January 29, 2010
 Japan's Assistance for Clean Energy (Solar Electricity Generation System)
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The Government of Japan has agreed to extend Grant Assistance up to six hundred and sixty million yen (¥660,000,000), approximately seven million two hundred and ninety-eight thousand US dollars (US$7,298,000), or about five hundred and thirty-seven million, nine hundred thousand Nepalese rupees (NRs.537,900,000) to the Government of Nepal, for the execution of the Project for Introduction of Clean Energy by Solar Electricity Generation System in Japan's FY 2009.
Under the "Cool Earth Partnership" initiative which the Government of Japan has taken from several years ago, the Program Grant Aid for Environment and Climate Change aims to mitigate the effects of global warming by reducing Greenhouse Gas emission. This Project is being implemented in response to the request made by the Government of Nepal for the sustainable and uninterrupted power supply to the Dhobi Ghat Reservoir, which will be used for pumping ground water to the Sundarighat Water Treatment Plant under Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL), who is responsible to supply drinking water to the population of the Kathmandu Valley.
At present, due to the current energy crisis in the country, Nepal is experiencing severe load shedding hindering socio-economic development activities. On the other hand, due to the unavailability of adequate surface water resources, KUKL is largely dependent on the ground water resources to meet the water demand of the Kathmandu Valley.
In this regard, the Government of Japan has decided to extend this grant to introduce this clean energy resource to set up a sustainable solar electricity generation system that has a capacity of about 300kW for Dhobi Ghat Reservoir. The objective is to promote clean energy utilization and achieve emission reductions by installing a photovoltaic system to be connected to the nation-wide network of energy distribution system.
In this context, a set of Notes was signed and exchanged today between His Excellency Mr. Tatsuo MIZUNO, Ambassador of Japan to Nepal, and Mr. Rameshore Prasad Khanal, Secretary of the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Nepal, on behalf of their respective Governments.
It is expected that, as well as utilizing the power supply for pumping ground water, the KUKL will trade surplus energy with the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and / or supply that surplus energy to the other KUKL pumping stations by establishing an appropriate mechanism so that it insures more reliable energy supply to those stations. As a result, KUKL may be able to pump-up more ground water for use.
He expressed his hope that Japan's continued support to the Nepalese economic and infrastructure development will help improve the well-being of Nepalese people and promote the peace process for New Nepal. This support would also help to strengthen the existing cordial relationship of friendship and cooperation between the people of both nations.
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