (Hardin, 1968). However, the development of
community-based biogas plants is still in the initials stage the number of plants is very limited
and are monitored by the local government and biogas construction companies. The locals are
mostly providing the organic waste for the digester and helping in maintaining the standards
(ADB, 2017).
The official of AEPC also stated that the locals are very much convinced with the organic
waste disposal as it reduces the burden of waste management for the farmers. Furthermore, in
some plants the latrines of the households are also connected to the digester. Biogas plants are the
solution for reducing the pollution from the drainage pipes as well as the waste disposal problem
of organic waste from household and agricultural waste. Due to this feature of biogas plants, locals
adopting the plants have positive response and are actively participating for better operation of
biogas plants. Furthermore, the biogas companies involved seems to be monitoring the
participation and equal distribution up to date (AEPC, 2019).
Furthermore, these projects have been initiated with the targeted training programs for
the construction consultants and the companies that are able to process and help in the installation
of such technology (AEPC, 2015).
38
Figure 3. Number of community-based biogas plants in Nepal from 2014 until 2018
(Retrieved from Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC),2019)
I) Waste to Energy (W2E)
According to APEC, the national average waste generation was 0.25kg per capita per day
in Nepal in 2015. Kathmandu, with the waste generation of 0.39 kg per capita per day has the
highest waste generation and is producing a total daily waste of 3000 tons per day (AEPC, 2015).
Other 57 municipalities generate below 100 tons per day with only few that generates more than
50 tons per day. The waste generation has obviously increased significantly in the past few years
with an average urban population growth rate of 3.4% per annum. The municipalities are
struggling to tackle the waste management and facing pressure under the government regulations
to manage waste for the protection of public health and environment.
The government introduced (W2E) technologies such as landfilling with gas recovery,
bio-methanization, and gasification to manage municipal waste, to mitigate the existing and future
waste management problem. Since biogas produced by a digester can be utilized directly without
any further processing in the same way as any combustible gas, the government has focused more
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
No. Of Installments of Community Based Plants
39
on implementing more biogas projects with subsidizes as mention in the table no... below.
Furthermore, the plants are not complex to operate even and there have been no reports of
accidents and explosions caused by biogas so far. Projects for generating biogas from the
household's kitchen and toilets wastes has been initiated in which the produced gas in used mainly
for the cooking purpose for the locals. The ministry of energy has introduced new provisions of
subsidizing the larger biogas plants including commercial, institutional etc. As shown in the table
below, NRS 9000 equivalent to 73.72 USD per cubic meter for the community-based plants.
Furthermore, the community-waste biogas plants that can generate energy from waste at a
municipal scale are provided with 50% of the total cost for installation.
Biogas Systems Thermal Application
per cum in NRs
In USD Electricity Generation per
kW in NRs
In USD
Commercial Biogas
Plants
4,000 32.76 65,000 532.39
Community Biogas
Plants with capacity
more than 12 m3
9,000 73.72 150,000 1228.59
Institutional Biogas
Plants for Public
Institutions
11,500 94.19 185,000 1515.26
Municipal Scale Waste
to Energy Systems
50% of the total cost
but not exceeding NRs
50,000 per cum
50% of the total cost but not
exceeding NRs 250,000/kW,
whichever is less.
40
Table 2: Subsidy for Large Biogas Plants
(Retrieved from Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC),2017)
II) Biomass Energy Strategy (2017)
APEC initiated this strategy in 2017 with the main objective to promote the biomass
energy as sustainable, affordable and reliable energy resource to meet the increasing energy
demand and help during the crisis. The strategy focuses in increasing the production of sustainable
biomass energy by the full utilization of organic wastes from household and agriculture, forest
residues for clean cooking solutions. During the review period, APEC mostly the targeted for the
construction of the domestic biogas plants but with the vision of paradigm shift towards the
development of the community-based plants. For that purpose, number of feasibility studies were
and are still being carried out in the different provinces of Nepal. This strategy also includes the
programs dedicated to the poor ethnic groups, marginalized groups and victims of the 2015
earthquake of the rural areas. According to the APEC most of the planned activities for the
promotion of biogas has insignificant achievement. However, the target activities for feasibility
study of community-based biogas plants has significant results and over achievement than
expected. The figure below that was published by APEC as a progress report shows the overall
progress of the Biogas technology in 2018/19 (AEPC, 2015).
41
Figure 4. Progress of biogas technology 2018/19
(Retrieved from Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC),2017)
47% of the target was achieved in terms of domestic biogas plants. In the additional plants for the
underprivileged groups, 75% of the target was achieved. The plants targeted for the rehabilitation
of the earthquake victims were unachieved. Urban biogas projects had very less achievements.
The target for the feasibility study of the community-based biogas plants was the most successful
project with 120% accomplishment, where more than 60 feasibility studies were completed
against the target of 50 studies. Furthermore, the development of a prototype project on the
pipeline and bottling of biogas achieved 100% of the target.
2.6.2 Various Waste Types for Production of Large-Scale Biogas in Nepal
1. Communal Waste
47%
75%
0%
25%
120%
20%
100%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120% 140%
Biogas Plant for household
Household Biogas for indegeneous peole
Rehab for Earthquake affected Biogas
Community and Institutional Biogas
Feasibility Study for larger size biogas
Urban Biogas
Biogas Pipeline and bottling
Progress of biogas technology 2018/19
42
Biogas from the communal waste is one of the efficient ways for solving the energy
crisis and reducing the environmental degradation. The biogas generation from communal waste
to energy system is only feasible in communities were waste are managed and separated properly.
Separation of the biodegradable waste can be utilized for the generation of biogas. The waste from
the household's toilets can also be used as a feed in a digester. This will also effectively solve the
problem of sewage disposal that has been causing various health and environmental issues. Rural
communities with large number of cattle waste and agriculture byproducts are benefitted from the
biogas plant since they can input the waste and get biogas in return. The obtained biogas is then
stored in a gas holder and is distributed to the households via a gas grid with a gas metering and
monitoring system depending upon the size of the community. There are several community-
based plants that are successfully operating with the gas grid system and some still under
construction.
2. Commercial agriculture and Industrial waste
Since more than 80% of the rural population of Nepal are engaged in agriculture this
sector has a massive possibility of biogas generation through agricultural byproducts and organic
waste from the industries. The most prominent ones among such industries are slaughterhouses,
industries with high organic waste generation, farms (poultry, pig farms, cattle, etc.). Several
communities with these kinds of industries in their premises can collectively work together for
the smooth function of the communal waste to energy system. Until now few small-scale
commercial agriculture industries have cooperated with the local government and provided waste.
43
2.7 Administrative division of Nepal
On September 20, 2015, the constitution assembly established a federal government
structure with the vision of establishing strong local governments (LGs), which are vested with
greater authority. After years of protracted negotiation between the major political parties and the
Constituent Assembly of Nepal, Nepalese embarked upon another chapter in their governance
history (Acharya, 2018). The country’s new constitution ‘Constitution of Nepal 2015’ was
approved as a new constitution establishing a federal government structure with the vision of
establishing strong local governments. These local governments were vested with greater
authority for decision making, project implementation and law enforcement in comparison to the
constitution of 1990.
Although the local government existed from past seven decades and included six previous
constitutions, the current constitution of 2015 restructuring the government has been stated as a
‘radical’ experiment (The Asia Foundation, 2017) .
The transition was promoted by the political parties as a unitary to a federal structure of
governance largely on the basis that ‘shared rule’ between the national, provincial and local levels
of government. This would also allow elected leaders by the locals to better address inequality
and discrimination to foster greater stability to the country (Chaudhary, 2018).
The new constitution divided Nepal into seven provinces and is further sub-divided into
293 urban municipalities and 460 rural municipalities as shown in the Table 3 below. The newly
established municipalities are individually vested with greater authority, larger in size, and the
bear responsibility to sustain a promise to the local people. From May to September 2017 local
level elections were held in three phases, and from November and December 2017 provisional
elections were undertaken. The new constitutional provisions and the newly elected leadership
have sworn a lot to the people for socio economic development of local community regardless of
44
gender, caste and color discrimination. The expectations of locals have been raised through
different campaign promises held before the election, and the people casted their vote expecting
to receive better service through the local government that resides ‘at their doorstep’ (Acharya,
2018).
Table 3. Administrative division of Nepal before and after 2015
(Adapted from: Diagnostic Study of Local Governance in Federal Nepal 2017)
Administrative
Division
Earlier Now
Development Region 5 -
Province - 7
Zone 14 14
District 75 77
Metropolitan City 1 6
Sub-Metropolitan City 12 11
Municipality 217 276
Village Development
Committees/Rural
Municipality
3157 460
45
Figure 5: Administrative Division of Nepal
2.8 General Information about Province 1
Province 1 is situated in the easternmost part of Nepal covering an area of 25,905 km2 with
the population of 4,766,900 people (City population, 2016). The province includes three
geographic divisions: Himalayan, Hilly and Terai in the north, middle and southern part of Nepal,
varying between an altitude of 70m to 8.848m. The province was formed by the new Constitution
of Nepal 2015 on 20th Sep 2015. This province includes the several major eastern towns including
Dharan, Itahari, Inurwa, Birtamod etc. and the one of the most industrial city of Nepal ‘Biratnagar’
as its head quarter. There are 14 districts in this province. Some of the most majestic mountains
of Nepal including Everest, Kanchenjunga and Ama Dablam is situated in this province. The
largest river of the nation Koshi flows from this province with high potential of hydropower’s
projects (Government of Nepal, 2017).
Compared to other provinces, Province 1 is implementing various new initiative for
utilizing clean energy than any other provinces in Nepal. Until 2022, 54 Hydropower sites with
46
total installed capacity of 43 MW has been identified by the feasibility study taken by APEC.
Province 1 has the highest number of hydropower sites selected by its potential compared to other
provinces. According to the financial analysis carried out by APEC, 71 solar PV sites with total
installed capacity of 71 MWp and 1 Wind power site with total installed capacity of 0.2 MW has
been identified in Province 1. Furthermore, the study has also identified and selected 11 biomass
sites with total installed capacity of 3.5 MW and 1 Wind power site with total installed capacity
of 0.2 MW through financial analysis. In terms of biogas developments, Province 1 has the
greatest number of community-based biogas plants installed. According to the statistics from
APEC, recently there are 121 community-based biogas projects among which some of are still in
process but are to be completely installed by 2022. Province 1 has proved to be a successful
example for diffusion of community-based biogas plants. The analysis and findings part of this
paper will discuss more about the reasons about for the successful adoption of community-based
biogas projects compared to other provinces in Nepal (AEPC, 2015)
2.9 Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in Nepal
According to the census of 2011, the urban population only covers about 20% and the
rural population covers nearly 80 percent of the total population of Nepal. As mentioned above
85% of the energy is provide by biomass. Firewood is the most common way heat energy for
cooking purpose consuming 73% of the residential energy. LPG is one of the common residential
energy in urban area and semi urban areas of Nepal. It was introduced as an alternate of firewood,
kerosene and other kinds of biomass energy. Due to different benefits the demand for LPG as
increased by 3.3 times as an alternate cooking fuel to kerosene and firewood in both the rural and
urban areas of Nepal. Among the total 1,140,662 users in 2016, only 10 percent are the consumers
from the rural areas. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), LPG is the second most
47
widely used cooking source in Nepal with 53.3% in urban and 8.7% in rural areas (National
Planning Commision , 2018).
