Kathmandu / President of the Independent Power Producers' Association-Nepal (IPPAN) Krishna Prasad Acharya today said the government should pave the way for the private sector to trade electric power. The private sector has had a large investment in energy sector, he argued while speaking at the inaugural session of the 21st annual general meeting of the IPPAN today. 

He stressed the need for the country to make optimum utilisation of energy, the foundation of economic prosperity for a country. 

"Lately, carbon emission reduction has been a global issue. Nepal is one of the countries with efficacy to contribute to carbon reduction. There is much potentiality of clean energy in Nepal. There are potentiality of hydropower and solar energy," he said. 

Saying that increment of internal power consumption has been a challenge, he suggested increasing power consumption in industries, irrigation, electric ovens and electric vehicles.

The private sector could play a role in power consumption increment and energy export, he was of the view. 

Referring to the recent Indian visit of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', he said, "The visit focused on economic issues. More so, this focused on energy. This is a matter of happiness for power entrepreneurs."

The matter of reaching a memorandum of understanding to export 10,000 megawatts electricity during the visit was an important achievement itself for Nepal, he said.