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Renewable energy production needs serious attention in highly traditional, inefficient, and energy-dependent countries like Nepal. Moreover, the option of an effective renewable energy technology that is economically feasible and environmentally acceptable is a topic of interest due to the availability of various types of renewable energy sources in Nepal. Among other renewable energy sources like micro hydro, solar, biogas etc, very few studies had been conducted on wind energy sources in Nepal and those few studies also focuses mostly on large scale wind farming. So, this study analyzes the suitability of distributed wind energy production in Tila village of Jumla district in the western part of Nepal. Five-year (2015-2019) wind speed data were examined to obtain wind power density and energy density. Two-parameter Weibull probability density function was used to evaluate these two quantities. The annual Weibull parameters k and c of 1.73 and 4.21 m/s were obtained to calculate 43.79 W/m2 power density and 378.37 kWh/m2 energy density. This study also provides the economic evaluation of a 100 kW distributed wind energy system, and the technical and economic aspects of the proposed system are compared with the corresponding characteristics of the existing renewable energy systems, i.e., micro hydropower and solar power. The study shows that when there is not enough sunlight for the solar PV system and not enough water flow coupled with maintenance problems in the micro hydropower system, the distributed wind energy system may function as a substitute system.

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The percentage of the populationremaining to get connected to electricity has decreasedfrom 35 % to 4.5 % in this decade. However, 1.3 millionout of 29 million Nepal’s population still need to beconnected to an electricity supply. As most of thispopulation lives in Karnali State, exploitation ofrenewable energy needs serious attention in this regionas other energy sources are expensive and beyond reach.Choosing a suitable renewable energy technology that iseconomically feasible and environmentally acceptable isa topic of interest among researchers. Using one of theDecision Support systems helps in making easier choicefor policy makers and government levels. In this case theresearch here-within evaluates among three renewableenergy options, i.e., Micro-hydro, Solar Power and Windpower. The research shows that Microhydro would bebest suited option in case of Jumla.

An outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection occurred in Wuhan, China at the end of December 2019 and spread of this virus already reached to almost 210 countries around the world. WHO declared COVID-19 as ‘global pandemic’ on 11 March, 2020 and accounted South Asia as the high-risk region. Nepal, a landlocked country bordering two most populous countries, India and China, was expected to have high number of cases of COVID-19 due to its proximity to the highly infected country China, and lately spreading country India. Also, many of the Nepali people are engaged in the businesses related with China and India. However, there has been very few reported cases in Nepal. The first case was reported on 24th January 2020, one and half months after the first case was confirmed in China. It took almost three months for the number of cases to reach 45 and to kick off the community spread stage of the pandemic. This research presented the detailed situation of the cases, testing facilities, quarantine and isolation, hospital, and nursing care etc. before the start of Community Transmission stage in Nepal. The scenario has been represented graphically and the condition of other South Asian nations has also been compared and visualized. The steps taken by the government, individuals, and other organizations are also highlighted. This paper also provides the concrete data and their analysis about the pandemic which can be helpful not only for the current but also for the future pandemic controls. KEYWORDS: COVID-19, coronavirus diseases 2019, global pandemic, South Asia, Nepal