Figure 5. Energy demand by fuel types.
(Retrieved from Electricity as a Cooking Means in Nepal—A Modelling Tool Approach,
2018)
3.9 0.6 7.7
151.6
5.8
22
17.5
Cooking Sector-2015
Electricity Kerosene LPG Wood Biogas Animal Wastes Vegetal Wastes
48
Figure 6. Trend of LPG consumption in Nepal
(Retrieved from Electricity as a Cooking Means in Nepal—A Modelling Tool Approach,
2018)
As shown in the figure 6. over a decade, the LPG demand in Nepal had spiked
exponentially the imports reached 258.299 tons in the fiscal year 2014/2015 (citation 6). Since
there are no petroleum sources or fossil fuels in Nepal, the totally amount of LPG in Nepal is
imported by India and distributed by the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) in the different parts
through its connection. However, complete dependency on imports of LPG from India has created
energy insecurity in Nepal. Energy security is one of a key issue between India and Nepal as the
socio-political issues in the supply-demand balance. Several negative economic and social
impacts such as irregular supply of fuels resulting in high economic costs to Nepal's economy has
been occurred due to total dependency on fuel import from India.
77594 81005 9356296837
115813141171
159286
181411
207038
232660
258299
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
300000
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Trend of LPG consumption
Fiscal Year
49
The Ministry of Finance (MOF) of Nepal has mentioned about the governments
preparation to introduce a direct subsidy regime on LPG with an objective to make the LPG
affordable to households in rural areas. However, the growing policies with subsidy burden to
endorse and spread modern sustainable and durable fuel transferring from traditional energy
sources such as biomass and high import of LPG are become more challenging for sustainability
and energy security. This project is still at the discussions stage in the parliament and ministry of
energy of Nepal. Due to the poverty and poor purchasing power, some of the households in the
rural area are connected to grid electricity, they do not own any electric appliances except for a
radio and television set in few households. Thus, affordability is the main criteria for depriving
the households from adoption LPG as a source for cooking.
In comparison to the LPG gas and firewood, people’s perception of LPG prices as a fuel
for cooking highlighted a common factor, the fuel was too expensive and solely dependent to the
imports making it less available during lockdown and strikes. Whereas, firewood is a freely
available commodity that can be easily collected from the nearby forest or farmland without any
hindrance. 70% of the responders claimed that due to the above reasons, they are not even thinking
of purchasing an LPG set. Although some households have LPG set, they do not consider it as a
primary cooking instead they use it very cautiously due to its price. Even though people are aware
about the benefits of using LPG to their health and environment number of rural households to
adopt LPG as the primary source of cooking energy is lower. LPG has been limited to be used
only during times of emergency as it lasts more than 3 months to one year in comparison to an
average of 6 weeks if used regularly as a primary cooking fuel (Shakya, 2019).
From the case studies and the discussion regarding energy adoption with the locals of
Province 1, we can argue that access and availability as well as economic condition plays a greater
role than culture. Furthermore, the analysis demonstrated that economic condition and fuel cost
50
constrain are the crucial factors for the choice of fuel and associated devices for energy use
adoption. The participants of the focus discussion complained about the high cost of the LPG.
The initial price for purchasing the stove set and the cylinder seems to NRs 9,000 equivalent to
74 USD. Furthermore, the cost of the stove set varies according to the brand of the stove. The cost
for refilling an LPG cylinder is around NRs 1,500 with additional cost for transportation around
NRs 200 equivalent 12USD and 1.6USD. The uncertain availability of the LPG gas due to
blockade, natural disaster and political protests is another impleading factor in the adoption of the
LPG.
Many locals stated that the nearest LPG available market was 5 to 10 km away from
their residence. The geographical condition also stated as an obstacle in the hilly and the
mountainous region for transporting the cylinders. Moreover, most of the rural areas are not
connected by asphalt roads and are compelled to transport manually same as they would carry the
firewood that are collected from the community forest. Due to a different LPG related fire
outbreak cases, local's perceptions regarding the danger of adopting LPG is another factor that
discourages the use of LPG. Many villagers safely that they have no confidence in safely
operating the stove and cylinder claiming themselves illiterate (Shakya, 2019). Although multiple
fuel use and transition trends seems to be being adopted even in the rural areas; locals are hesitant
to adopt LPG as the primary cooking fuels. Thus, adoption of the LPG gas seems to be difficult
until there is a change in the policy making and implementation of appropriate pricing measures
of LPG in Province 1.
51
2.10 Indicator Reduction on hunt for biomass and deforestation in Province 1
Development
regions
Total forest area 2011-
2018 (ha)
Total Forest loss 2011-
2018 (ha)
Loss in % 2018
Central 1123335 4704 0.419
Eastern 844850 1838 0.218
Far Western 811547 1941 0.239
Mid-Western 1165437 4990 0.428
Western 845127 2049 0.242
Table 4. Total forest area and loss in the development region of Nepal in 2011-2018
(Retrieved from Ministry of Forest and Environment, 2019)
As shown in the table 4 eastern development region of Nepal has the lowest forest loss
for biomass compared to the other development regions of Nepal. Province 1 lies in the
easternmost part of Nepal. Among the 16 districts of eastern development region, all the14
districts of Province 1 is in this region. To identify the reason behind the less deforestation in this
province, an interview was taken with the official of Alternative energy promotion center (AEPC)
of Nepal and thorough literature review of survey study regarding biogas system in rural Nepal
was done.
According to the official in AEPC, one of main reason for the lowest percent of loss in
the forest area for biomass was due to the adoption of clean energy sources in this province. The
urban population mostly uses the modern cooking fuel such as LPG and kerosene and mostly the
52
rural areas are dependent on the biomass from the forest for the cooking fuel. The progress report
of 2018 published by AEPC states that the countries one-million-ton emission has been reduced
due to the adoption of biogas plants in rural areas. After the realization of potentials for clean
energy as a solution for cooking fuel crisis and reduction of GHG emission from burning of the
traditional biomass the local government actively initiated the projects for utilizing the resources
for clean cooking fuel. He added that the province has the highest number of projects and plans
for exploiting the renewable energies such as solar, biogas, hydropower etc.
In a research carried out in rural village of Chitwan district among 150 houses that used
biogas plants, the response from the users were in totally in favor of biogas system. Many users
felt that the adoption of biogas has improved their living standards. Most respondents agreed that
biogas had saved time and works efficiently than the firewood. Women respondents expressed
satisfaction since biogas is quicker, easier and sanitary than the firewood. The users also favored
the smokeless and health benefits from since biogas reduces indoor pollution and it doesn’t need
constant blowing like firewood. The other risks while collecting biogas included wildlife attacks,
violence between the forest rangers. The overall findings from this research were significant and
impressive as it reflected the reduction of firewood consumption and deforestation in the study
area(ADB, 2017).
A biogas promoting organization; biogas sector programme states that a household
biogas can help is saving 1.25 trees each year. According to their data nearly 400,000 trees a year
is being saved from being chopped down due to the adoption of biogas as a fuel for cooking (BSP,
2009). The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) states that about three to
five tons of emission of GHG emission can be saved from by a single household biogas plant in
53
a year (UNFCCC, 2018). The utilization of their alternative sources has resulted in the reduction
of biomass for fuel from the forest area. The awareness programs for the adoption of biogas plants
from the local government and the stake holders have played the vital role in adoption of both
household and community-based biogas plants in this province. Official in AEPC mentioned that
acquiring biomass from the forest is not as easy since the collection of the firewood consumes a
lot of time and effort especially for the women and children and is highly risky. The farmers had
no other option but to use firewood from the forest due to their economic condition in the past.
However, after the implementation of biogas projects, those people who are getting benefited by
the biogas have no need spend their time chopping firewood’s from the forest.
From the study in Chitwan and interview, we can identify that the introduction of biogas
as a clean renewable energy source for cooking purposes has resulted in less demand of firewood
in Nepal (Rana, Subedi, & Thapa, 2015). The adoption of biogas has significantly contributed in
protecting the forest and ecosystem. Official in AEPC added, since Province 1 has the highest
number of community-based biogas plants which is the one of the major reasons for the less
deforestation. Furthermore, the new initiatives taken by the local government for adopting
alternative renewable energy is has significantly contributed in preserving the forest area of that
province (AEPC, 2015).
3. Literature Review
3.1 Introduction
This chapter presents the literature review on existing biogas technology in Nepal. The
first section of this chapter reviews the advantages and disadvantages of biogas technology in
54
context of Nepal. The second sections review the different advantages of community-based biogas
technology in Nepal and its significance over the existing household biogas plants of Nepal.
3.1.1 Advantages and Disadvantages of Biogas Technology
1.Implication on Energy
Energy plays a vital role in the economic development of the country as well as in the
improvement of quality of people’s life. Economic prosperity and the approach to alleviate
poverty of every society is correlated with the access to energy consumption. Huge masses of
population in developing countries are still trapped under poverty due to lack of access to
energy. The economy of any country depends on the availability of energy and its consumption
pattern. The rate of energy consumption increases with the increment in per capita income. At the
same time this increasing demand will lead towards the alternative and commercial energy
sources. However, the nominal penetration and high cost of commercial energy sources will make
people dependent on the traditional energy especially in the developing countries like Nepal (Rijal,
1999). Fuelwood is the major source among the biofuels in Nepal which comprises 78% of the
total energy consumption of the country ( (Kathmandu, N., 2010).
The impact of this consumption pattern has increased the pressure on the forest
resources of the country. With the consideration of the depleting forest resources and the time
consumed for its collection, there is a transition on the biomass fuel sources i.e. shift towards the
agricultural residues and animal dung as a source of biomass. However, societies have
experienced the disadvantages of the use of these sources too. On one hand they emit a huge
amount of the greenhouse gas and on the other hand it causes the shortage of fertilizers when it's
used as fuel. This will lead to the decrease in agricultural productivity ( (Smith K. A.,
55
1983)). Furthermore, the traditional biomass has socio-economic and health related impacts
which are mainly faced by the women and poor people. Therefore, many efforts have been made
to substitute the traditional biomass energy into alternative forms which are cleaner and greener.
Biogas is one of the best options to get rid of this problem and is feasible in terms of economy,
environment and social structure of the rural area (CMS, 1996)
2. Gas Production and Consumption
I) Gas Production
According to the studies conducted by BSP-N, one kg of dung can produce 40 liters of
biogas during summer and 60-80% of gas during winter under the optimum condition. The
production depends upon the site, size of dome and the raw materials like straw, charcoal etc.
II) Gas Consumption
Two different scenarios for calculating daily biogas consumption rate on a biogas stove
are discussed here. Firstly, BSP study result shows, the most commonly used biogas stove
consumes approximately 400 liters of gas/hour when used at its full capacity. Similarly, biogas
during lighting consumes between 150-200 liter/hour of biogas (BSP, 2002).Secondly, the study
carried out by Dev Part (2001) shows, the biogas stove can consume maximum 443 liter/hour and
biogas during lighting consumes 166 liter/hour which is similar to the first result by BSP.
