Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Pampha Bhusal, has said Nepal has the potential of taking a lead in the development of green hydrogen in the world.

Inaugurating ‘Nepal Green Hydrogen Summit’ here today, the minister said Nepal has abundant potential for green hydrogen production and its export.

“Commercial use of hydrogen is the result of the latest innovation. Its trade has not been eased yet. With sufficient availability of water resources in Nepal, the possibility of development of green hydrogen is relatively high here. So, Nepal could play a leading role in its production and trade,” the minister said.

The world is researching and studying hydrogen energy particularly with concern and priority, and various developing countries have intensified policy formulation for its production and utility and for its research and explorations.

Efforts to transform water resources into hydropower and green hydrogen are issues of high gravity in terms of Nepal’s economic prosperity, ecological safety, energy and food safety and sustainable development goals.

The government aims to promote the use of hydropower, increase per capita power consumption and use it for production of hydrogen energy, and ammonia and urea fertiliser production, according to the minister, who on the occasion shared that a feasibility study towards that end had been carried out already.

“The Nepal Electricity Authority and the Korea-based Global Green Growth Institute have signed a memorandum of understanding for the development of hydrogen energy,” said Bhusal.

She added the development of agricultural, tourism, industrial and hydropower sectors was the priority of the government as it was effortful to meet the SDGs by 2030 and realise the national goal of upgrading the nation to a middle-income country by 2026.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma said development and use of green hydrogen is the best way to address the global crisis caused by climate change and minimise carbon emissions.

He said that the issue of hydrogen and ammonia has been mentioned in the budget for current fiscal year.

“Nepal could sell hydrogen and ammonia, and the time has come for it to seek new technology and expand investment in the sector,” he said.

The country’s trade deficit could be narrowed by using green hydrogen as an alternative to petroleum products, he said, further assuring of formulation of suitable policies based on the recommendations of the two-day summit.