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Nepal has very large hydropower potential (about 83,000 MW theoretical, of which about 42,000 MW is considered economically feasible), and hydropower is almost the only source of its grid electricity. In the last decade, generation and consumption have risen strongly. The figures below are approximate.

1. Ending of load-shedding

Until 2015 Nepal had up to 14 to 18 hours of power cuts a day in the dry season. After the completion of projects and improvements in the grid and in imports from India, load-shedding was declared ended in 2016 and the supply has been reliable since.

2. Growth in capacity and generation

• Installed capacity was only a little over 1,000 MW around 2018. It roughly doubled by about 2022 and went above 3,000 MW by 2024.
• Projects such as Upper Tamakoshi (456 MW, fully operating from 2021), Kulekhani III, Chameliya, Rahughat and many private run-of-river plants added the new supply.
• The share of hydropower in domestic generation is above 90%.

3. Rising consumption

• Per capita electricity consumption has risen from about 100 to 150 kWh in the early 2010s to over 300 kWh now.
• Access to electricity has risen to about 95% of the population.
• Demand has grown in households, industry, irrigation, cooking (induction stoves) and electric vehicles.

4. Export and the wet/dry-season problem

Nepal has surplus power in the wet season (monsoon) and a shortage in the dry season, as most plants are run-of-river. From 2021 Nepal began exporting surplus power to India and later also to Bangladesh through India, while still importing in the dry season.

Conclusion. Over the past ten years, Nepal has moved from severe shortage to surplus in the wet season, and consumption has risen steadily. The challenges that remain are storage projects, transmission lines, reducing the dry-season deficit and increasing domestic use.