III)Replacement Values of Biogas
The introduction of biogas technology which is environmentally friendly and cheaper
has the potential to replace the traditional or commonly used biomass and fossil fuels. This kind
of technology can contribute to the environment as well as boost up the national and household
economy. The gas required to cook (person/day) is o.2 to o.3 m3 and to light a single lamp is 0.1
to 0.15m3. One kg of cow dung can produce 0.023 to 0.04m3 of biogas.
56
3. Merits of Biogas
Biogas is the potential future energy source for the rural areas where the forest resources
for biomass and fossil fuels is being heavily used to cater the energy demands. Therefore, biogas
can replace the traditional and commercial source of energy and contribute to socio economic
development and environmental protection. However, this chapter only elaborates the benefits of
biogas as a potential source of future energy.
I) Increase in Cooking Efficiency
Biogas is the potential future energy source for the rural areas where the forest resources
for biomass and fossil fuels is being heavily used to cater the energy demands. Therefore, biogas
can replace the traditional and commercial source of energy and contribute to socio economic
development and environmental protection. However, this chapter only elaborates the benefits of
biogas as a potential source of future energy.
II) Replacement of Firewood
The substitution of fuelwood consumption by biogas stoves has many benefits. Firstly, it
provides financial benefits to the households by saving the money which is being used to buy the
fuelwood. Similarly, it also saves the time and effort required to collect the fuelwood from the
forest. Secondly, it helps to prevent the prevailing deforestation rate which contributes to
increase the carbon sink at the national and global level. However, it needs to be noted that if the
fuelwood is used in a sustainable manner there is a considerable difference in the emission of
GHGs. Even though the fuelwood is used in a sustainable basis, the traditional mud stoves which
are thermally inefficient results in product of incomplete combustion (PICs) which has the further
57
contribution in GHGs emissions. Therefore, the replacement of fuelwood by biogas can avert this
phenomenon (Smith V. R., 1990).
III)Substitution of Agricultural Residue as Fuel
Some of the households in rural Nepal are not able to access other fuels due to economic
compulsions. Therefore, they are forced to use the agricultural residues as a fuel. However, these
traditional fuels have been replaced successfully by the advent of biogas plants which are more
environmentally friendly.
IV) Availability of Bio-slurry
There are still many households which have been using dung cake as a fuel for cooking.
Substituting it with the biogas is environmentally friendly and the digested slurry formed during
the process of biogas formation can be used as an organic fertilizer that can enhance the crop
yields.
V) Saving of Kerosene
Reduction in the use of kerosene can have the twofold benefits. Firstly, it is a costly fuel
so substitution by biogas can save a huge amount of money for a long time. Similarly, it also
contributes in the reduction of kerosene imports, thus preventing the foreign exchange outflows.
Secondly, kerosene being one of the high products of incomplete combustion (PICs) emitting
fuels, reduction in its use can contribute to greenhouse commitment 136.
VI) Economic Gains
Locally available raw materials can be used to produce the biogas which is cheaper than
the commercial and traditional fuels. The economic analysis of BSP I and II shows an estimated
58
EIRR 11% benefits when kerosene and fuelwood savings are accounted. When the saved labor
benefits are added, EIRR accounts for 15% and when the value of saved nutrients by BSP is added
EIRR rises to 32%. Similarly, the health benefits from smoke reduction (USD
6.67/household/year) increases EIRR to 36% and reduced carbon increases EIRR to 50% (Mendis,
1999)
VII) Implication on Environment
The world has been experiencing new environmental issues that never happened in the
past both in terms of complexity and physical extent. The impacts caused by global warming and
climate change has threatened human existence due to increased levels of carbon emission into
the atmosphere. Since the dawn of the industrial revolution, our agricultural and industrial
practices have been changed which has altered the environment. Burning of fossil fuels and
deforestation to cater the needs of growing population has altered the chemical composition of
the atmosphere by building up GHGs like co2, CFCs, CH4 and NO. The increasing concentration
of these gases have raised the threat. Since the late 19th century the average global surface
temperature has increased by 0.5-1-degree Fahrenheit. All the warmest years of the 20th century
occurred in the last 15 years and it is estimated that the doubling of co2 concentration can lead to
the increase in temperature by 2.5-4.5-degree Fahrenheit (Smith V. R., 1990).Therefore, global
warming is the biggest threat for the future of the world if no serious measures to mitigate GHGs
emission is taken.
VIII) Carbon Emission Reduction by Biogas use
Substituting commercial fuels like LPG gas, kerosene and traditional fuel like agricultural
residue, fuelwood, dung etc. with biogas can significantly reduce the carbon emissions in the
59
atmosphere. Rather than at the household level, reduction from nationwide perspective can be
more effective. Because of the incomplete combustion in traditional fuels, it emits a high
proportion of GHGs into the atmosphere. Study done by Smith et al (2000) shows, 418 grams of
Carbon (g-C) can be released when a kilogram of wood is burned. Similarly, burning a kilogram
of rice straw in a traditional mud stove can generate 381-gram carbon (g-C), a kilogram of dung
burned can generate 334-gram carbon (g-C) and a kilogram of kerosene can produce 843-gram
carbon (g-C) equivalent to Carbon emission.
IX) Clean Development Mechanism
The impacts of climate change have grown the concern towards policy initiatives,
research and development of innovative programmed in the world. One of the concerns is to
replace the use of fossil fuels and biomass with alternative energy sources that has a lower impact
on climate change. Biogas is one of the best options as an alternative energy source especially in
the rural communities and has extremely low global warming commitment (Smith K. A., 1983).
One of the policies that contributes to lowering the GHGs and encourages alternative energy
sources is Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Based on the Kyoto protocol, developed
countries can achieve their target to reduce the carbon emission by financing CDM and carbon
credit systems. At the same time, it is an initiative for sustainable development in developing
countries. For a developing country like Nepal, biogas is one of the best options to reduce the
carbon emission where more than 80 percent of the population depends on agriculture (CMS ,
2007). Initially, emission reduction estimation was 7.40 tons of GHGs per biogas system/year
which was limited only with 4.99 tons of GHGs per biogas system/year. This was due to the
limitation of Small-Scale Methodology of CDM. Based on the quantitative databases of Carbon
Emission Reduction (CER) analysis, CSM funds through big projects can be claimed through the
60
Community development plan of CDM and environmental management plan. These are based on
the BSP database, quality assurance and monitoring system, annual biogas users survey etc. which
now works under CDM project.
The first project that contributed to the economy of Nepal through carbon trading is the
biogas. It has proved to be sustainable and successful in terms of economic gain, energy savings,
emission reduction and environmental pollution. Executive board of CDM in November 2005
scrapped the existing methodology on Biogas CDM project that switched non-renewable biomass
to biogas with two main reasons. First is to avoid deforestation and save non-sustainable firewood.
Second is to avoid the possibility of project leakage which is difficult to monitor. Despite this
problem, the executive board of CDM allowed to register two CDM projects on BSP on December
27, 2005. On March 3, 2006 final negotiation with the World Bank took place on carbon trading
with the trading rate of USD 7 per ton of carbon for seven years that can generate annual revenue
of USD 677,500. Then after, on April 26, 2006 agreement to implement CDM project between
BSP-Nepal and AEPC was signed under BSP.
3.1.2 Health and sanitation due to biogas
Health and sanitation are one of the important aspects of life. Indoor air pollution caused by
kerosene and fuel wood is one of the major causes of respiratory problems in rural Nepal. Another
major health related problem is the contamination of underground water caused by fecal waste
which carries various pathogenic germs and leads to waterborne diseases. Therefore, biogas
production helps to reduce waterborne and respiratory diseases since it does not emit smoke and
uses the human and animal waste to produce gas. Survey carried out by Scott Wilson Nepal Pvt.
Ltd in 2011/2012 shows the following result: -
61
• 72% of the respondents answered that indoor air pollution has reduced significantly after
they started using biogas. This shows the improvement in the health condition due to the
biogas over fuel wood burning.
• Biogas has been a motivation to build toilets for the people. Before the biogas installation
19% in Hills, 29% in remote hills and 37%in T0erai had a toilet. However, after the biogas
installation the number rose to 57% in remote hills and 81% in hills.
• There was a significant reduction in health problems like respiratory diseases, eye
infection, cough and fire related injury among the respondents who used biogas.
3.1.3 Fertilizer and feed from bio-slurry
The fermented slurry is called bio-slurry which is a by-product of anaerobic
fermentation inside the biogas digester. This is an excellent organic fertilizer that increases the
food productivity and enhances the fertility of soil for a long time. Due to its multiple advantages
on food production, sometimes it outweighs the benefits of biogas. Bio-slurry is not yet fully
emphasized in Nepal but it's getting attention among farmers. Therefore, it is considered as
“environmentally friendly” technology. Different studies have shown that the bio-slurry can also
be used together with chemical fertilizers at different regions for cereals and vegetables
production. Two years of experiments done using bio-slurry in baby corn and Napier grass
production showed the higher yield and increased nutritional value compared to the use of
chemical fertilizer.
The digested bio-slurry is proved to be high quality rich in organic manure that plays a
vital role in cat-ion exchange capacity (CEC) in plants that improves soil aggregation, stabilize
the humidity, increase water holding capacity and prevent nutrition leach. Bio-slurry is more
nutritious compared to Farmyard Manure (FYM), since the nitrogen is lost by volatilization due
62
to exposure to sunlight and heat. Even bio-slurry is richer in micronutrients than the major plant
nutrients (NPK) fertilizer that is vital for plant growth. Moreover, it does not have a bad smell,
harmful parasites and unnecessary weed seeds contained in raw state are destroyed during the
fermentation process.
The evaluation over the advantages of biogas plants is incomplete if it only considers
the economic, social, technical and environmental sectors. Internal Rate of Return (IRR) should
also be calculated for its complete evaluation. Its uses have shown the better quality of crop
residues and fodder that can also be used for different purposes. In addition, it also improves the
tolerance ability to diseases such as late blight, potato wilt, cauliflower mosaic etc. and thus it
works as a bio pesticide. The combination of its proper ratio with chemical pesticides can control
red spiders and aphids in wheat, cotton and vegetables (Shen, 1985).Bio-slurry acts as an effective
seed coating medium and promotes the metabolism in seedlings which leads to faster germination
and resistance to diseases (Lakshmanan, 1993).It can also be used to grow vegetables rich in
vitamin B12 and Vermiculture.
The study conducted at Chiang Mai University Farm by Sanmaneechai et al (1992)
showed that the application of bio slurry alone or mixed with chemical fertilizers can increase the
phosphorus and organic matter contents in the soil. An experiment was done in rice
production using the mixed bio-slurry and chemical fertilizer at the ratio of 50:50 which produced
3, 881 kg/ha (24.4% higher) and the same amount of chemical fertilizer was used in another plot
which only increased the rice productivity by 1,080 kh/ha. Similarly, the same amount of pure
bio-slurry was used in another plot which gave 79% higher yield.
