Tags
The International Workshop on Best Practice and Business Opportunities for Energy Access Financing and Investors Forum has been successfully organized in joint collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC), the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the UN Development Fund (UNDP)/Global Environment Facility (GEF) in Kathmandu on the 16th and 17th of March 2016.
The programme was inaugurated by the Honorable Minister of Population and Environment, Mr. Biswendra Paswan. The inaugural session was chaired by the Secretary of the Ministry of Population and Environment, Mr. Bijay Kumar Mallik. The Honorable Dr. Yubaraj Khatiwada, Vice-Chairperson of National Planning Commission of Nepal, His Excellency Mr. Glenn White, Ambassador of Australia to Nepal, Mr. Kenichi Yokoyama, Country Director of ADB Nepal Resident Mission, Mr. Vincent Wierda, UNCDF CleanStart Programme, Programme Manager, Mr. Jiwan Acharya, Senior Energy Expert of ADB and Mr. Ram Prasad Dhital, Executive Director of AEPC gave their inauguration remarks during the session.
In the inaugural session, CleanStart Programme Manager Mr. Vincent Wierda, delivered a keynote speech where he highlighted the need of promoting market-led approaches to decrease the dependency on subsidies and reduce the energy poverty in the country. Mr. Wierda also chaired a session on “Central Renewable Energy Fund”, which is established as a national mechanism to promote credit financing for various renewable energy projects in Nepal. A working paper on “Development Partners’ Perspective on Renewable Energy Financing in Nepal” including CleanStart Programme’s approach, results, targets and lessons learned was also presented by CleanStart National Project Coordinator, Mr. Prem Sagar Subedi.
More than 200 representatives from donor agencies, NGOs and INGOs, financial sector, bank, project promoters, private sector, high government officials and other stakeholders participated in the programme.
Three CleanStart partner banks, namely Jiwan Bikash Samaj, NMB Bank Limited and Ace Development Bank, presented their cases and business models for renewal energy financing including their partnership with UNCDF CleanStart Programme, which were highly appreciated during the workshop.
In this workshop, discussions were held on the best practices on financing renewable energy projects, policies, and incentive mechanisms for clean energy promotion in Nepal. A total of 19 working papers and four business proposals on energy access projects were presented by the project developers seeking financing from the banks.
