Kuensel Online: The Eastern Himalayan countries face huge energy deficits that must be addressed through a common framework of action, say experts. Experts from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal have agreed to assess the requirement for the development of regional power transmission grid in the region. In a two-day meeting on energy security in the region, the experts agreed to explore opportunities and impact of regional connectivity for electricity and natural gas.

They decided to enhance access to affordable and reliable ‘energy services for all’ through cleaner energy resources and technologies. And to do so, they said mechanisms must be created to share information and build institutional capacity. Diversification in the supply and use of cleaner energy was adopted as another strategy to ensure energy security. They emphasised developing climate resilient hydropower, focusing mainly on storage type, and said the use of renewable energy resources and technologies must be increased. They said the four governments must also promote exploration and development of natural gas for diversification of energy mix, and laid emphasis on building regional human resource capacity for energy efficiency improvement.

The leader of the Indian delegation and director of Electricity Authority of India, Ramesh Kumar, said the region’s concerns with respect to hydropower development are similar, and the action plan must identify ways to cope with the impacts of climate change. However, on the idea of building a common regional grid for the four countries, he said the need for such a mechanism must be first properly assessed. “We need to assess how much power the countries can afford to deliver, otherwise the grid won’t be helpful,” director Ramesh Kumar said.

The delegation from Bangladesh said the country has a huge energy deficit at the moment, and ways to import power from Bhutan and Nepal must be explored. Bangladesh requires 5,000 MW of energy a day, according to the leader of the Bangladeshi delegation, Anwar Hossain Khan. He said their primary interest would also be finding ways to connect the region with a natural gas pipeline.

Addressing the gathering, the leader of the Nepalese delegation, Batu Krishna Uprety, said the Climate Summit is an opportunity for the four countries to work together, and present a common stand on climate change in the international forums. The meeting is the last of the four expert group meetings. The meeting, titled ‘Ensuring Energy Security and Enhancing Alternate Technologies’, was held on 28 and 29 July in Kathmandu, and is part of the preparatory process leading to the ‘Climate Summit for a Living Himalayas – Bhutan 2011′, which will be convened in Bhutan on 19 November 2011.

Source>>

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Youth Leaders Speak Note on such Meetings:

We boast, we host, and we are lost! It sounds the legacy of mighty Himalaya and its people. Here, agencies seem boasting the urgency and the welfare of mountain ecosystem (!), while people in the region are hosting their dialogues with utmost care, and then they are lost somewhere. The remains of show become reports in office files and implementation a nightmare to our extenders. The upcoming Bhutan Summit in Nov 2011 also known as ‘Climate Summit for Living Himalaya’ might have the same fate……The dilemma of Himalayas is that, there is dearth of agencies those work inclusively without boasting themselves. Another concern is that, we host such events without thorough consultative processes, which in real sense require various such considerations. And the third challenge is that we come-up with very superficial road-maps those have no practical meanings.

And, we are lost! Full Article>>

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