CHITWAN, Feb 12: Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC) — the government agency entrusted to develop and promote renewable energy – is mulling over extending support to generate 14 MW electricity from poultry manure in Chitwan.
After assessing viability study report of the project, AEPC is devising a plan for supporting local community to use manure collected from more than four dozen poultry farms in Chitwan in power generation.
Sameer Thapa, co-director of AEPC, said the new plan will replace the existing practice of generating bio-gas through diesel-run engine with the use of advanced technology which is already successful in Germany and Thailand.
“We will share technical know-how with the local community with financial support from World Bank and Asian Development Bank,” Thapa said, adding, “The local community will get credit and subsidy through AEPC to apply the technology.”
Meanwhile, AEPC is preparing to promote solar, micro-hydro and bio-gas schemes to reduce people´s dependency on conventional fuel and electricity with the total project cost of US$ 20 million. The schemes will be launched within a month.
Thapa said they have selected Baglung and Chitwan for micro-hydro and bio-gas schemes, respectively. He also said AEPC was supporting local people to generate the power from cattle dung. AEPC is taking a policy to provide 25 percent subsidy on such schemes.
According to Thapa, 54 big poultry farms in Chitwan have the combined capacity to generate 14 MW.
There are around 15,000 poultry farms in the country.
Source : Republica
