President of the Independent Power Producers' Association-Nepal (IPPAN) Krishna Prasad Acharya said on Thursday that the government should pave the way for the private sector to trade electricity. The private sector has had a large investment in the energy sector, he argued, while speaking at the inaugural session of the 21st annual general meeting of IPPAN today.

He stressed the need for the country to make optimum utilisation of energy, the foundation of economic prosperity for a country.

"Lately, carbon emission reduction has been a global issue. Nepal is one of the countries which can contribute to carbon reduction. There is much potential for clean energy in Nepal. There is potential for hydropower and solar energy," he said.

Saying that the increment of internal power consumption has been a challenge, he suggested increasing power consumption in industries, irrigation, electric ovens and electric vehicles.

The private sector could play a role in power consumption increment and energy export, he said.

Referring to the recent India visit of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, he said, "The visit focused on economic issues. More so, this focused on energy. This is a matter of happiness for power entrepreneurs."

The matter of reaching a memorandum of understanding to export 10,000 megawatts of electricity during the visit was an important achievement in itself for Nepal, he said.