Despite having enormous potential in power generation through hydropower plants, Nepal has been facing an uphill battle for decades to solve the nation's power demand.

It is kind of weird fact that despite  having enormous potential in power generation through hydropower plants, Nepalese have to live in dreadful power crisis-load shedding for biggest hydropower day in average.

It must be acknowledged that the power  demands are very high compared to production which can be solved only by development of hydropower plants in Nepal.
Bestowed with 2.27% of the world water resources, Nepal is the second richest country in inland water resources. The perennial nature of rivers and the steep gradient of the country's topography provide ideal conditions for the development of hydropower.

Kaligandaki Hydropower

Theoretical hydropower potential of the country in terms of electrical energy is 727,000 GWh and 145,900 GWh per year respectively based on average and 95% exceedance flow. In terms of megawatts, the potential is estimated at 83,000 MW, of which half i.e. 40,000 MW is considered to be technically and economically viable. However, Nepal till date has been able to develop only approximately 800 MW of hydropower.

Nepal's electricity generation is dominated by hydropower, though in the entire scenario of energy use of the country, the electricity is a tiny fraction, only 1% energy need is fulfilled by electricity. The bulk of the energy need is dominated by fuel wood (68%), agricultural waste (15%), animal dung (8%) and imported fos Most of the power plants are run-of-river type with energy available in excess of the in-country demand during the monsoon season and deficit during the dry season. This imbalance clearly stresses the need for storage projects. There is only one seasonal storage project in the system.

Despite liberalization of the state policies allowing private investors to build and operate hydropower projects in Nepal, and a strong demand for power in the country, significant developments have not yet happened.

Until 1990, hydropower development was under the domain of government utility, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) only. However, with the enactment of new Hydropower Development Policy 1992, the sector was opened to the private sector also. There are number of projects already built by the private developers. Private power producers contribute 148 MW of power to the ‘Integrated Nepal Power System'.

The major hydropower plants with their capacity are listed in the table as follows:

Power Plants in Operation:

In Asia, the biggest producers of hydropower in terms of high percentage of hydropower dependence are Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Vietnam.In terms of actual hydropower production, the biggest hydropower producers are China, India and S.Korea.