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Nepal's hydropower development: Predicament and dilemma in policy-making
Nepal, the world's second most water-rich country, nevertheless struggles to provide sufficient domestic electricity.
Despite Nepal's potential to become the hydropower source for South Asia, it still relies heavily on importing
electricity from India. This paper investigates why Nepal's hydropower capacity is inadequately utilized from both
domestic and international perspectives and finds that domestic factors such as geo-climate features, weak infrastructure, political instability, and institutional deficiencies significantly hinder Nepal's hydropower development. From an international perspective, Nepal's geopolitical bonds and energy dependency with India and the regional powersharing configuration have significantly influenced its hydropower policy-making. Furthermore, this paper proposes how Nepal could sustainably develop its hydropower for self-sufficiency by establishing better policy instruments, attracting foreign investments, and upgrading its electricity infrastructure.