S OLAR E NERGY I N N EPAL Quality Assurance System of AEPC/ESAP Presented by Resha Piya 4 th Oct

T ODAY ’ S M AIN P ROBLEM OF N EPALESE Energy crisis Electricity Petroleum 2

P RESENTATION OUTLINE Solar Energy Potential in Nepal Solar Energy Technologies Quality Assurance Systems for Solar Home System promoted by AEPC/ESAP 3

S OLAR E NERGY P OTENTIAL IN N EPAL Country Average = 4.7 kWh/m 2 /day Solar Energy source is free Solar Energy source is Renewable Solar Energy is abundant 10% tapping KWh/day Around 300 days Sunshine 4

S OLAR E NERGY T ECHNOLOGIES Solar Photovoltaic Technology Solar Light Energy Solar Heat Energy Solar Thermal Technology Solar Home System Solar Tuki Institutional solar PV system Solar Water pumping system Building integrated solar PV Systems Electrical vehicle charging station Solar Dryer Solar Cooker Solar Water Heater Solar room heating system Solar Refrigeration 5

SHS Installation, commissioning and training Subsidy policy and delivery mechanism, qualification of PV company, Level I &II technicians L I & II and other relevant training Design  System Sizing guidelines  Brochures/ Publication  Design criteria Manufacturing  Quality standards -NEPQA Testing  RETS  Field testing by RETS Acceptance, Operation and Maintenance  SHS User’s Survey  Component Guaranty  Field monitoring  Company grading, penalty and Exit mechanism  After-sales service Q UALITY A SSURANCE S YSTEMS FOR S OLAR H OME S YSTEM PROMOTED BY AEPC/ESAP 6

P ROGRAMME Q UALITY A SSURANCE S YSTEMS To maintain Product Quality  Testing of SHS components: Establishment of Renewable Energy Test Station (RETS) and development and Nepal PV Quality Assurance (NEPQA),  Field Testing and monitoring of installed SHS in the field. To maintain Service Quality  Subsidy Policy and Delivery Mechanism of SHS.  Procedure for Qualifying Solar PV Companies.  Criteria and Mechanism for company grading, Penalty, Exist and Release of 10% Retained SHS subsidy.  Support to develop Efficient and Effective service provider  Support to the private sector and other relevant organizations in training and other capacity building activities.  Development of Training Manuals for Solar Electric Technician Level I and II and support to conduct Level I and II training program.  Skill test standards and testing Laboratories for Level I and II at council for technical educational and Vocational training (CTEVT). 7

P OSITIVE E FFECT OF QA I NTERVENTIONS  Establishment of RETS and Development of NEPQA is one remarkable achievement of solar programme. It has provided a good example of how to increase the quality of solar home systems components while including local manufactures and companies. In addition, Users are benefiting from quality products.  Field monitoring of SHS has been effective as it has helped to promote dissemination of quality SHS and quality after-sales services and has discouraged manipulation or misuse of subsidy.  Because of subsidy provision, larger proportions of rural population are able to install SHS in their houses. Rural people who would have never even thought about electricity light in their dream have obtained light from SHS.  The existence of SHS business and market in the country is increasing due to the provision of subsidy: Around 60 registered PV companies with around 400 branches/dealers and more that 3000 certified technicians.  Besides stimulating demand the subsidies have been used as an incentive to achieve good quality through a system of qualified system component and qualified manufacturing/installing companies. 8