With rising energy demand in the country and for the purpose of energy security, it is important for Bhutan to trap other renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and bioenergy. The Renewable Readiness Assessment report was launched today.
It says Bhutan has the potential to deploy other renewable sources besides hydropower.
According to the officials of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the assessment report is the first step towards achieving mix energy in the country. As per the report, the renewable energy landscape in Bhutan is dominated by hydropower. However, hydropower is sensitive to change in seasonal weather patterns. The report says this kind of power generation is more vulnerable to variation in rainfall patterns and also climate change.
“We are looking into how to diversify the energy mix in order to make it more resilient to climate change and eliminate the impacts the country is facing with the changing water regime that consequently is having an impact on the hydropower generation,” said Gürbüz Gönül, the Director for Country Support and Partnership at IRENA.
While Bhutan exports a significant portion of electricity to India in summer, Bhutan imports from India in the winter because of the dry season.
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eanwhile, the report has also found that wind speed in Bhutan is high from November to April. Therefore wind can compliment hydropower as it coincides the period when hydro resources are short. On the other hand, Hydropower is also vulnerable to climate change thereby raising energy security concerns.
The report states Bhutan can easily reap close to 760 megawatts of wind energy and around 12 gigawatts of 
solar energy. However, the country’s current installed capacity for renewable energy apart from large hydro plants is only 9 megawatts.
The report also provided recommendations for a smooth transition towards renewable energy such as strengthening policy and regulatory framework, enhancing capacity, skills and awareness. The assessment report was prepared by the Ministry of Economic Affairs in collaboration with IRENA.
Kinley Dem
