Renewable energy development in Afghanistan (2015-2017) funded by Asian Development Bank

The technical assistance aimed to support the development of a renewable energy roadmap and renewable energy projects and increase the institutional capacity to plan and implement renewable energy projects.  The outputs of this assignment are – roadmap for renewable energy development in Afghanistan to achieve the RE policy targets of 5000 MW of generation by 2032; pre-feasibilities of four representative projects including diesel-solar-hybrids, solar-wind-diesel hybrids, mini-grids for off-grid areas and Kabul solar roof-top project; support for feasibility study at fifth project site (40 MW solar at Naghlu Hydro site) and organisation of capacity building programmes and workshops. Scope and activities included- (i) Preparation of RE Roadmap comprising of mapping of RE potential; decision tool to assess and prioritise renewable energy opportunities; benchmarking of costs of RE technologies in Afghanistan; prospective business models; financing options; assessment of barriers faced by public and private sectors in the development of RE sector, project development action plan to remove the barriers, criteria to select project sites, etc.; (ii) Site survey, load analysis, HOMER and PVsyst based design and optimisation for conducting pre-feasibilities for four representative projects; (iii) Detailed economic and financial analysis for fifth project site to be financed by ADB; (iv) Development of guidelines for setting up solar parks and Renewable Energy Service Companies (RESCO); and (v) Capacity gap assessment of various government departments and conducting targeted training programmes.