This month power cuts were only reduced from 84 hours per week to 70, still keeping one of the world’s most water resource rich countries in darkness.

Hydropower makes up most of the energy dispensed to the grid, but the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) can meet only 77.5 per cent of energy demand. More hydropower plants are under construction, most of them run-of-the-river systems, but these take time and money.

EXPERIMENTAL:The Nepal Electricity Authority is testing reverse-metring with its own grid-connected 3 x 1.11 kW roof system in Min Bhawan which can reduce daytime load-shedding (graph, below).

Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels have become a familiar sight in Nepal, as the electricity shortage pushes people to opt for solar power in both grid-connected and off-grid areas. Solar home systems consist of batteries, a charge controller to monitor battery charging, and PV panels.

Energy generated by the PV panels can be stored in batteries for use later. But batteries are expensive, and solar home systems aim to minimise the necessity of batteries.

It is not uncommon to have full batteries and unused energy: an office on the weekend or a house on a sunny day. Injecting this excess electricity back into the grid is possible through grid-connected systems that allow electricity to flow in two directions, from the grid to the loads or battery and from the solar panel to the grid.

This requires a grid-tied inverter, which monitors these connections, and a meter that indicates the net energy consumed. To determine the feasibility of grid-connected rooftop PV systems in Nepal, a pilot research project was spearheaded by Center for Energy Studies at IOE-Pulchowk, SUPSI (University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Italian Switzerland) and RIDS-Nepal (Rural Integrated Development Services). By January 2014, a year of data had been collected from the five 1.11 kW solar PV rooftop system.

The per unit price of solar is traditionally determined by the initial investment and operational costs over the lifetime of the panels (typically 25 years) and the energy generation potential. From recent data, the annual energy expectancy for a 1 kW system is approximately 1500 kWh. Given this potential, the break-even price point for grid-connected solar could be as low as Rs12/kWh. This is not yet on par with the current selling price of electricity, which is the argument cited against net metering, but that may not matter.

Any financial recompense would be seen as preferable to the present one, and would encourage more solar installations. On a more pressing level, grid-connectivity of solar installations would directly inject much needed energy into the grid, locally lessening load-shedding.

With an ever-increasing electricity demand, solar PV systems act as a timely and effective means to deal with Nepal’s power crisis. Allowing grid-connectivity and net metering is a crucial step towards reaching key energy diversification and reducing load-shedding.