CESPs are the Key
The communities, through the COs will be the driving force for the energy service provision and creation of the energy infrastructure. The communities will estimate their energy demand, which will be the basis for the procurement of solar energy equipment; they will receive comprehensive training on energy provision, technical issues (operation, basic repair and maintenance), business development, financial management, general management, the communities will be kept abreast of systems design, and they will be present in the commissioning tests and end-warranty period tests. Ultimately, the CESPs will become the owners of the solar energy equipment that the REP will procure

Focusing to well defined area
The Project focuses its activities in the districts that fulfill the criteria defined by the Financing Agreement signed by the European Commission and the GoN. The REP selected districts on basis of following criteria:

• Low electrification ratio
• No proven grid extension in next 5 years
• No proven potential for micro-hydro
• Low human development index
• High solar radiation
• Social mobilization structures and activities, such as REDP, DLGSP, MEDEP, REAP, are in place.

The districts selected for the REP implementation are:

Standardization and quality
REP believes that quality of the installed system components is one of the key factors that determine the sustainability of the system as a whole. Therefore adequate attention was paid while drafting the technical specifications of the solar energy system components to ensure that internationally accepted quality products are procured and installed. Like wise, standard sized product package are recommended for installations

 EDF Collection through COs

Energy Demand Collection: 

• 181 verified COs collected energy demand in their operational area
• Based on 11 pre-designed packages
• The CO collected 3,179  applications for solar energy syayem equaling 10MWp

Eligibility assessment of Received Application

Eligibility assessment of received application was conducted in two stages.
In the first stage, the emphasis was given to assess the institutional eligibility of end-user institution. The assessment includes whether the end-user institution falls under REP prioritized category such as school, health post etc.  Similarly, the size of demand (number and capacity) was taken as another parameter.  In this regard, minimum 3 system equivalent to 5 KWp was taken as basic. Likewise, system providing services to minimum 50 beneficiaries was considered to get REP support.   

In second stage of eligibility assessment, Battery Charging Station was removed from the REP package as the understanding reached between Executing Authority and PTF was that ESAP II could be a better alternative for that purpose.  During this stage, end users were prioritized and   precedence was given to those end-user involved in the delivery of basic social service. To this end, demand from schools, health posts and water pumping were given first priority. Similarly, demand for the purpose of community telecom center, computer literacy, community entertainment and milling were on second priority whereas private initiatives for community services were put into priority 3. 

Feasibility Survey
In order to fit the average demand all packages were re defined and feasibility was carried out based on 8 re defined packages. Technical feasibility of all eligible projects was assessed. The technical feasibility included analysis of a) space for solar array on roof/ground, b) solar irradiation, c) shading conditions, d) safety conditions, e) space for battery bank, etc. 

The water pumping systems were evaluated in terms of some additional parameters such as water demand, discharge of source water, height to which water is to be pumped, length of pipelines etc.

Finally, a total of 769 feasible projects have been considered for REP support as the feasibility and consolidation work was concluded. These projects cover the demands of around 168 COs which have been confirmed as REP partners, and will be transformed into CESPs through extensive capacity building efforts.

Project Supplies energy equipment
After successful commissioning, the ownership of the systems will be transferred to the respective CESPs.

It is estimated that around 1.5 million rural people from approximately 300 VDCs of the REP-districts will benefit from improved services due to the access to electricity.

Capacity Support
REP is strengthening the human capital of the AEPC and district technical/energy offices through the formal and on-the-job trainings. Institutional capacity building focus on areas related to promotion of renewable energy technologies, as well as to the monitoring and impact evaluation of renewable energy projects. In addition, REP provides support to the existing Management Information System of AEPC to accommodate the requirement of Institutional Solar Photovoltaic System and solar thermal equipment, and to link it to the GIS facilities of the National Planning Commission. At the community level, the project will provide capacity support to the CESPs to operate and manage the installed systems.