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1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 General "As the twenty first century nears, some two billion people - 70% of the population in the developing countries - still rely on fuelwood, other biomass and kerosene for light and power. In these 400 million households, noxious fumes are a serious health risk; families are prevented from engaging in house based income earning activities after dark; and children who are unable to do homework at night are handicapped in school. The lure of bright light draws millions of these people each year to already overcrowded cities. Many governments have responded to rural energy needs with aggressive electrification programme only to find they can not afford the massive power plants required or the cost of running wires (up to $60,000 per running kilometre in Nepal) to the thousands of villages that are cut off from the electric grid"(reference 28). Besides the above facts, the World Bank has estimated that energy equivalent to over 10 million megawatts will be needed this decade and even if their figure are off by 50%, the major countries are still frantic to find as many contributing sources of power by any means particularly via renewable energy sources which produce no greenhouse gasses. Since the first oil embargo in the 1970s, the threat of increased prices for petroleum products has increased interest in harnessing renewable energy resources. Over the succeeding years, interest has waxed and waned, although the net movement has clearly been upward, fueled by technological improvements and increased awareness of the equipment available to achieve this. More recently, an increasing realization of the impact of conventional energy generation on the environment, especially through carbon emissions, has increased interest in the renewable option. The realization of the continuing interest in accessing energy in rural areas, the inability of the national utility to meet this through grid extension, and the widespread availability of indigenous renewable energy sources has further contributed to interest in this option. And finally, recognizing that the exploitation of fossil fuels cannot be sustained forces one to acknowledge that, barring any unexpected development in harnessing power from nuclear fusion, renewables are considered to be the only alternative. 1.2 Renewable Energy Options in Nepal Nepal has a population of approximately 20 million people; 80% of which live in remote areas and most of them have no electricity facilities. Because of the rugged terrain and other geographical difficulties, these rural areas are very costly to reach by extending the already overburden electric grid. Wind and solar energy exploitation evolves sophisticated technology which are capital intensive. Installation of micro and mini hydro power plants too is not feasible in many areas due to unavailability of perennial water sources. Hence, in order to solve the energy problem of Nepal's remote areas; a fast, easily implemented, cost efficient, small scale, completely decentralized renewable alternative which is technically feasible and economically viable has to be promoted. Biogas is well realized to be such alternative in Nepalese context. Though the dissemination of biogas plant in Nepal in an experimental basis began some forty years back, the government of Nepal took real interest in this technology as a possible alternative to traditional biomass fuel in the rural areas only after twenty years in 1975 to commemorate the Agriculture Year by providing interest free subsidized loans to install biogas plants. The Energy Research and Development Group' established under the Tribhuvan University in the wake of the world energy crisis also contributed positively on biogas technology development. At tile same time, realization of the growing rural energy scarcity and the effect of traditional biomass fuel on the environment necessitated search for viable technology options on the part of the technology disseminators and biogas was considered suitable to be one such alternate. Thus, in 1977, Gobar Gas and Agricultural Equipment Development Company Private Limited, popularly known as GGC, was established to initiate concrete programmes to popularize biogas technology. Among many objectives; GGC aimed at quicker dissemination of the technology for providing energy in clean and unpolluting form, reducing pressure on dwindling firewood supplies and prevent indiscriminate deforestation, eliminating the smoke filled cooking environment to prevent smoke-borne diseases and reduce drudgery, and making available enriched fertilizer as a by product for supplementing and optimizing the use of chemical fertilizers.
