RERA Approach Renewable Energy for Rural Areas (RERA) is a joint technical support programme for the Nepali decentralized renewable energy sector by the Government of Nepal (GoN) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

RERA is jointly implemented by Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and runds from  the project runs from December 2017 to September 2019.

The vision of RERA is “to ensure efficient and effective service delivery of decentralized reneable energy through improved outreach and enhanced local cooperation in federalized Nepal”. The programme aims to improve the energy situation for the rural households with no, or limited access to modern energy services, and focuses on Province 1 and 7. To achieve this goal and address the above mentioned sector challenges, RERA adapts a multi-level approach:

Facilitating the transformation of AEPC

The programme supports AEPC in transforming from an implementing agency to a support agency in order to adapt to the requirements of the federalized state. RERA works together with AEPC to develop a portfolio of services that will help provincial and local governments to plan, promote and implement decentralized renewable energy. Amongst others, these services include energy planning tools, model policies and regulations.

Capacitating provincial and local governments

RERA supports AEPC in setting up and operationalization of two Programme Implementation Units (PIU) in Province 1 and 7. The PIU are instrumental in delivering capacity building and organizational development to the provincial and local governments, as well as their administrative authorities. Thereby RERA will enable the provincial and local level to institutionalize RE in the new government structure and include it in their service portfolio, as well as develop effective support-programmes to scale-up renewable energy.

Developing sustainable markets

RERA is working with the private sector, civil society and banking institutions to improve the supply of renewable energy services and products. RERA is supporting local micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and service providers to improve their businesses and ensure after-sale-services. Additionally, the programme is working together with financial institutions to increase the access to finance for businesses and end-users to purchase and market energy products and services.

Empowering women and disadvantaged groups

In Nepal ethnic minorities, women and lower castes are still socially and economically marginalized. RERA empowers women and marginalized groups by ensuring their involvement in local-level planning and decision-making processes for promoting RE. Furthermore, the programme is working together with municipalities, provinces, AEPC and energy enterprises to safeguard that women and disadvantaged groups are equally benefitting from RETs.