Geo-Enabled Sustainable Municipal Energy Planning for Comprehensive Accessibility: A Case in the New Federal Context of Nepal
Energy is a fundamental need of modern society and a basis for economic and social development, and one of the major Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), particularly SDG7. However, the UN’s SDG Report 2021 betrays millions of people living without electricity and one-third of the world’s population...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-05-01
|
| Series: | ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/11/5/304 |
| _version_ | 1797499353174114304 |
|---|---|
| author | Hari Krishna Dhonju Bikash Uprety Wen Xiao |
| author_facet | Hari Krishna Dhonju Bikash Uprety Wen Xiao |
| author_sort | Hari Krishna Dhonju |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Energy is a fundamental need of modern society and a basis for economic and social development, and one of the major Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), particularly SDG7. However, the UN’s SDG Report 2021 betrays millions of people living without electricity and one-third of the world’s population deprived of using modern energy cooking services (MECS) through access to electricity. Achieving the SDG7 requires standard approaches and tools that effectively address the geographical, infrastructural, and socioeconomic characteristics of a (rural) municipality of Nepal. Furthermore, Nepal’s Constitution 2015 incorporated a federal system under the purview of a municipality as the local government that has been given the mandate to ensure electricity access and clean energy. To address this, a methodology is developed for local government planning in Nepal in order to identify the optimal mix of electrification options by conducting a detailed geospatial analysis of renewable energy (RE) technologies by exploring accessibility and availability ranging from grid extensions to mini-grid and off-grid solutions, based on (a) life cycle cost and (b) levelized cost of energy. During energy assessment, geospatial and socio-economic data are coupled with household and community level data collected from a mobile survey app, and are exploited to garner energy status-quo and enable local governments to assess the existing situation of energy access/availability and planning. In summary, this paper presents a geo-enabled municipal energy planning method and a comprehensive toolkit to facilitate sustainable energy access to local people. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:46:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3706e30b3ab345eaa64a1d9b5181a4a4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2220-9964 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:46:12Z |
| publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information |
| spelling | doaj.art-3706e30b3ab345eaa64a1d9b5181a4a42023-11-23T11:19:56ZengMDPI AGISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information2220-99642022-05-0111530410.3390/ijgi11050304Geo-Enabled Sustainable Municipal Energy Planning for Comprehensive Accessibility: A Case in the New Federal Context of NepalHari Krishna Dhonju0Bikash Uprety1Wen Xiao2Pathway Technologies and Services Pvt. Ltd., Kathmandu 44600, NepalREEEP, GIZ, Kathmandu 65760, NepalSchool of Geography and Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, ChinaEnergy is a fundamental need of modern society and a basis for economic and social development, and one of the major Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), particularly SDG7. However, the UN’s SDG Report 2021 betrays millions of people living without electricity and one-third of the world’s population deprived of using modern energy cooking services (MECS) through access to electricity. Achieving the SDG7 requires standard approaches and tools that effectively address the geographical, infrastructural, and socioeconomic characteristics of a (rural) municipality of Nepal. Furthermore, Nepal’s Constitution 2015 incorporated a federal system under the purview of a municipality as the local government that has been given the mandate to ensure electricity access and clean energy. To address this, a methodology is developed for local government planning in Nepal in order to identify the optimal mix of electrification options by conducting a detailed geospatial analysis of renewable energy (RE) technologies by exploring accessibility and availability ranging from grid extensions to mini-grid and off-grid solutions, based on (a) life cycle cost and (b) levelized cost of energy. During energy assessment, geospatial and socio-economic data are coupled with household and community level data collected from a mobile survey app, and are exploited to garner energy status-quo and enable local governments to assess the existing situation of energy access/availability and planning. In summary, this paper presents a geo-enabled municipal energy planning method and a comprehensive toolkit to facilitate sustainable energy access to local people.https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/11/5/304geospatialgrid samplingrenewable energyenergy accessibilitybest available technologymunicipal energy planning |
| spellingShingle | Hari Krishna Dhonju Bikash Uprety Wen Xiao Geo-Enabled Sustainable Municipal Energy Planning for Comprehensive Accessibility: A Case in the New Federal Context of Nepal ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information geospatial grid sampling renewable energy energy accessibility best available technology municipal energy planning |
| title | Geo-Enabled Sustainable Municipal Energy Planning for Comprehensive Accessibility: A Case in the New Federal Context of Nepal |
| title_full | Geo-Enabled Sustainable Municipal Energy Planning for Comprehensive Accessibility: A Case in the New Federal Context of Nepal |
| title_fullStr | Geo-Enabled Sustainable Municipal Energy Planning for Comprehensive Accessibility: A Case in the New Federal Context of Nepal |
| title_full_unstemmed | Geo-Enabled Sustainable Municipal Energy Planning for Comprehensive Accessibility: A Case in the New Federal Context of Nepal |
| title_short | Geo-Enabled Sustainable Municipal Energy Planning for Comprehensive Accessibility: A Case in the New Federal Context of Nepal |
| title_sort | geo enabled sustainable municipal energy planning for comprehensive accessibility a case in the new federal context of nepal |
| topic | geospatial grid sampling renewable energy energy accessibility best available technology municipal energy planning |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/11/5/304 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT harikrishnadhonju geoenabledsustainablemunicipalenergyplanningforcomprehensiveaccessibilityacaseinthenewfederalcontextofnepal AT bikashuprety geoenabledsustainablemunicipalenergyplanningforcomprehensiveaccessibilityacaseinthenewfederalcontextofnepal AT wenxiao geoenabledsustainablemunicipalenergyplanningforcomprehensiveaccessibilityacaseinthenewfederalcontextofnepal |