Productive Use of the Renewable Energy (PURE) Platform

Organisers: ICIMOD, CEAPRED

About the event

The global agriculture sector is undergoing a transformative phase with a shift towards sustainable and eco-friendly practices, particularly in response to climate change and dwindling conventional energy sources. In Nepal, agriculture is pivotal to the economy and livelihoods and yet the use of energy for agriculture is low. Currently, 60% of cultivable land in Nepal does not have access to irrigation, let alone irrigation based on renewable energy. The current lack of adoption represents a missed opportunity for climate adaptation measures in the sector, hindering its efficiency and resilience.

Recognising this gap, the ‘GEM Project’, supported by the Royal Government of Norway, seeks to catalyse climate-resilient agriculture by developing innovative platform and framework that enable government agencies, development partners and the private sector to identify the potential for integration of renewable energy solutions and their productive applications. Under this backdrop, ICIMOD has developed a Productive Use of Renewable Energy (PURE) platform, in collaboration with the Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC), which allows to assess the lift irrigation opportunities in different parts of the country using grid electricity and other off-grid solutions.

This one-day training is being conducted for government stakeholders responsible for planning and designing lift irrigation projects at the provincial and municipality levels.

Objectives

• Provide a walk through of the PURE Platform and its functions
• Generate energy demand for lift irrigation in their working areas (districts, provinces, etc) and their current plans through group work
• Develop recommendations on the engagement plan to integrate the platform for planning and suggestions for improvements

Expected output

• District/province-level demand and current investments or systems
• Recommendations on mechanisms for integration and engagement plans such as capacity building or other activities
• Recommendations for improvements

About the platform

The PURE 2 platform was created using climate data from NASA power, crop data published by FAO, a soil map from NARC, a land cover map 2021 prepared by ICIMOD, irrigated map from the Department of Water Resources and Irrigation published on their website, digital elevation model from NASA Shuttle Radar Topography, soil data (texture and depth) from FAO, map of transmission and distribution lines from NEA, map of Nepal river network from hydro SHEDs. The crop water requirements at different locations were estimated using CROPWAT Software. The investment cost for the lift irrigation has been estimated using the specific cost estimated by analysing the best-fit curve using costs contained in 35 bidding documents procured by various agencies in Nepal. Based on the inputs, the platform generates outputs – potential area, source of electricity, estimated power and investment requirements at district and provincial levels.