In the open context of HMG/N's economic liberalization programme, other new biogas construction companies started emerging since early 1990s. Realizing the usefulness and appropriateness of the technology, the Government of Nepal has supported the wider installation of biogas plants throughout the country. Most of the existing plants in Nepal have been constructed by the GGC while ADB/N has provided necessary loans to the farmers to finance the cost of the plants. In 1992, a joint programme of ADB/N, GGC and <strong>SNV</strong>-Nepal known as Biogas Support Programme' started with one of its objectives to construct 20 ; 000 biogas plants in the period 1992-1997 by provision of investment subsidy. Since 1994, <strong>SNV</strong>-Nepal started working with other two banks namely RBB and NBL and other private companies including GGC under the framework of BSP. The Dutch Government provided various assistance including the investment subsidy of Rs. 7000.00 in the Terai and Rs. 10,000.00 in hills of Nepal for the installation of biogas plants through BSP during the first and second phases of the programme that concluded in July 1997. The proposed third phase of the programme is to start soon. The Dutch government through DG1S and the German government through KfW have agreed to provide financial and technical assistance to HMG/N to implement biogas related activities for the period 1997-2002. The programme will be HMG/N's major vehicle for the introduction and dissemination of biogas plant and technology as a whole. 1.3 Study Rationale BSP has realized that the success of the programme will not only depend on the number of plants installed but also on the effects of the plants on users. For the proper functioning of the installed biogas plants, the design, the quality of construction and workmanship as well as the future provision of effective operation and maintenance and other after-sales-services play a vital role. Besides this, the effects of biogas plants on the users is one of the key factors of concern for the success of the whole BSP. Because of this, BSP, in its series of activities in the extension and promotion of biogas technology, started to conduct Biogas Users' Survey in 1993 to monitor the effects of biogas plants on users through a survey of 100 random sampled households who installed the GGC biogas plants during F.Y. 1992-93 in different parts of the country. Similar study was conducted in 1993-94. In 1994-95, randomly sampled 100 biogas households who installed RGG and NBG biogas plant were selected for similar study. This study is the continuation of similar studies which aimed at assessing effects of biogas plants on users through a survey of 100 randomly sampled households who installed NGG, NRG and PGG biogas plants during 1993-95 (please refer to Annex-1). 1.4 Objective and Scope of the Study The major objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of biogas on the users of plants constructed by NGG, NRG and PGG in F.Y. 1994-95 and 1995-96. The terms of reference of the study has been attached as Annex 17. In order to achieve the overall objective of the study, the scope of work included the collection of information on the following aspects. • Socio-economic characteristics of the sampled biogas households such as ethnicity, family size, educational level, land holding, livestock ownership and other relevant aspects. • Construction and financing of biogas plant, including the reason for installation of biogas plant, type and size of plants, cost of plants and methods of financing and loan repayment status. • Technical aspects of plant construction including construction management, site selection, provision of latrine connection and quality of construction. • Effects of biogas on biogas related activities such as cattle-raising, fodder collection, herding, watercollection, plant feeding, collection of cooking fuel, cooking, cleaning of cooking vessels, lighting etc. • Household economic, health, social & environmental effects of biogas on the users. • Effects of biogas on the workload of women & other household members and extension of biogas technology. • Operation and maintenance of biogas plants including post-construction services provided by the
Page 1 and 2: BIOGAS SUPPORT PROGRAMME (BSP) Fina
Page 3 and 4: Table of Contents ABBREVIATIONS ...
Page 5 and 6: ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ADB/N -
Page 7 and 8: Table - 37 : Cross-Table Showing Re
Page 9 and 10: ABSTRACTS • In order to solve the
Page 11 and 12: majority of sampled plants fall und
Page 17: 1.0 INTRODUCTION
Page 21 and 22: iv. Observation of kitchen and the
Page 23: 1.6.3 Pokhara Gobar Gas Sewa Kendra
Page 27 and 28: 2.0 CHARACTERISTICS OF PLANT OWNER
Page 29 and 30: 2.5.2 Land Holding In rural Nepal,
Page 31 and 32: Table - 8 (a) : Educational Status
Page 33 and 34: 3.0 CONSTRUCTION, OPERATION AND MAI
Page 35 and 36: Table-14(a): Relationship Of Plant
Page 37 and 38: i. Dung Feeding Biogas plants requi
Page 39 and 40: epair and maintenance works by thei
Page 41 and 42: 3.4.2 After-sale-services Biogas co
Page 43 and 44: 4.0 FINANCING OF BIOGAS PLANT Recog
Page 45 and 46: Figure- 4(b) : No. of Biogas Plants
Page 47 and 48: 4.3 Cost of Biogas Plants The total
Page 49 and 50: 5.0 PERFORMANCE OF BIOGAS PLANTS
Page 51 and 52: It was found that more than 50% of
Page 53 and 54: Table - 38 : List of Plants Whose G
Page 55 and 56: 5.5 Overall Performance The overall
Page 57 and 58: 6.0 EFFECTS OF BIOGAS PLANT The pro
Page 59 and 60: When asked if they are satisfied wi
Page 61 and 62: condition of the family. 3% of them
Page 63 and 64: Attempts were also made to assess t
Page 65 and 66: and sanitation impacts are summariz
Page 67 and 68: Another factor to be considered is
Page 69 and 70:
USERS PERCEPTION The study team col
Page 71 and 72:
Table- 55 : Merits Of Biogas Plant
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8.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
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8. It is important to ensure that t
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9.0 REFERENCES 1. HMG/N & SNV/Nepal
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ANNEXES
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Annex—1 : General Information on
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Annex-2: Family size & Land Holding
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Annex - 3: Information on Productio
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Annex-4: Information on Fuel Use S.
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Annex - 5: Information on Plant fee
Page 91 and 92:
Annex - 6: Operation of Biogas Plan
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Annex - 7: Information on repair &
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Annex—8: Information on Time Allo
Page 97 and 98:
Annex - 9: Information on Impacts o
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Annex - 10: Information on Impact o
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Annex - 11: Information on on Impac
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Annex - 12: Information on Gas Use
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Annex - 13: Information on Financin
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Annex - 14: Physical condition of t
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Annex-14: Physical condition of the
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Annex-15: Weighted Average rating o
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TERMS Of REFERENCE for BIOGAS USERS
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6. Budget The budget required by th
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