Wind Energy: Although government plans for developing the wind energy sector in Nepal have existed for some time, it is only since the establishment of AEPC in 1996 that serious research and development has taken place. Despite these efforts, wind energy is still in its infancy in Nepal and limited data is available for research and modeling. Nepal’s rugged geography presents another challenge to wind energy projects. Wind energy development projects carried out by the private sector and I/NGOs in the past have met with limited success, and unfortunately, some of the more viable efforts have folded due to lack of maintenance. A case in point is the Kagbeni wind power project which was one of the biggest projects to date. Installed in 1987 under Danish Government funding it was able to generate up to 20 kW before lack of maintenance shut it down. 400 watt small wind turbine.

SWERA project. The Solar and Wind Energy Resource Assessment (SWERA) project, a first of its kind in Nepal was implemented by Alternative Energy Promotion Center in joint in-country Partnership with Center for Energy studies/ IOE with the support from United Nations Environment Program/Global Environment Facility (UNEP/GEF). It was started in 2003 and completed at the end of December 2007 while its reports were submitted at the end of July 2008. Apart from SWERA project, AEPC has been monitoring continuously wind data from the potential sites of the country. Thini and Kagbeni sites of Mustang district have shown good wind potential and these sites could be developed for wind farming, as there is possibility of feeding the generated power into the national grid. Recorded wind data stations with time period are as follows. Okhaldhunga (Apr 2001-Aug 2005), Nagarkot (Bhaktapur) (Jun 2001-Apr 2006), Butwal (Rupandehi) (Mar 2001-Aug 2003), Kagbeni (Mustang) (Apr 2001-Feb 2006), Thini (Mustang) (Apr 2001-Jun 2007), Batase Danda (Palpa) (Sep 2003-Dec 2006), Ramechhap (Jul 2005-Oct 2007), Phakhel (Makwanpur) (Oct 2007-April 2009), AEPC building (Feb 2009-end of March 2009), Neta (Pyuthan) (Dec 2007-Feb 2011).

AEPC is also involved in action research of wind energy. The establishment of Wind – Solar Power Pilot Project in four sites is complete. The project sites were identified considering factors for safety, availability of attendants, cost effectiveness and demonstrability to rural community as well as sufficient availability of wind resource. All the systems have benefited backward rural population. Besides electrification a mechanical wind pumping systems was also piloted in Bhagauda VDC in Biratnagar.