People
Short-term jobs in construction and long-term jobs in operations and management were created through the solar rooftop installations.
| Investee Company | Simple Energy Pvt Ltd |
| Sector | Power and Energy (Solar) |
| Country | Nepal |
| Total Project Cost | USD 1.62m |
| PIDG Commitment |
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| Dates of PIDG involvement |
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Electricity generation in Nepal is largely from its run-of-river type hydropower projects, which generate more power during rainy seasons and less during the dry summer months. This leads to load shedding in these summer months, constraining businesses’ ability to operate at full capacity.
Nepal has also committed to increasing its renewable energy installed capacity from 2,100MW in 2021 (IRENA, 2022) to 15,000MW by 2030.
The Project Company, Simple Energy Pvt Ltd (SEPL) is a joint venture between PIDG – through InfraCo – and Saral Urja Nepal. SEPL is established as a platform to implement rooftop solar solutions for commercial and industrial customers in Nepal.
For Phase 1 of the project, SEPL aims to install 3 MWp of rooftop solar systems for commercial and industrial customers in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, and Pokhara. As of 2023, the first phase of the project was completed through installation across seven customer sites. Out of seven sub-projects, five sub projects are net-metered (connected with the grid) and exporting surplus power to the grid.
Short-term jobs in construction and long-term jobs in operations and management were created through the solar rooftop installations.
The installations are expected to avoid c. 78 tCO2e annually over their lifetime.
Clients experienced cost savings of between 6.5-15 per cent compared to grid tariffs, and were able to reduce use of diesel generators during grid outages.
The C&I solar market has grown significantly after the establishment of SEPL. SEPL was also the first company to install 500KW sized projects to tap into net-metering solutions under the service model, which has now been adopted by other players.
In Phase 1, 41 per cent of long-term jobs were held by women.