63
3.1.4 Crop production utilizing the bio-slurry
Bio-slurry has many advantages in crop production. It is rich with nutrients, enzymes and
hormones that favors plant growth which enhances the yield thus increasing the productivity and
income. On the other hand, it replaces the chemical fertilizers which has been reducing the fertility
of soil and has numerous environmental impacts. Therefore, it does not only provide economic
benefits on agricultural sectors instead it also has socio-economic and environmental benefits too.
In countries like China where biogas technology is well developed, agricultural productivity is
remarkably high. In Nepal also it is getting popular among farmers. However, there are still some
farmers who think the digested slurry has lost its fertilizer value during the digestion process.
3.1.5 Sustainability and biogas in Nepal
The increasing demand of fossil fuels, high import cost, energy insecurity and
population explosion signaled to find new energy solutions. Biogas is one of the promising
renewable energies since it uses the biological resources. Biogas is being used for lightening,
pumping and cooking at an individual level and at industrial level its being utilized to generate
electricity and heat, power generation and fuel. Therefore, biogas technology can be the
sustainable energy source for both households and industries. Besides, biogas has advantages on
environmental problems like deforestation, soil degradation, desertification, indoor air pollution
and GHG emission. Moreover, it also helps to resolve social/gender issues where women are
mostly occupied at household level in Nepal. According to Daly triangle and the idea of
sustainable development is combination of three dimensions; social, economy and environment
(Palme and Tillman 2009). Since biogas has positive impacts on all the three dimensions of
sustainable development in Nepal, it is one of the most suitable clean energy sources for Nepal
(AEPC, 1993).
64
3.2 Various Benefits of community Biogas Plants over household plants in Nepal
Table 5. Various Benefits of community Biogas Plants over household plants in Nepal
(Retrieved from (Finlay & Bulmer, 2013))
1. Number of users:
In term of users of community-based plants unlike household plants, it can be used by group
of households with a strong financial commitment to the project. Most of the rural agriculture are
small scale and not business oriented, those households are not able to input the adequate amount
in the digester of household biogas plant due to less amount of agricultural residue and organic
waste from the household. According to survey done with the farmers possessing household plants
by BSP, many of the plants have failed to operate due to less amount of feedstock. Some of the
farmers expressed their regrets for installing household plants with the subsidize and long-term
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loans as the plant did not meet their expectation of providing enough gas for cooking (BSP,
2009).However, in case of community-based plants, local farmers generating less amount of
organic wastes can meet the feed requirements by combining with others. During the field visit
of community-based biogas plants, most of the interviewee expressed that since the organic waste
and public toilets are connected to the plants, they have less sanitation problems and more amount
of gas than the household users.
2. Investment of capital and feedstock
Even though community-based plants are costly than the household plants, the government
and other organizations are providing better subsidize for the community plants compared to the
household plants. Even though the locals may not be able to contribute much in the capital, but
they come together and make efforts during the installation of the plants. Most of the labor for
carrying heavy instruments, digging pits for the digester are done by the locals themselves without
any charges. Government also provides short term loan for covering the amount other than the
subsidizes. The locals divide the part of the loan and are more responsible and committed for the
successful operation of the plant. In case of the household the individual investments are more
since there is less subsidy provided and installation efforts are done individually too. In
community-based plants the feedstock is collected from the households so even if the feed is less
from one household, it can be fulfilled by the household generating more waste. Whereas the
feedstock in the household plant depends upon the individual household.
3. Usage
I) Cooking and lightening
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Both community-based biogas plants and the household plants can provide gas for
cooking and lighting. Biogas system has been traditionally used for both purposes in Nepal. As
per the reports from the AEPC, community-based biogas has been providing adequate amount of
gas compared to the household system. Most of the individual household plants do not meet the
feedstock requirement however the combine feedstock from the households in the community-
based plants. There have been several issues recorded regarding the equal access of gas and
distance of the household for the pasts. To tackle such issues the locals and management
committee come together and make suitable decision for avoiding conflicts. The biogas
companies are highly active to maintenance of the plant. Different programs have been conducted
for training the locals about the basic repair of the stoves and lights. These efforts have made
community-based plants to be more efficient than the household plants.
II) Duel-fuel engine for community irrigation
Since, 80% of the people are engaged in agriculture, proper supply of water to the field
is very crucial for better harvest. Due to the geographical condition especially in the hilly and the
mountainous region, farmers struggle to provide water to the crops in the dry season. A
mechanical pump that can lift water from one level to another with a dual-fuel engine, using
biogas as a fuel is considered to one of the practical solutions for irrigation in Nepal. Expect in
monsoon climate maybe water sources dry up depriving the farmers from irrigation. Those places
can be benefitted by the pump-set including both the engines and the pump that can transferred
to the crops from the river or irrigational canals using biogas. mechanical pump can also be used
to transfer the tube well or underground water in places with no rivers and canals. Adequate
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amount of gas is required for the operation of such engines which can be provided by community-
based plants rather than household plants.
III) Milling in a community
The rural community of Nepal still uses traditional methods of milling of harvest grains.
In urban areas, most of the mill engines are operated by kerosene or diesel and electricity which
are slow running. All these fuels are imported from India and are not self-sustaining in Nepal.
Some of the rural parts have adopted water mills using hydropower as fuel, which are not feasible
for all the regions of Nepal. For better milling facilities, several community-based biogas plants
have been installed in different parts of Nepal that uses the biogas as fuel to operate grain milling
equipment’s. The mills using biogas dual-fuel engine are being used in small scale milling
equipment’s are said to be more efficient than other fuels. Mostly three types of mill are used in
Nepal; rice huller, oil expelling and flour mill. Generally used small scale machines uses 7 or 8
horsepower duel-fuel engine in rural areas. Such machines are used for 3 to 4 hours per day with
a 15m3 and 6 hours with a 90m3 community biogas plant. With the community-biogas plant
installed the farmers will no longer have to use the traditional way or the costly modern fuel for
running a mill. In Butwal, 7 horsepower machine that uses biogas from the community plant has
been installed in 2013. According to the operator, 150 kg of rice and 90kg of flour can be hulled
from the mill. The consumers and the investors seem to be satisfied and are making enough profits
for paying the loan that was taken for the equipment’s and installation. Due to the success of this
system, more similar system is being installed and planned in different parts of Nepal. Only an
operator is required for the inspection and the maintenance of the equipment’s full time. The
installing companies either train locals or post their worker for operating the mill.
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4) Secondary functions
I) Adding Latrines to Community-based Biogas Plants
Unmanaged latrines and sewage pipes are major reasons for the contamination of water
resources affecting the environment and creating health related issue in rural Nepal. One of the
secondary benefits of the community-based biogas plants is the household and public latrines can
be added which will contribute in improving the environment sanitation.
Recently, one community-based biogas plant has been constructed with 18 latrines for an urban
community in Nepal. There were different complications during the initial stages regarding the
defecting habit, maintenance and cleanliness which later was discussed and solved among the
locals. They people were satisfied by the improvement of the sanitation and power generation
from the plant. Due to proper awareness programs and promotion of biogas plants connected with
latrines, the system has been more acceptable to the rural people. Furthermore, new projects have
been implemented in different rural areas for the construction of latrines connect plants (AEPC,
2015).Only one individual toilet can be connected to the biogas plant in case of household plants.
Most of the plants design in household plants have open digester which is not suitable to add
latrines that can cause air pollution.
II) Organic waste into fertilizer
Bio-slurry refers to the sludge that comes out after fermentation of residue in the digester
of a biogas plant. It is a highly fertile liquid manure that is composed Phosphorus (P), Nitrogen
(N), Potassium (K) and 93% water. All these nutrients present in the bio-slurry makes it a potent
organic fertilizer which is proven to be better than chemical fertilizer for the growth of crops. Not
only nutrients but also many researches have proven that bio-slurry can be used as pesticides,
enhances soil quality and reduce the growth of weed by 50% (LIU, 2009).One of the researches
done in Kapilvastu district of Nepal regarding the effectiveness of bio-slurry as a fertilizer has
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concluded that the three was increase in the production of the crops and decrease in the use of
chemical fertilization. As shown in the figure 1 (figure between the relationship between
Agriculture and biogas) the relation between the agriculture and biogas is a n indicator of “eco-
friendly” nature of the technology (citation needed). Many farmers engaged in animal husbandry
in Nepal, use the bio-slurry as feed for far animals like fish, pig, etc. Another study done by
Timsina in 2008 also comprises of benefits after the installation of biogas. The study reflects the
increase in production of agricultural products after the application of bio-slurry and decrease in
the use of chemical fertilizer. The research argues how the bio-slurry improved the fertility of the
soil, stabilized the humid and enriched the soil with microorganisms that prevents from diseases
(Sommer, 1995).Until now there has not been any claims of side effects and traces of hazardous
materials in bio-slurry.
Bio-slurry can be obtained from both household and community-based biogas plants.
Only one individual who can afford household plant can be benefitted with bio-slurry obtained
from a household plant and amount depending on the feedstock. Whereas in case of community-
based plants, many locals regardless of their economic condition can be benefitted from the
community-based biogas plant. Since large number of farmers in Nepal fall under the line of
poverty, not many can afford the household plants even with the subsidies provided by
government and NGO`s. Many farmers use agricultural residue directly to the crops which is less
efficient and creates other problems such as GHG emission from the dung. Community-biogas
plant can utilize the collective feedstock from different households and generate biogas as well as
bio-slurry. Instead of using the expensive chemical insecticides and pesticides farmers can switch
to the highly fertile liquid manure; bio-slurry. For the existing community-based plants in Nepal,
the local farmers collaborating with the local government has come up harmonious system of
dividing the bio-slurry according to the need of the farmer to avoid any conflicts (AEPC, 2015).
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4. Methodology
4.1 Introduction
This chapter outlines the research methodology to undertaking this research; aiming to
identify the determinants of successful adoption of community-based plants in Province 1 and
evaluate the condition of existing community-based biogas plants in the research area. This
research is an empirical study based on two research questions. It uses both quantitative and
qualitative methods to analyze the determinants of diffusion of community-based biogas plant is
Province 1 and identify advantages of community-based biogas plants over the household biogas
plants in Nepal. In this chapter, research strategy, data collection, framework for data analysis,
potential problems are discussed.
4.2 Research strategy
The main aim of this research is to identify the diffusion of community-based biogas
plant in Nepal and analyze the potential determinants for the successful adoption in the Province
1 of Nepal. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed in this research. A
quantitative approach was required for the empirical data analysis for which AEPC situated in
Kathmandu was visited in Sep 2019.
The biogas support team of AEPC is responsible for the promotion of innovative clean
energy technologies including biogas projects. Therefore, to identify the exact number of both
household and community-based biogas plants, ongoing projects in Nepal, the biogas project team
of AEPC were consulted. After the quantitative data were acquired, the variable growth rate
overtime is calculated to examine the growth rate of community-based biogas plants all over the
country. Similarly, after the number of community-based biogas plants in different provinces were
identified and the province with significant number (Province 1) of community-based plants was
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chosen for analyzing the determinates for successful adoption. For the further analysis of the
determinants different supplementary data regarding the energy situation to support the arguments
were required. To acquire the overall energy situation and agriculture related data, the yearly
reports of the Ministry of energy (MOE) and Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development
(MOALD) of Nepal were reviewed thoroughly.
