National Rural and Renewable Energy Programme (Nepal)

The development objectives of the National Rural and Renewable Energy Programme (NRREP) are:

• To improve the living standard of rural women and men
• Increase employment and productivity of women and men
• Reduce dependency on traditional energy
• Attain sustainable development through integrating the alternative energy with the socioeconomic activities of women and men in rural communities

NRREP has a clear emphasis on effectively reaching out to the more remote and poorest part of the country. It will apply demand-led approaches actively involving beneficiaries in decision making, and support use of energy for productive purposes leading to income and employment increase in rural areas, and it has mainstreamed Gender and Social Inclusion into the programme at all levels. The NRREP will also have a positive effect on environment and climate change in Nepal. 

Specific activities of NRREP are addressing opportunities for benefits accruing from the Clean Development Mechanism and other climate finance mechanisms, potentially leading to a stream of income being generated for the CREF. Where introduction and scaling up of RETs have negative environmental consequences (used batteries for solar systems, emissions from MSMEs in areas where micro hydropower is being developed or impact from micro hydropower from events such as flash floods) mitigation measures are part of the NRREP design.