SNV celebrated the construction of over 200,000 biogas plants in Nepal along with the President of Nepal who attended the ceremony as chief guest.  SNV, along with relevant stakeholders, has been the architect of Nepal’s Biogas Support Programme to create a vibrant biogas sub-sector as a means to increase the access of 1.2 million rural people to clean and sustainable energy.

The celebration which came at the tail-end of a three day long International Workshop on Domestic Biogas, further cemented SNV’s achievement in creating a successful public private partnership model for the effective development, promotion and dissemination of biogas plants across all 75 districts of Nepal – a model that is being replicated across Asia and Africa. 

The President of Nepal, Dr. Ram Baran Yadav inaugurated the celebration session with the ceremonial lighting of a biogas lamp.  He was joined on the pulpit by SNV Chief Executive Dirk Elsen, SNV Country Director of Nepal Hans Heijdra, Acting Head of Mission of the German Embassy, and Ministers and Secretaries from both the Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Energy.

As of July 2009, SNV has assisted in the construction of 204,490 biogas plants across Nepal to provide 1,277,000 rural people with access to clean and sustainable energy and a further 9,000 people with income and employment opportunities. It is estimated that a single biogas plant reduces the workload – of mainly women – by three hours, significantly reduces indoor air pollution, and improves sanitation and hygiene practices.  Furthermore, each biogas plant saves 3000 kg of firewood and 40 litres of kerosene consumption, reducing over 4 tons of CO2 emissions annually.

Nepal’s biogas programme began in 1992 when a development cooperation agreement was signed between the Government of Nepal and SNV Netherlands Development Organisation.  Five years on, the German Development Bank KfW joined the partnership by providing additional funding support to further up scale the programme.