The qualitative was required mostly for data analysis which was mainly based in the
key informant interview with the official of the biogas support team of AEPC and survey data
from the field visit in existing community-based biogas plant. The survey and initial interview
were carried out on September 2019 in 6 community-based plants and the head office of the AEPC
in Kathmandu. The interview questionaries’ for officials in AEPC were focused on the diffusion
pattern of the community-based plants, new initiatives and policies during the visit.1
Most of the peer reviewed journals and reports in the literature review section was obtained from
the online databases; research gate and science direct. After the data collection the determinants
of the successful diffusion in Province 1 were analyzed and a hypothesis was built. To check if
those evidence and the hypothesis were correct, an online interview with biogas project program
manager of AECP was taken. Lots of feedback regarding the hypothesis were received which
were again rectified and consulted again through email.
For identifying the present status of community-based biogas plants in Kathmandu,
extensive set of questionnaires were prepared to observe and understand the domestic biogas plant
operation, usage and associated problems, and investigate with the owners. This research also
1 The interview was taken in person to person manner in Nepalese language. Recording was
not allowed and only 30 minutes were given. Therefore, the memo taken during the
interview was translated and used in this research paper by the author. For further
consultation of the findings the officials were contacted via mail. The questions have been
added in the appendix section.
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includes contextual background, a technical introduction to biogas technology and its most
relevant applications, its development in Nepal, and examples from existing community plants.
Those sections are also approached using the qualitative method. The findings in the analysis
section of this research are discussed in relation to the basic facts, literature. Furthermore,
determinants for the successful adoption in Province 1 have been analyzed in order to formulate
conclusions and make recommendations.
A total of six case studies were undertaken during the preliminary study. The operators were
approached during their working hours (9am-5pm) and interviewed with their consent. They were
also the locals to the community and after knowing the motive of the survey all of the operators
were very cooperative. After the data collection was made, an analysis was performed regarding
the existing community-based biogas plants around Kathmandu district. Since the research
question changed in course of time, the data were not included in the analysis and findings part
of this research. Instead the data has been added in the appendix section of this research.
4.3 Data Collection
The data collection for this research was done through a field visit to the study area, AEPC
head office in Kathmandu during 2019 Sep and review of the literatures related to this research.
The primary data regarding the biogas plants were mostly obtained by a survey in the study area,
in-dept interviews with officials of the biogas support team of AEPC and social media monitoring
of articles published by organizations working for renewable energy in Nepal. The secondary data
for this research were mostly obtained from the journal articles, government reports, statistics
from the ministry of energy (MoE) and energy assessment reports from Asian Development Bank
(ADB). Most of the data regarding the energy situation and agriculture status of Province 1 was
collected from village development committee of Province 1. After a hypothesis was made
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regarding the determinants of successful adoption of community-based biogas plant in Province
1, official of biogas support team of AEPC was consulted for verification. The official
recommended to review the data from the ministry of agriculture and livestock development
(MOALD) of Nepal for more evidences to support my hypothesis. After a thorough review of the
reports and the data received from them, the essential figures to support the hypothesis in the
analysis and findings part of this research were added.
The survey regarding status of existing plants with the operators (8 persons) was conducted
in Kathmandu district, Nepal during Sep 2019. A total of six community-based plants were
selected as case studies that are listed below:
➢ At the community level: Number of Respondents
–Community Biogas Plant, Shrikhandapur 2
–Sunga Wastewater Treatment, Thimi 1
➢ In institutions:
–Bir hospital, Kathmandu 2
–Ama Ghar, Godawari 1
–University Science Department, Kirtipur 1
–Mirabel Hotel, Dhulikhel 1
A questionnaire and assessment guidelines were prepared and used with key actors at each of the
biogas plants. The main aspects taken into consideration were:
– Specific Technical details: model, size, date of constructions
– Operational details: feeding materials for the digester and quantities
– Functional status of the plant: working or not, and if not, why?
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– Officials responsible for maintenance: whom, when and how?
– Users' response regarding the biogas technology
– Users' response regarding the impact on their lives and economic, environmental
and social impacts after the adoption of biogas plant.
4.4 Selection of Participants
A purposive sampling was used in this research to select the potential participants for
the key informant interviews regarding the determinants of the successful adoption of community-
based biogas plant. A purposive sampling is a non-probability sampling technique used to serve
a specific purpose (Neuman & W.L., 2006). In this method, participants are deliberately sought
according to the information required by the study. The sampling changed over the course of time
after few changes in the research question and the analysis. The following table describes the
sampling technique used in this research.
Categories of Respondent Sampling Technique Data Collection Technique
Operators of Community-
based Biogas plant in
Kathmandu
Circular systematic sampling Interview, informal
discussion, observation
Key Informants
(officials of AEPC and other
government bodies )
Purposive Sampling Interview, Informal
discussion, review of official
reports
Table 6. Sampling and data collection technique
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4.5 Framework for data analysis
An effective data analysis process comprises of managing the raw data, thoroughly
coding and entering the data, engaging in the process of quantitative and qualitative analysis,
interpreting meaning, and portraying relevant and logical conclusion, at the same time keeping a
focus on the research questions, aim and objectives (O'Leary, 2013). In this research, both
qualitative and quantitative methods were used to analyze the data collected from the interview
and the survey. After the acquiring the data, calculation of variable growth rate overtime to
examine the growth rate of community-based biogas plants till date. The survey answers were
coded numerically and entered systematically into MS Excel. Similarly, the timeline for less
adoption of these plants was identified by examining the years where the growth rate reduced.
The quantitative data analysis in this research, involved analysis of adoption of community-based
biogas plants in Province 1. To support the hypothesis of this research data from various reports
from the government bodies were collected. After the suitable raw evidences were obtained, only
the significant data that represented the findings of the Province 1 were entered in MS excel and
included in this research as tables and figures. The conclusion of the findings was drawn after
thorough analysis of those raw data.
4.6 Limitation and potential Problems
Since the research is about the community-based biogas plants in Nepal but was being
conducted in Japan, there were acquiring data from the contacting through mail was very
challenging. Nepal being a developing country has still a lot to work for filling the gap of digital
divide between the developed nations. Even the government bodies lack updated online databases
and reports in the internet. Since there were only few data available in the internet, the updated
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data were only available if directly visited to the government offices. Some of the data were only
paper based which had to be typed manually and analyzed. Another obstruction was
uncooperative officials who didn’t pay attention during the interviews since it was mostly
volunteering. Some higher up officials rejected to be interviewed for unknown reasons and
referred other junior staffs for consultation. When those officials were requested for some
supplementary data through mails, the replies were received after weeks and sometimes no
response was received.
For the survey regarding the status of community-based biogas plants, many of the
community biogas plants in Nepal are in remote rural areas and scattered around the country.
Therefore, the study area was necessary to limit the study to the Kathmandu valley. Another
limitation during the survey of those biogas plants was the fact that they were visited once and
for a limited time only. The major limitation regarding the community-based plants were, there
have been many studies of household scale biogas plants in Nepal, but only a few of community
and institutional biogas plants were studied. Therefore, the data on community and institutional
biogas plants is very limited in Nepal. Although AEPC is responsible for monitoring community
and institutional biogas plants in Nepal, they have limited number of updates regarding the
existing plants.
5. Discussion
5.1 Determinants of successful1 adoption of community-based biogas plants in Province 1.
This section of this study elaborates the determinants of successful adoption of
community-based biogas plants in Province 1, the easternmost part of Nepal. The identification
the official of AEPC. The figures and tables used are collected from various reports and direct
77
inquiry with the government bodies of Nepal. The determinants are supported by the figures and
tables included among the respective topics.
5.1.1 Technology Leapfrogging of biogas development in Nepal
The term technology leapfrogging refers to “the implementation of a new and up-to-
date technology in an application area in which at least the previous version of that technology
has not been deployed” (Davison, Vogel, Haris, & Jones, 2000). In today's era, Information
technology plays a vital role in the socio-economic development of a country. However, many
specialists argue that late commers are better placed than more developed countries in terms of
taking advantage of updated technology. Furthermore, these developing nations are not hindered
by the investments in the experimental models or obsolete technology which should be eventually
abandoned. In a developed nation, frequent release of newer and upgraded version replace the
older versions in short period of time whereas in developing countries older version of the same
technology prevails. Therefore, the potential for technology leapfrogging over the successive
generations of technology to the latest version is higher.
In the same way, the recent diffusion of community-based biogas plants in Nepal is one
of an example of technology leapfrogging in developing countries. According to the official of
APEC technology leapfrogging is crucial factor for not only the diffusion of community-based
bio plants but also the adoption of self-sustaining energy sources especially in Province 1. The
adoption of biogas adoption was quite late compared to the neighboring countries like India where
the experiment began since 1930`s. Although the initiative for the biogas program was introduced
and included in the government program around mid-70`s, the beginning of biogas experiments
dates back in 1956 in Nepal. An institutional biogas was the first module biogas system introduced
by a schoolteacher (late Father B R Saubolle) at St. Xavier’s School, Godavari in Kathmandu
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(AEPC, 1993). The biogas system was constructed out of a reused 200-liter oil drum with a
metallic gas holder on the top. Since, it was an institutional system not many individuals were
involved and interested until the world energy crisis in 1973 triggered a global interest in the
renewable energy sector such as biogas technology (AEPC, 2015).
For the promotion of biogas system in Nepal, Agricultural Development Bank of Nepal
(ADB/N) had played an active role by distrusting loans to the individuals who were interested to
adopt domestic biogas system. There are several important factors than just financial aid or
installation for the full utilization of newly adopted technology. One of the most crucial
requirements is the application of the implied knowledge regarding the management of the
technology and its applications among the consumers. Moreover, if the knowledge and
experiences are lacking this may result in depriving the successful adoption in the new generation.
For preventing such issues, the bank also initiated different promotional activities such as
information dissemination through awareness programs and training campaigns besides lending
loans.
In the same way, other agencies such as Balaju Yantra Shala (BYS) and Agricultural
Tool Factory (ATF) and Development and Consulting Services (DCS) of the United Mission to
Nepal (UMN) etc. were the pioneering agencies to successfully implement the biogas programs
in Nepal. In 1992 July the phase I of Biogas Support Programme (BSP I) was launched with an
objective of constructing 7000 domestic plants. The funding for this programme was provided by
the Directorate General for International Cooperation of the Netherlands (DGIS) through the
Netherlands Development Organization-Nepal (SNV/N) and the Government of Nepal (GoN)
(citation). During the BSP I phase a total of 6824 plants were installed by 1994. With the
significant success of Phase I, BSP II was initiated with the target of 13000 plants to be completed
by 1997. Reports from BSP Nepal suggests that the actual total number of the installation
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exceeded the targeted numbers (BSB-Nepal, 2010). All the targeted plants were floating drum
type domestic plants that was designed by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) of
India. Due to technology leapfrogging, Nepal did not have to go through the developing stages of
the biogas system instead a successful design used in India was adopted through foreign
investments and government initiatives. Which provided better energy source for the locals and
reduced the environmental impacts from the use of traditional biomass (AEPC, 2015).
