Nepal has relied on hydropower for decades, but the country’s energy planners have started treating solar as a necessary complement rather than an afterthought. Hydropower generation in Nepal is seasonal, with output falling sharply in the dry winter months just as demand peaks, while solar irradiation is comparatively steady and can plug the gap. The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has responded with a series of competitive solar bidding rounds over the past three years, including an 800 MW tender that eventually drew commitments for 960 MW across 63 developers.

Nepal’s hydropower sector still runs on a licensing regime built around the Electricity Act, 2049 (1992) and the Companies Act, 2063 (2006), with a cluster of sector-specific policies layered on top over three decades. The Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation (MoEWRI) retains policy oversight and licensing authority. The Department of Electricity Development (DoED) issues survey and generation licences for certain threshold.