Kathmandu, September 19:

Participants at a programme held here today stressed the need to harness the sources of alternative energy for national development.

The participants of a workshop on “Alternative Energy Today’s Need”, organised by the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre, opined that a lot needs to be done to tap the sources of alternative energy.

They called on the government to draft policies and come up with plans to tap alternative energy.

Laxman Mainali, officiating secretary of the Ministry of Environment Science and Technology (MoEST), said the new constitution should have provisions to tap alternative energy sources to put an end to the energy crisis.

“The country will usher in an era of economic development if measures are taken to tap sources of alternative energy,” he said.

Mainali said Constituent Assembly members should know the importance of alternative energy.

“We can generate electricity from small rivers in 55 districts,” said AEPC executive director Dr Govinda Raj Pokharel. He also stressed the need to tap solar energy through the use of solar panels.

Energy can be generated from 1.9 million biogas plants and almost 20 to 40 per cent of energy can be saved through the use of cooking stoves, Pokharel said. He said windmills can be installed in different parts of the country to generate power.

“We can do a lot in the field of alternative energy,” Dr Pokharel said.

Policy-makers should revise rural energy policy to tap the sources of alternative energy, he said. Subsidies for installation of plants should be adjusted in line with inflation, he added.

At the programme, Minister for MoEST Ganesh Saha said the government and other stakeholders should work in tandem to harness alternative energy sources.

APEC had organised the programme to inform CA members about basics of alternative energy, achievements made in the field and possibilities.