5.1.2 Technology leapfrogging of the community-based biogas plants
As mentioned in the adoption of biogas technology itself was later then other developing
countries. In the same way the community-based plants were adopted long time after the BSP
phases for the domestic biogas plants. The large biogas program was included in the government
subsidy policy and delivery mechanism only after the implementation of National Rural and
Renewable Energy Program (NRREP) in 2012. Hence, the documented construction of Large
biogas happened only after that. With some ground works in 2012 and 2013, the first batch of
large plants were built under subsidy support of AEPC in 2014. Although some large plants were
built before 2012 through efforts from some NGOs and private parties, they have not been
formally documented and their current status is also unknown. The number of plants and province
wise breakdown of plants constructed after 2014 are given below in table 7.
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S.no Fiscal Year Community-based
biogas plants
Growth Rate (%)
1 2014 5
2 2015 15 200
3 2016 25 66.667
4 2017 82 228
5 2018 127 54.878
6 2019 45 -64.567
Table 7. Number of community-based plants and growth rate (%) from 2014 till date
(Retrieved from: Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC),2017)
The larger biogas plants that are in operation or under construction in Nepal can
generally be categorized as fixed-dome plants and floating-drum plants. The fixed dome plants
are derived from Chinese model biogas plant also called drum less digester. The model was first
experimented around mid-1930`s in China which later was frequently modified and upgraded
(AEPC, 2015). Many countries derived a new design that was based on the principle of fixed
dome Chinese model which was favorable for their local condition. By the time Nepal adopted
the model it was already one of the best models of community-based biogas plants in the world.
Based on the same model, Gobar Gas and Agricultural Equipment Development Company (GGC)
of Nepal successfully developed a designed known as GGC model. Since, the structure was
modified into less curved profiles, it was easier to construct in the geographical condition of Nepal
(BSP, 2009).
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Fixed-dome plants Floating-drum plants
Date of Invention Mid 1930`s in China Around 1960`s in India
Modification Modified and upgraded for viable
application in Nepal
Less modification needed due
to similar geographical and
socio-economic features with
the place of India.
Adopted in Nepal 2012 2012
Table 8. Types of community-based biogas plants in Nepal.
(Retrieved from: Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC),2019)
In the same way, another common model `floating drum biogas plant` which is also
known as Gobar Gas Plant was designed and approved in India around 1960`s. The experiments
were conducted since 1930`s and in 1956`s Jasu Bhai J. Patel developed the floating drum model
which later gained popularity in India as well as in the sub-continents. In 1990`s the design was
adopted for domestic plants without any modification in Nepal. Since the developed destination
had similar geographic, climate and socio-economic condition as Nepal there was no need of any
modification. Similarly, from 2012 the design has been used for constructing the community-
based plants (AEPC, 2015).
If we look at the trend of community-based biogas numbers from the table 7, we can
notice significant year-on-year increment from 2014 onwards. Official of AEPC stated that, AEPC
is constantly striving to increase the number through public awareness and financial incentives.
He also added that currently a separate program named 'Scaling Up Renewable Energy Program'
is in operation with support from World Bank, which aims to install at least 350 large plants in
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commercial entities and municipalities by August 2021. Many such plants are under construction
and people are gradually accepting the technology and adopting it instead of traditional biomass.
5.1.3 Identification of Technology Leapfrogging of cooking fuel in Nepal
Figure 9: Fuels used for cooking in Nepal 2015 (million GJ)
(Retrieved from Electricity as a Cooking Means in Nepal—A Modelling Tool Approach,
2018)
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Table 9. Energy consumption in Residential area for cooking purpose
(Retrieved from Electricity as a Cooking Means in Nepal—A Modelling Tool Approach,2018)
The increase in the cooking energy demand of residential sector has rapidly increased
with the increase in the population and overall energy demand. In 2015, the final energy demand
for cooking activities have significant increase with an estimation of 209 million GJ (Bhandari &
Pandit, 2018). As shown in the figure 9, the consumption trend for cooking activities by fuel types
shows firewood, agricultural residues dominate the highest portion, at 83.3% while 16.6% of the
share is covered by the modern energy in 2015. Furthermore, the table 9. shows that traditional
biomass plays a vital role in the fuel for cooking in the residential area. Even though there was a
rise in the adoption of modern fuels, various economic and political issues compelled the people
to use the traditional fuels especially in the rural areas.
For self-sustaining and clean energy without any dependency on import the government
of Nepal initiated various new strategies in the renewable energy sector as table11. Those
strategies were triggered after a thorough research and feasibility study of self-sustaining fuels in
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Nepal mainly due to three reasons. First reason is the low economic condition of the rural people
who are unable to procure the modern fuels and are using the traditional biomass as a fuel for
cooking activities. For energy production with the local resources such as agricultural residue and
organic waste biogas plant was estimated to be highly appropriate for replacing the traditional
biomass fuel. The second reason was to minimize the higher dependency of fossil fuels and avoid
the energy crisis caused by it. The import of fossil fuels was adequate until the undeclared
blockade imposed by India in 2015 caused energy crisis in Nepal. The details about the blockade
is discussed in the ...chapter of this research. Locals in both and urban area used traditional
biomass since there were no fuels available for operating the modern stoves.
Table 10: CO2 emissions from cooking fuel in 2015
(Retrieved from Electricity as a Cooking Means in Nepal—A Modelling Tool
Approach,2018)
The third reason for the new clean energy policies and initiatives were for the necessity
of combating the high level of emission caused by burning of traditional biomass in the
environment. As shown in the table 10 the CO2 emission from the wood, animal wastes used for
fuel for cooking is extremely high than modern fuels such as LPG, kerosene. The increase in the
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demand for cooking fuel is a clear indication of high level of GHG emission if the dominating
fuels is traditional biomass. The ministry of energy on Nepal has consider the cooking fuel has
the major greenhouse gas emitter in Nepal as the country has less emission from industrial sector
(MOE,2016). Therefore, the clean energy strategies were the policies to mitigate with the GHG
emission in the cooking sector.
From table 8 we can see identify the technology leapfrogging from traditional biomass to self-
sustaining, clean energy in Nepal. The government has played a vital role by initiated new policy
for self-sustaining and clean energy with maximum subsidies to replace the traditional biomass
in those communities which are untouched by the modern fuels. Although, petroleum products
such as LPG and kerosene constitute important energy sources for cooking purposes in urban and
rural households, the skyrocketing prices during the last years has discouraged in using these
products in Nepal. The price instability of LPG & kerosene due to price rises in international oil
markets and unannounced blockade has also increased the vulnerability of households, especially
of the urban poor, who are also compelled to use LPG & kerosene as a principal source of cooking
energy. The price of kerosene has increased more than doubled from 2003 to 2009 according to
Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). Due to these reasons, the rural communities of Province 1 has
skipped the fuels such as LPG and kerosene and are successfully adopting the clean energy such
as biogas for cooking activities (AEPC, 2019). Moreover, as mentioned in above in the biogas
plants that are being installed in Nepal are the latest version of those model.
5.1.4 Technology leapfrogging of cooking fuel in Province 1
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Figure 10: Fuels used for cooking in Province 1, 2016
(Retrieved from ENERGY SECURITY AND SCENARIO ANALYSIS OF
PROVINCE NO.1 OF FEDERAL REPUBLIC NEPAL,2019)
Same as in the overall cooking fuel consumption of Nepal, the consumption trend for cooking
activities in Province 1 by fuel types shows firewood, agricultural residues dominate the highest
portion, at 75% while 25% of the share is covered by the modern energy as shown in the figure
10. Since most of the districts of Province 1 is rural, traditional biomass plays a vital role in the
fuel for cooking in the residential area in this province. Compare to the other provinces, Province
1 has less adoption of modern fuels. Province 3 and 4 includes the capital city and most of the
major cities of the country where the adoption of modern fuel seems to be higher than the other
provinces. Since majority of the people in Province 1 are engaged in agriculture, they have
1
20
0
3
0.5
0.5
67.5
20.5 5
Electricity LPG Natural gas
Biogas Kerosene Charcoal
Wood Straw/shrubs/grass Agriculture crop
Dung
Fuels for cooking
Province 1
87
substantial economy with less purchasing power depriving them from expensive fuels. The
economic and political issues all over the country was a major reason for people in Province 1 to
use the traditional fuels for cooking especially in the rural areas. From the figure of energy
consumption, we can see identify the technology leapfrogging from traditional biomass to self-
sustaining, clean energy in Nepal. The central government was responsible for all the new clean
energy projects before 2015. However, after the constitution of 2015 divided the country into 7
administrative regions with their own local governments the Province 1 had significant efforts in
initiating new sustainable energy projects than other provinces. The new policy after the local
government was formed is mentioned in chapter 5.6 of this research paper. The government of
Province 1 has played a vital role by initiating new policy for self-sustaining and clean energy by
promoting the necessity and benefits to the locals. They have been appropriately exploiting the
subsidies from the ministry of energy to replace the traditional biomass in those rural communities
which are untouched by the modern fuels. Those communities of Province 1 skipped the fuels
such as LPG and kerosene and are successfully adopting the clean energy such as biogas for
cooking activities. The number of community-based biogas plants is highest in this province due
to appropriate initiatives by the local government as mentioned in chapter 5.6 parts of this research
paper. Province 1 has the greatest number of community-based biogas plants installed. According
to the statistics from APEC, recently there are 121 community-based biogas projects among which
some of are still in process but are to be completely installed by 2022.
5.1.5 Implementation of new initiatives and policy for clean energy after formation of local
government in 2015
Nepal was restructured into a Federal republic and has been divided into seven provinces
after the introduction of Constitution of Nepal 2015. The election for the local representatives
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was conducted in 2017, two years after the promulgation of the constitution and after a gap of 15
years since last election. The representatives were elected with high hopes and expectations for
the future with the popular campaign slogan `power existed in the central government now
devolves to local government`. The elections of 2017 ended the political vacuum in local
governance and initiated the beginning of a new governance system. Locals had high hopes with
the new system in bringing stability, economic opportunities and adequate services in their
livelihood.
The new constitution of 2015 lays out a vision for a federal state that three main tiers of
government that are federal, provincial, and local. Although the history of local governing system
existed back in seven decades, the newly introduced system provides a radical change in terms of
size (geographically, the units are much larger than the past), power (established as constitutional
bodies) and function (they are given exclusive judicial, legislative and executive functions).
According to the author the main factor for the unsustainability of the previous constitution has
been considered to a sense of alienation, and a lack of ownership and inclusion (Acharya, 2018).
