Nepal now sells more electricity than it buys
Power exported vs imported by the Nepal Electricity Authority, GWh, fiscal years ending mid-July, 2016–2025.
- 1. China now uses more electricity per person than the EU
- 2. Solar now makes more of Brazil's power than fossil fuels
- 3. Rooftop solar now outsizes coal on Australia's main grid
- 4. Volcanic heat makes nearly 45% of the power Kenya generates
- 5. France swung from power importer to record exporter
- 6. Over a quarter of China's new heavy trucks are electric
- 7. Nepal imports twice as many electric cars as petrol cars
- 8. The US now ships a quarter of the world's LNG
- 9. Kazakhstan mines more uranium than Canada and Namibia combined
- 10. Indonesia now mines two-thirds of the world's nickel
- 11. India had 27 million ACs for 1.3 billion people
- 12. Sun and wind now beat fossil fuels in Chile
- 13. Two in three rickshaws sold in India are electric
- 14. Argentina mined 60% more lithium in just one year
- 15. Ethiopia added over a third of Africa's new renewable power
- 16. Only 16 countries are building new coal power plants
- 17. Egypt's sun and wind now outproduce its Nile dams
- 18. The price of lithium fell 86% in three years
- 19. Pakistan now gets more power from solar than from coal
- 20. Oil now makes less than a third of Saudi power
- 21. The Philippines is building more solar than it already runs
- 22. Nine in ten Indonesians now cook with clean fuels
- 23. Rwanda spread electricity faster than any country since 2014
- 24. India's sun and wind now outproduce Germany's
- 25. Solar now beats coal in 25 of 81 coal-burning countries
- 26. Indonesia climbed from ninth to second among cobalt miners
- 27. Fossil fuels fell from all to two-thirds of UAE power
- 28. DR Congo tripled its copper mining in ten years
- 29. Paraguay now uses most of the power it makes
- 30. Nigeria now imports more solar panels than generators
- 31. Zimbabwe climbed to fourth among the world's lithium miners
- 32. Coal's share of Bangladesh's power jumped from 2% to 22%
- 33. Guyana now emits more CO2 per person than Britain
- 34. Nepal now sells more electricity than it buys
Power Nepal exported in the year to July 2025, up from 3 GWh in the year to July 2016.
Net exports in the year to July 2025, a record. The year to July 2024 was the first in which exports topped imports.
Export earnings in the year to July 2025, more than the Rs 12.9 bn paid for imports: Nepal's rivers now earn it foreign currency.
the numbers & method
| Year | Exports (GWh) | Imports (GWh) |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 3 | 1,778 |
| 2017 | 3 | 2,175 |
| 2018 | 3 | 2,582 |
| 2019 | 35 | 2,813 |
| 2020 | 107 | 1,729 |
| 2021 | 38 | 2,806 |
| 2022 | 494 | 1,543 |
| 2023 | 1,346 | 1,833 |
| 2024 | 1,946 | 1,895 |
| 2025 | 2,380 | 1,681 |
Claim types Fact · Interpretation
Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Annual Report 2024/25 ('A Year in Review'), Finance Directorate ten-year table (p.127): energy imported and exported, GWh, and their value, Rs million. Years are Nepali fiscal years, labelled by the year they end (mid-July): 2025 = FY2024/25. FY2024/25 figures are provisional, subject to audit. Exports vs imports, GWh: FY2015/16 3 vs 1,778; FY2016/17 3 vs 2,175; FY2017/18 3 vs 2,582; FY2018/19 35 vs 2,813; FY2019/20 107 vs 1,729; FY2020/21 38 vs 2,806; FY2021/22 494 vs 1,543; FY2022/23 1,346 vs 1,833; FY2023/24 1,946 vs 1,895; FY2024/25 2,380 vs 1,681. Value, Rs million, FY2024/25: exports 17,471, imports 12,923 (FY2023/24: 17,040 vs 16,802), so value also flipped in FY2023/24. The report's text calls 699 GWh 'record-high net exports'. Annual totals net the monsoon exports against dry-season imports. Exports go almost entirely to India; sales to Bangladesh (40 MW) began on 15 June 2025 and are not shown separately. Net exports (699 GWh) derived by progrss. 'Nepal's rivers now earn it foreign currency' is Interpretation.
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