How Nepal powers itself
A grid that runs on rivers, a kitchen that still runs on firewood, and a fuel tank that runs entirely on imports. Nepal's energy story is really three stories — here they are, side by side.
Installed capacity
≈3,200 MW
~98% hydropower
Electrification
≈95%
of the population
From firewood
≈65%
of total energy used
Petroleum
100%
imported, the top import
Electricity by source
Installed grid capacity, ≈3,200 MW.
- HydropowerRun-of-river + a little storage92%
- Solar (grid)Utility & rooftop, growing fast3%
- Thermal (diesel, standby)Largely idle backup2%
- Imported / cross-borderDry-season top-up from India3%
Total energy by fuel
All final energy — where electricity is only a slice.
Mostly household cooking and heating.
Transport, LPG cooking, industry — all imported.
Almost entirely hydropower; rising as the grid expands.
Brick kilns and cement.
Biogas, solar, micro-hydro.
Approximate shares for the mid-2020s. The contrast is the point: Nepal's electricity is clean and hydro-based, but its total energy is still mostly firewood and imported fuel.
The pieces of Nepal's energy mix
From the rivers that light the grid to the dung that fuels the stove — and the petroleum that has to be bought from abroad.
Hydropower
जलविद्युतBackbone — ~98% of grid power
Nepal's rivers carry one of the world's largest hydropower potentials. The grid is now in wet-season surplus, exporting to India, but mostly run-of-river plants mean a dry-season squeeze until more storage is built.
Potential: ≈42,000 MW economically feasible
See every hydropower plant →Solar
सौर्य ऊर्जाSmall but fastest-growing
Utility-scale solar farms are being added to firm up the dry-season grid, while AEPC has put solar home systems on more than a million off-grid roofs. Solar is central to plans for a balanced, all-season supply.
Biogas
गोबर ग्यासA rural success story
Hundreds of thousands of household biogas plants turn cattle dung into clean cooking gas, cutting firewood use and indoor smoke — one of the developing world's largest domestic biogas programmes, led by AEPC.
Petroleum (imported)
पेट्रोलियम100% imported — the biggest import bill
Nepal produces no oil or gas and imports every litre of diesel, petrol, LPG and aviation fuel through the Nepal Oil Corporation, almost all from India. Petroleum is consistently the country's single largest import category.
Biomass / firewood
दाउराStill the largest single energy source
Firewood, agricultural residue and dung remain the majority of Nepal's total energy use, overwhelmingly for cooking in rural homes. Replacing it with electricity and LPG is a central development and health goal.
Wind & micro-hydro
वायु ऊर्जाNiche, locally important
Wind is largely untapped beyond pilot turbines, while micro- and mini-hydro have electrified remote hills for decades where the national grid does not reach.
Nepal's energy, answered
What are Nepal's main sources of energy?+
Nepal's electricity is almost entirely hydropower (~98% of installed capacity), with small but growing solar. But total energy use tells a different story: firewood and other biomass still supply most of the country's energy — mainly for cooking — followed by imported petroleum, electricity and coal.
Does Nepal use renewable energy?+
Yes — overwhelmingly. Hydropower makes Nepal's grid one of the cleanest in the world, and the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre has spread solar home systems, household biogas and micro-hydro across rural areas. The challenge is dry-season supply and replacing firewood for cooking.
Does Nepal import energy?+
Nepal imports 100% of its petroleum (diesel, petrol, LPG, aviation fuel) and some coal, almost entirely from India — petroleum is consistently Nepal's single largest import. For electricity, Nepal now exports surplus hydropower to India in the wet season and imports some in the dry season.
How much of Nepal has electricity?+
Around 95% of the population has access to electricity through the national grid and off-grid solar, up from well under half two decades ago. Per-capita electricity use is still low at roughly 380 kWh a year.
What is Nepal's hydropower potential?+
Nepal is estimated to have about 42,000 MW of economically feasible hydropower potential (and far more in theory), against roughly 3,200 MW installed in the mid-2020s — so only a small fraction is developed so far.
Sources & data note
All figures are approximate and reflect the mid-2020s; energy data shift year to year and vary by source. Drawn from NEA, AEPC, WECS, NOC and Nepal Rastra Bank trade data. Treat them as orders of magnitude. The commentary is Amarnepal's own.