Thus, the new constitution has been arranged by taking this into account with specific provision
for encouraging the marginalized group and women for participation in all levels of the
government. The local government is vested with significant new authorities which is the power
to make and implement new development projects. Briefly, the local governments can legislate
and administer executive power about 22 functional under their exclusive jurisdiction and further
15 functions with the concurrent jurisdiction of the Federal and provincial governments
(Chaudhary, 2018). Furthermore, the local government will have power including designing
coherent policy frameworks; developing physical infrastructure; developing mechanism for local
committees to draw technical support from the relevant governmental intuition/organization.
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Various targets and milestones in terms of development projects on national/central
level have been set by the government to be accomplished in different time frames within the
upcoming few decades. The vision and strategies of the Central level are deliberate created with
the objective to influence and effect the policy and planning of the provinces. Hence, after the
administrative division of the nation the prosperity and development of the provinces will solely
depend on its own management and utilization of the available resources. Energy security has
been taken as one of the most significant issue for economic development by the seven provinces.
Similarly, the provinces have been working on the optimum utilization of the available recourses
in order to become self-sustaining in the future.
Technology Targets
Mini and Micro Hydropower 25MW
Solar Home System 600,000 systems
Institutional Solar Power System (solar
photovoltaic and solar pump systems)
1,500 systems
Improved Water Mill 4,000 numbers
Improved Cooking Stoves 475,000 stoves
Biogas 130,000 household system,
1,000 institutional and 200 community
biogas plants
Table 11. Nepal Rural Renewable Energy Program Targets after 2015
(Retrieved from Ministry of Population and Environment. 2016.)
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The Constitution of Nepal (2015) ensures that the government will take the policies
relating to protection, promotion and use of natural resources (Part 4 Article 51 g). The
constitution directed that the government will take the policy to ensure reliable supply of energy
in an affordable and easy manner, and make proper use of energy, for the fulfillment of the basic
needs of citizens, by generating and developing renewable energy. This has mandated the
government to develop and implement the policies and strategies related to renewable energy
promotion in the country. Climate Change Policy (2019) adopts the goal of contributing to socio
economic prosperity by developing climate resilient society. Following a theme based approach
in eight thematic areas of (i) agriculture and food security (ii) forest, biodiversity and watershed
conservation (iii) water resources and energy (iv) rural and urban settlement (v) industry, transport
and physical infrastructure (vi) tourism, natural and cultural heritage (vii) health, drinking water
and sanitation (viii) disaster risk reduction and management and four cross cutting areas of (i)
gender and social inclusion, livelihood and good governance (ii) Increased public awareness and
capacity development (iii) Research, technical development and dissemination (iv)climate
finance management (AEPC, 2019). It aims at advancing capacity on climate change adaptation,
promoting green economy, mobilizing national and international climate finance, formulating
strategies, regulations and guidelines at all three tiers of government The current policy released
on August 2019 supersedes the Climate Change Policy 2011 of Nepal which had the objective to
reduce GHG emissions by promoting the use of clean energy, such as hydroelectricity, renewable
and alternative energies, and by increasing energy efficiency and encouraging the use of green
technology.
New prevailing policies after 2015 restructured in Nepal are as follows;
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➢ Climate Change Policy (2019)
➢ RE Subsidy Policy and Subsidy Delivery mechanism (2016)
➢ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) (2016)
➢ Biomass Energy Strategy (2017)
➢ National Renewable Energy Framework (2017)
➢ National Energy Efficiency Strategy (2018)
➢ The white paper of Ministry of Energy, Water Resource and Irrigation (2018)
Province 1 has been actively involved in implementing the national policies as well as have their
own initiatives made by the local government for adoption of self-sustaining clean energy (AEPC,
2019).
5.1.6 Energy deficiency due to undeclared blockade of India on Nepal
Right after the earthquake, an unofficial blockade was imposed by the government on
September 2015 that led to a severe humanitarian crisis here in Nepal. From the past blockade
was a method to be an economic warfare effecting the relation between the blockaded belligerent
and neutrals. It was employed as a tool by the neutral countries to maintain their neutrality
(INHURED, 2016). However, in case of Nepal, blockade was used as an underhanded tool for
controlling the economy of Nepal by the Government of India and continuing the protests by
`Madhesi's` for their own state. The blockade was analyzed as a two-pronged attack on the
economy of Nepal;
i) Blockade of the border done by the protesting parties in Nepal
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ii) Withholding necessary supplies such as fuel, medicine, food etc. by the Indian
Government (INHURED, 2016).
Nepal is very close to India from socio cultural perspective due to similarities in religion, culture,
ethnicity, language. Whereas China has totally different culture, language and is also
geographically far from Nepal. Communist leaders of Nepal try to approach China to engage in
politics of Nepal as India but due to various treaty and diplomatic reasons they have not been
successful. Nepal is a safe buffer zone as it lies in between those two powerful nations. There is
a high influence of India in Nepal which has created feeling of insecurity in Chinese government
with Nepalese diplomacy. Although India and Nepal share the same kind of social, cultural,
geographical, political and linguistic perspective, India has imposed border blockade multiple
times in 1963, 1971, 1989, 2015 A.D causing crisis in bilateral relationship (citation). The
influence of game theory and conspiracy theory can be seen in India`s diplomacy to Nepal to win
the blockade game. Furthermore, India has been refusing that it imposed the undeclared blockade
(Bhuwaneswor, 2018).
The undeclared blockade of 2015 lasted for four months on the Indo-Nepal border which
was imposed immediately after Nepal adopted a new constitution on September 20,2015.
Nepal`s southern border with India was all closed that’s covers all the roadway connection for
export and import of essential supplies with India. The commodities and fuel supply from India
were stopped right at the border checkpoints choking the flow. The blockade resulted in one of
the worst geo-political and humanitarian crises in the Nepal as essential items of daily life such
as food, fuel, medicines could not reach Nepal from India (SAHR, 2016). Economists of Nepal
stated that the undeclared blockade pushed the economy of Nepal that was already reeling from
the massive earthquake into further tailspin.
93
The blockade halted all the supply of the energy which resulted in serious energy crisis
in Nepal. Nepal requires at least 1200-megawatt electricity to meet its energy requirements. Since
Nepal generates electricity only through hydro plants the production is only about 600 megawatts
and to fulfill the requirement 180 megawatts of electricity is imported from India. Remaining
energy is met by using different generators and car batteries etc. However, during the blockade
there was no import of any electricity from India creating shortage of fuel and affected the
operations of generators resulting huge energy crisis. At the same time, crisis of LPG which is
used widely in both urban and rural areas caused huge difficulty for the most parts to prepare
meals. Several hotels and restaurants were shut, as they were unable to provide service due to
energy crisis. The monthly demand of LPG is 32,000 tons per month which rises by 30 –40%
during the winter. The Indian Oil Corporation completely stopped the supply of LPG to Nepal
without any official announcement compelling the people of Nepal to use firewood’s and other
biomass for cooking and heating purposes. According to the Nepal Oil Corporation, around 250
gas bullets i.e. 4500 tons were stuck in the Indian side of the boarder. About 18 tons of LPG is
carried by a bullet (DFHRI & INSEC, 2016)
In terms of cooking fuel electricity is not used for cooking and LPG not available people
of both urban and rural areas were desperate to use biomass energy resulting in massive
deforestation and CO2 emission. This energy crisis of 2015 made the officials and the locals about
the consequences of high dependency on India for fuel during undeclared blockade. The matter
was solved after different higher up officials agreed with the conditions of Indian government.
However, the blockade also triggered the initiatives for self-sustaining renewable energy among
the government and other stakeholders.
Large number of projects are being implemented in different parts of the nation for
generating energy. Among those projects' construction of community-based plants in the rural
94
areas with high number of people engaging in agriculture. Several new projects for generating
self-sustaining energy for decreasing the dependency on India was initiated by APEC. Community,
institutional, household biogas system was also highly focused as biogas is more be more viable
in case of rural Nepal. As mentioned above, the new constitution divided the nation into seven
provinces with their own local government with different powers for decision making and
initiation of development projects. According to the official of AEPC, Province 1 has the highest
number of projects initiated for community biogas plants as the province was feasible for
community-based biogas plants. Although, energy efficiency triggered the need of self-sustaining
energy in whole Nepal not all provinces have the same kind of desperation for the adoption of
biogas like in Province 1. The local government has made significant steps in adopting biogas
and other renewable energy after the realizing the consequences of over dependency of cooking
fuels in import.
5.1.7 Inter Provincial Dependency on Agricultural
The main economic activity in Province 1 is agriculture followed by tourism. It consists the five
Teri districts consisting of highly fertile land and appropriate climate for agriculture that produces
large number of food grains. Besides Terai there are other 9 districts in hill and mountains which
are also suitable for agriculture. The major crops cultivated in the Terai region consist of maize,
rice, jute sugarcane while citrus, ginger, cardamom and tea are the major products in the hills and
mountainous region. Other important business in Province 1 are poultry, goat, piggery and milk
production. Argo-tourism has also flourished in this region through organic farming, tea estate
recreation and rural homestay activities. There have been different studies and agriculture
development boards to promote the cardamom and other spices for export in the international
market with better prices. Furthermore, climate smart agriculture for developing resilient system
are being adopted very efficiently.
95
Provinces Total Area (ha) Cereal crops
Mt
Livestock
Milk Mt
Livestock
meat Mt.
Cash
Crops
Mt
1 2590500 1739149 384276 62932 1376037
2 9,66100 1048213 257212 41748 3231102
3 20,90000 996809 354718 72253 775741
4 21,50400 756352 223599 33846 182308
5 22,28800 1385628 335875 61086 1159585
6 27,98400 333466 98194 21087 138998
7 19,53900 613894 200374 29107 506773
Table 11: Agricultural products in province of Nepal in 2016
(Retrieved from Inter Provincial Dependency for Agricultural Development ,2018)
96
Figure 12: Agricultural practices in provinces
(Retrieved from Inter Provincial Dependency for Agricultural Development ,2018)
As shown in the table no.11 Province 1 has quite significant amount production of cereal
and cash crops compared to other provinces which means the amount of agricultural residue is
bound to be higher. More agricultural residue contributes as a large amount of feed in the digester.
According to Official in AEPC, this was also realized during the feasibility study of community-
based plants done in Province 1. Due to this reason the local government and the private sectors
were attracted in implementing large number of community-based biogas plants in Province 1
(AEPC, 2019).
Another reason for the initiative was to reduce the GHG emission and improve the health of the
locals and the environment of Province 1. Most of the farmers are still adopting the traditional
farming in which the residues are burned in the field emitting black carbon, smoke and other
0
1000000
2000000
3000000
4000000
Province 1 Province 2 Province 3 Province 4 Province 5 Province 6 Province 7
Agricultural Products In Provinces
Of Nepal
Cash Crops,Mt Cereal Crops,Mt
Livestock Milk Mt Livestock meat Mt.
97
greenhouse gases. The health of the locals is at risk due to the black carbon and the GHG increase
the global warming. Since biogas can be generated from anaerobic digestion of agricultural
residues and animal waste inside the digester, it contributes in reducing the emission of GHG
gases protecting the environment. The utilization of those residues in the community-based biogas
plants will also discourage open burning activities of those agricultural residues. On the other
hand, it also helps in reduce of indoor pollution caused at the local level by replacing firewood as
an energy for cooking. Reduction in the use of firewood results in deforestation in the rural areas
and helps mitigate the climate change. Haphazard deforestation that is being carried out for
firewood has induced natural calamities such as landside, soil erosion degrading the natural
environment. Thus, due to these reasons the AEPC and other stakeholders are implementing
numerous biogas projects and constructing large number of community-based plants in Province
1.
