KATHMANDU: The Independent Power Producers’ Association, Nepal (IPPAN) has submitted a 13-point set of demands to the Department of Electricity Development (DoED), calling for policy and procedural reforms to address challenges related to hydropower licensing, construction, transmission and environmental approvals.
An IPPAN delegation met newly appointed DoED Director General Sagar Raj Gautam and urged the department to make approval and licensing procedures simpler, faster and more predictable.
Gautam said the department would work closely with the private sector to advance energy-sector development. He said file processing had already accelerated and pledged to make the department’s work more efficient and time-bound.
IPPAN President Mohan Kumar Dangi said the DoED is the first point of contact for private power developers and called for easier and more predictable regulatory procedures.
No licence cancellation over delayed PPA
IPPAN has urged the government to revise the provision allowing generation licences to be cancelled if developers fail to achieve financial closure within two years.
Dangi argued that projects should not lose their licences when financial closure is delayed because the Nepal Electricity Authority has not signed power purchase agreements (PPAs).
“When a PPA itself cannot be concluded, how can a project achieve financial closure?” Dangi said, arguing that developers should not be penalised for delays caused by government agencies.
The association has also called for generation and transmission licences to be issued together and for overlapping approval procedures within the department to be replaced by an integrated, time-bound system.
Environmental process, disaster relief
IPPAN has sought simpler IEE and EIA procedures, including allowing supplementary environmental studies for minor design changes instead of requiring entirely new assessments. It has also called for a review of repeated public-hearing requirements and retention of a 50-year generation licence period under the Electricity Act.
For projects damaged by floods and other disasters, IPPAN has sought at least a two-year licence extension and customs and duty exemptions on machinery and spare parts required for reconstruction.
The association also wants licences protected when delays are caused by government agencies, environmental approvals or force majeure rather than developers.
IPPAN has urged the government to promote shared transmission lines for projects in the same river corridor, facilitate solar projects seeking design or capacity changes, and establish compensation mechanisms for downstream projects affected by large upstream storage projects.
It also called for priority relief and concessions for projects delayed by floods, environmental procedures, government agencies or force majeure events.
