Nepal is endowed with a precious natural resource in the form of water. The overall development of Nepal hinges on the exploitation of this resource in a rational and sustainable manner.The available amount of water resources in the country is sufficient to provide year-round irrigation to the entire irrigable land, to generate around 43,000 MW of techno-economically viable hydropower from 83,000 MW total potential and meet the demands of other uses of water such as domestic, industrial, recreational, navigational, aqua-culture etc. Until now only a small fraction of the available water resources has been utilized for the benefit of the people and the country. Therefore, there is a great potential for further utilization of this resource.
Although Nepal has a large hydropower potential, less than 2% techno-economical potential has been harnessed so far. The energy needs of the country are being largely met by biomass resources that primarily include fuel-wood, agricultural waste and animal dung.