5.1.8 Interest of potential stakeholders and biogas companies in Province 1
Figure 11: Biogas construction companies in different provinces of Nepal
38
22
7
29
10
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Province 3 Province 5 Province 7 Province 1 Province 4
Biogas Companies under different Provinces
No. of biogas companies
98
(Retrieved from Ministry of Population and Environment. 2016.)
One of the reasons for increase in the diffusion of biogas plants is the increase in number of biogas
Construction companies in Province 1. After the realization of necessity to promote the
development of community-based plants in the rural parts of Nepal, the government focused on
setting targets of constructing numerous plants in 2016. Furthermore, to promote and attract more
locals and stakeholder's new subsidy policy for the larger biogas plants were introduced in 2012
has been stable and quite conductive in the diffusion of community-based biogas plants in Nepal.
The number of biogas construction companies have significantly increased in the recent years in
Nepal. Province 1 has 17 companies alone that are engaged in constructing domestic and
community-based biogas plants. The government policy with the subsidy also encouraged the
privatization of the biogas sector which resulted in establishment new companies and NGO`s and
engage in the projects for timely completion.
In 1994, Nepal Biogas Promotion Group (NBPG) was created which acted as an umbrella
organization of companies that manufactured biogas plants and appliances. The same group was
then engaged cooperation in the promotion of the community-based plants with AEPC, SNW,
BSP in 2012 (BSB-Nepal, 2010). Later, the name of the group was change as Nepal Biogas
Promotion Association (NBPA). This association now consists of 114 board members and is the
biggest private organization in the biogas sector of Nepal. NBPA is actively working with the aim
promote sustainability of biogas programs, conducting awareness the users regarding biogas
program throughout the 75 districts of the country. The organization has been responsible for
strengthening the capacity and scope of the member private companies in biogas sector and
lobbying with government agencies like AEPC and other donor agencies for better cooperation.
99
NBPA is also successfully construction latrines that are directly connected with the biogas plants.
Although the households with higher literacy rate are conscious about the importance of the
latrine for environment sanitation and its utilization in biogas plant, a lot of locals are not aware
about the benefits. It also organizes awareness program for motivating the rural residence for the
construction of latrines as pollution due to lack of latrines in one of the crucial issues in the rural
areas of Nepal (AEPC, 2015).
Even though the head office of NBPA is in the capital city, it has decentralized reginal offices in
all the 7 provinces of Nepal. The organization includes more than hundred biogas appliances
manufacturing companies that are engaged in workshops throughout Nepal for constructing of
qualitative household and community biogas plants for the desired customers. NBPA is
responsible for harmony between the government agencies and private companies in Province 1.
Due to the potential for biogas plants and favorable climate in Province 1 large number of
companies under NBPA and prequalified by AEPC. These 17 private companies have been
contributing in the better adoption and diffusion of community-based biogas plants in Nepal
(AEPC, 2019).
6.Conclusion
6.1 Introduction
This research mainly focuses on the significance of community based-biogas plants
compared to the household biogas plants in rural Nepal and the determinants of successful
adoption of these plants in Province 1 of Nepal. The study was done through in-depth interviews
with the key informants, survey and review of the official reports from the government bodies.
This section presents the conclusion of the key findings drawn from this research. The
100
recommendation and implication made from this study can have strong relevance to the local
government of provinces that are still lagging in the adoption of community-based biogas plants.
Furthermore, the findings in the study have strong relevance for the stakeholders, biogas
construction companies, donor agencies and other relevant agencies that promote the community-
based biogas as an appropriate, clean, reliable and cost-effectivity solution to provide energy
security for cooking to rural household.
6.2 Key Findings
The key findings in this research are as follows:
➢ According to AEPC, the exact number of community-based plants in Nepal is 299 out of
which the 121 plants are in Province 1 that lies in the eastern most part of Nepal. The reason
behind the high number of community-based biogas plants in Province 1 can be an interesting
study for the other provinces.
➢ Technology leapfrogging is one of the major determinants for the successful adoption of
community-based biogas in Province 1 and all over the country. It can be identified by the
pattern of adoption of the latest two model’s biogas system that were developed decades ago
in India and China. Nepal was not hindered by the initial investments in the experimental
models or obsolete technology instead Nepal took advantage by adopting the updated
technology.
➢ Technology leapfrogging from traditional biomass to self-sustaining, clean energy in
Province 1 and Nepal can be identifies by the replacement of cooking fuels. The consumption
trend for cooking activities by fuel types shows firewood, agricultural residues dominates
the highest portion, at 83.3% while 16.6% of the share is covered by the modern energy in
2015. The government has played a vital role by initiating new policy for self-sustaining and
101
clean energy with maximum subsidies to replace the traditional biomass in those
communities which are untouched by the modern fuels. Although, petroleum products such
as LPG and kerosene constitute important energy sources for cooking purposes in urban and
rural households, the skyrocketing prices during the last years has discouraged in using these
products in Nepal. The price instability of LPG & kerosene due to price rises in international
oil markets and unannounced blockade has also increased the vulnerability of households,
especially of the urban poor, who are also compelled to use LPG & kerosene as a principal
source of cooking energy. The price of kerosene has increased more than doubled from 2003
to 2009 according to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). Due to these reasons, the rural
communities of Province 1 has skipped the fuels such as LPG and kerosene and are
successfully adopting the clean energy such as biogas for cooking activities (AEPC, 2019)
➢ Nepal initiated various new strategies in the renewable energy sector for the following three
reasons;
I. The low economic condition of the rural people who are unable to procure the modern
fuels and are using the traditional biomass as a fuel for cooking activities.
II. To minimize the higher dependency of fossil fuels and avoid the energy crisis caused by
it. The import of fossil fuels was adequate until the undeclared blockade imposed by
India in 2015 caused energy crisis in Nepal.
III. The new clean energy policies and initiatives were for the necessity of combating the
high level of emission caused by burning of traditional biomass in the environment.
➢ The consumption trend for cooking activities in Province 1 by fuel types shows firewood,
agricultural residues dominates the highest portion, at 75% while 25% of the share is covered
by the modern energy. The government of Province 1 has played a vital role by initiating
102
new policy for self-sustaining and clean energy by promoting the necessity and benefits to
the locals.
➢ Right after the earthquake, an unofficial blockade was imposed by the Government of India
on September 2015 that led to a severe humanitarian crisis here in Nepal. Liquefied
petroleum gas (LPG) and kerosene which is used widely in both urban and rural areas caused
huge difficulty for the most parts to prepare meals. The locals were compelled to use
firewood. The realization of over dependency on India and its consequences triggered the
need for self-sustaining need (INHURED, 2016). The implementation of new initiatives and
policies for renewable energy by the local governments under the supervision of Ministry of
Energy (MoE). Province 1 was way ahead in initiating the new projects for self-sustaining
clean energy including several community-based biogas projects.
➢ One of the reasons for increase in the diffusion of biogas plants is the increase in number of
biogas Construction companies in Province 1. It has 17 companies alone that are engaged in
constructing domestic and community-based biogas plants. These 17 private companies
under the supervision of AEPC have been contributing in the better adoption and diffusion
of community-based biogas plants in Nepal.
➢ Province 1 has quite significant amount production of cereal and cash crops compared to
other provinces which means the amount of agricultural residue is bound to be higher. More
agricultural residue contributes as a large amount of feed in the digester. Due to this reason
the local government and the private sectors were attracted in implementing large number of
community-based biogas plants in Province 1.
➢ From most of the reports and reviewed literatures, community-based biogas plants have
upper hand compared to household biogas plants in terms of users, usage, investment,
secondary function.
103
➢ The data of forest loss in different regions of Nepal has indicated the decrease in loss of forest
due to adoption of biogas. A biogas promoting organization; biogas sector programme states
that a household biogas can help is saving 1.25 trees each year and help in reduction of GHG
emission from burning of the traditional biomass. According to the official in AEPC, one of
main reason for the lowest percent of loss in the forest area for biomass was due to the
adoption of clean energy sources in this province.
6.3 Further research
This research is limited to the utilization of community-based biogas plants for cooking
purposes in the rural areas of Nepal. In future, the research can be about the feasibility of
generating electricity from the biogas at national level. Since Nepal is an agriculturally based
country with large areas covered with forest resources, there is a high potential of biogas
production in the future. If adopted efficiently in large scale, the biogas might be adequate to
generate electricity too. The electricity then can be connected to the national grid reducing the
dependency on import from India. Furthermore, commercialization of biogas and its benefit is
also an interesting topic for research. Adopting the feed-in tariff policy from self-sustaining
energy same as the developed countries and its contribution towards the economic development
of biogas users can be another study that will have implication to the current energy crisis of
Nepal.
6.4 Recommendation
The findings from the analysis of this research point out several implications and
recommendations.
104
➢ Although the research is theoretical in nature and the findings are validated by data in
literatures and the in -dept interview, more field visit and adequate data related to the
community-based plants could have improved the quality and the result of the research.
However, updated online database system and proper collection seems to be inadequate in
Nepal. Therefore, more research like this regarding the existing plants and the determinants
for successful adoption can aid other parts of Nepal that are still lagging in adoption of
community-based biogas plants.
➢ As shown, in the findings, traditional biomass is still leading fuel for cooking purposes in
Nepal. Therefore, MoE of Nepal should focus more on the adoption of self-sustaining clean
energy in all the provinces instead of depending on modern fuels that are imported from India.
➢ Since, Nepal has political and border issues with India from the past, Nepal should decrease
the dependency on import of fuel for cooking purposes as there is a high possibility of
undeclared blockades in future.
➢ Considering the several benefits of community-based biogas plants over the household plants
mentioned in this research, the biogas companies and other stake holders should examine the
condition of the existing household plants and replace it with community-based plants, if the
operation is low due to less feed from a single household.
➢ Knowledge regarding the various benefits of community-based plants has not been well
dispersed among the locals in rural areas of Nepal. Therefore, the organizations working for
promoting biogas should increase the number of the awareness programs. Agencies like
AEPC and biogas construction companies should facilitate educational programs and
demonstrate the experimental plants.
105
➢ Feedstock availability and insufficiency has been identified as a problem for existing biogas
plants. Therefore, biogas companies should carefully access the availability of the feedstock
beforehand to ensure the feed is enough in the newly constructed plants.
➢ Since adoption of biogas has high potential in generation of the carbon credit through less
emission of GHG, the GoN should increase the biogas subsidies for wider replication of
community-based plats in all potential Provinces.
➢ The problem of free rider among the locals has not been yet identified but needs to thorough
evaluation and implementation of strict rules is necessary.
106
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8. Appendix
8.1 Results from survey of existing community-based biogas plants around Kathmandu valley
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8.2 Questions asked to the official of AEPC
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8.3 Questions for the operators of six case study sites
