Shangsa 30 KWp Solar Photovoltaic System Project
©Department of Energy
Electrification of Shangsa Community through Installation of a 30kWp Off-Grid Solar Plant.
Lunana Gewog, under Gasa District is one of the remotest places of the country with a total area of 1,716.26 sq.km. It is located in the extreme northwest of the country. One of the biggest challenges for the Lunana community is lack of road connectivity and access to clean and reliable energy sources. From the nearest road point, people residing have to undertake a week-long journey over mountain passes exceeding El. 5,000masl. Additionally, the entire Gewog falls under the national protected area and biological corridor of Jigme Dorji National Park (JDNP). This gewog is the site of some of the notable and precarious glaciers of Bhutan such as thorthomi lake (tsho), luggye tsho and Raphstreng tsho.
The Gewog consists of five (5) chiwogs with thirteen (13) villages. According to the Population and Census Record 2015, the population of Gewog is 810 with 185 households. In addition to the residents, there are various institutions present in the Gewog, including schools, administrative offices, BHU, forest park office, etc.
Lunana experiences climate conditions ranging from temperate to alpine with extremely cold winters, and short pleasant summers. During winter, Lunana communities experience heavy snowfall which keeps them snow bound as the mountain passes become inaccessible to the neighboring gewogs and dzongkhags.
Communities depend on the standalone solar home lighting systems of capacity ranging from 12 Watt with battery capacity of 12V, 60Ah, which caters to basic lighting and charging of mobile phones only. In the absence of reliable and adequate power supply, people still rely on primary energy resources like firewood and yak dung for heating and cooking needs.
As per the findings of the feasibility study conducted for development of mini-hydropower plant in 2019, each household consumes about 2.9 tons of firewood annually which equates to 502 tons of annual firewood consumption in total considering households across the villages in Lunana.
Communities with Officials
