Clean energy accounts for only 6 pc of total energy supply in Hindu Kush countries: Report

Kathmandu, Sep 5 (PTI) Despite holding ‘immense renewables potential’, clean energy accounts for only 6 per cent of total primary energy supply in the countries of the Hindu Kush Himalayas, with hydropower being ‘hugely underexploited’, a report said.

A new assessment report was released on Friday by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), an eight-nation regional body, during the Asia-Pacific Clean Energy Week in Bangkok.

The report said that out of 882 Gigawatts total hydropower potential identified in Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, “the vast majority of that potential (635 Gigawatts) is from the waters of the transboundary rivers of the Hindu Kush Himalaya region.” “Just 49 per cent of this potential is currently tapped,”  the report added.

Non-hydro clean energy potential (solar and wind) in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, meanwhile, stands at 3 Terawatts, it said.

While the total combined renewable energy targets of the countries of the HKH amount to 1.7 Terawatts (as per their Nationally Determined Contributions), the renewable energy potential within the HKH region alone is over 3.5 Terawatts.

While Bhutan and Nepal generate 100 per cent of their electricity from renewables, fossil fuels overwhelmingly dominate other Hindu Kush Himalayan countries’ electricity generation: representing 98 per cent in Bangladesh, 77 per cent in India, 76 per cent in Pakistan, 67 per cent in China, and 51 per cent in Myanmar, states the report.

Biofuels and waste make up an ‘alarmingly high’ proportion of total primary energy supply (TPES) in four HKH countries, meanwhile, contributing two-thirds of Nepal’s; half of Myanmar’s, and one quarter of Bhutan and Pakistan’s energy supply, it said.

This reflects rural communities’ continued reliance on traditional materials (wood, crop residues, livestock dung) for cooking and heating, despite the impacts on air quality and human health, the report said.             The study warns that “climate change is significantly impacting the energy sector, particularly hydropower production, through increased water variability, extreme weather events, and infrastructure damage.” Changing hydrological regimes resulting in streamflow variations and seasonal shifts affect output, it finds, while glacial lake outburst floods and other extreme events pose ‘major risks’ to existing and planned hydropower projects – with close to two-thirds of current and planned hydropower vulnerable to potential glacier floods alone – and underscores the need to integrate disaster risk mitigation strategies into renewables projects.   The report underlines that “while multipurpose dams play a role in flood moderation and water management, they alone cannot address the growing risks of mega-floods, water wastage, or mismanagement. It highlights the importance of exploring ‘dams equivalents’—a suite of modern technological, structural, and institutional solutions that can deliver similar benefits while avoiding the downsides of large reservoirs.” Dams equivalent measures such as updating irrigation systems to reduce water wastage, on-farm water-efficient and climate-resilient practices, urban water storage and the use of solar and wind.

The report flags a number of barriers to progress on renewables in the region, running from high capital costs, limited public finance, and the difficulty of attracting private investment; the potentially far-reaching consequences of renewables development for local communities, ecosystems, and a lack of technology and experience, land availability, and maintenance and investment in research and development.

“We have extraordinary renewables potential within our region, as well as in India and China, two of the world’s pioneers in clean energy,” remarked Coordinating Lead Author Avishek Malla, launching the report in Bangkok. “Building on this amazing competitive advantage that Asia now holds in renewables represents a tremendous opportunity to turbocharge green economic growth, while lifting people out of poverty, and meeting our ambitious emissions-reduction targets.   The report was launched during the fourth session of the United Nations’ Economic and Social Commission for Asia Committee on Energy, held from September 3-5 in Bangkok under the theme of “Transforming energy systems in Asia and the Pacific for a just and sustainable future.” PTI SBP RD RD