Rooftop and Solar Home System Deployment
- Page status
- Working page
- Updated
- 2026-05-12
Summary
This data page compiles estimated rooftop, institutional, mini-grid, and solar home system deployment in Nepal, including capacity, annual generation, household reach, provincial SHS distribution, and known source gaps.
The volume-and-geography companion to Rooftop, Mini-Grid, and Off-Grid Solar. The numbers for the two solar tracks that never appear on NEA installed-capacity tables but together move ~700 GWh/year across more than a million households.
Headline aggregate (estimated, 2024)
| Track | Sites | Cumulative MWp | Annual generation (GWh/yr, est.) | Households reached |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Utility-scale rooftop (commercial, institutional, > 10 kWp) | ~2,500 | ~55 | ~80 | Indirect |
| Residential rooftop (3–10 kWp, net-metered) | ~7,500 | ~20 | ~28 | ~7,500 upper-middle HH |
| Institutional (schools, hospitals, govt, ≤ 10 kWp) | ~2,500 | ~10 | ~14 | — |
| Solar Home Systems (SHS, 20–500 Wp, AEPC-installed) | ~1,100,000 | ~80–100 | ~130 | ~1.1 M HH (rural off-grid) |
| Mini-grid (village-scale, 5–100 kWp, AEPC + NGOs) | ~30 grids | ~2–3 | ~3 | ~30,000–50,000 HH |
| Institutional off-grid (rural clinics, schools, tele-com) | ~25,000 | ~15 | ~21 | — |
| Total | ~1.15 M sites | ~185–210 MWp | ~275 GWh/yr | ~1.15–1.2 M HH |
Warning: these numbers do not appear in any single registry. They are compiled from AEPC yearbooks (cumulative figures to 2021, extrapolated to 2024), NEA net-metering records (partial disclosure), EIB / WB project completion reports, and private-installer estimates. The total MWp could be +/−20% in either direction.
Compared to DoED-registered utility solar of 141.74 MWp, rooftop + off-grid is ~135% of the utility fleet. The "Nepal has 142 MW of solar" soundbite under-counts by a factor of ~2.3×.
District-level SHS distribution (cumulative, ~2021 AEPC data, approximate)
The AEPC cumulative SHS distribution is heavily skewed toward rural districts not yet on the NEA grid.
| Province | Cumulative SHS installations (approx) | Share | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Karnali (Dolpa, Mugu, Humla, Jumla, Kalikot, Jajarkot, Salyan, Rukum, Dailekh, Surkhet) | ~180,000 | 16% | Highest per-capita; grid reach weakest |
| Sudurpaschim (Bajhang, Bajura, Darchula, Baitadi, Dadeldhura, Achham, Doti, Kailali, Kanchanpur) | ~160,000 | 14% | Remote hills; grid-gap belt |
| Gandaki (Manang, Mustang, Gorkha, Lamjung, Kaski, Parbat, Baglung, Myagdi, Syangja, Tanahu, Nawalparasi-E) | ~150,000 | 14% | Mixed; higher-altitude districts dominant |
| Bagmati (Sindhupalchok, Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading, Chitwan, Makwanpur, Kavre, Sindhuli, Ramechhap, Dolakha, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Kathmandu) | ~130,000 | 12% | Rural slopes of central hills |
| Koshi (Taplejung, Panchthar, Ilam, Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari, Dhankuta, Terhathum, Sankhuwasabha, Bhojpur, Solukhumbu, Okhaldhunga, Khotang, Udayapur) | ~180,000 | 16% | Eastern mountain belt |
| Madhesh (Sarlahi, Mahottari, Dhanusha, Siraha, Saptari, Rautahat, Bara, Parsa) | ~120,000 | 11% | Terai; grid reach highest → SHS share decreasing |
| Lumbini (Palpa, Arghakhanchi, Gulmi, Kapilvastu, Nawalparasi-W, Rupandehi, Rolpa, Pyuthan, Dang, Banke, Bardiya) | ~180,000 | 16% | Mixed hill + Terai |
| Total (approx) | ~1,100,000 | 100% |
Geographic pattern: SHS density tracks grid-gap districts, not GHI. The AEPC programme has been explicitly anti-correlated with grid reach — going hardest where NEA is weakest. Karnali and Sudurpaschim are the highest per-capita SHS deployment zones and remain so because >20% of those provinces' households are still not grid-connected as of FY 2024/25.
Mini-grid distribution (approximate, operational)
| District | # grids | Aggregate kWp | Typical village | Funding anchor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Humla | 5 | ~200 | Simikot cluster | AEPC + Practical Action |
| Mugu | 3 | ~120 | Gamgadhi area | AEPC + donor |
| Dolpa | 4 | ~180 | Dunai, upper valleys | AEPC + WB |
| Jumla | 3 | ~130 | Khalanga area | AEPC |
| Bajura | 3 | ~90 | Kolti, Martadi | AEPC |
| Kalikot | 2 | ~60 | Manma area | AEPC |
| Sankhuwasabha | 3 | ~110 | Num, upper Arun | AEPC |
| Taplejung | 2 | ~70 | Olangchung Gola | AEPC |
| Solukhumbu | 2 | ~80 | Namche adjacency | AEPC + private |
| Dolakha | 1 | ~40 | Gaurishankar zone | AEPC |
| Other | 2 | ~50 | — | — |
| Total | ~30 | ~1,100 kWp | ~30,000–50,000 HH served | — |
Rooftop deployment by category (FY 2024)
| Category | # sites | Aggregate MWp | Typical site size | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial (factories, warehouses, retail chains) | ~800 | ~35 | 30–200 kWp | Net-metered; largest segment by MW |
| Telecom / tower-anchor | ~1,200 | ~8 | 5–15 kWp + battery | Often hybrid diesel |
| Institutional — govt / hospital / school | ~2,500 | ~10 | 2–10 kWp | EIB Phase I + AEPC |
| Residential (net-metered, urban) | ~7,500 | ~20 | 3–5 kWp | Kathmandu + Pokhara dominant |
| Institutional — temple / monastery / community centre | ~500 | ~2 | 1–5 kWp | — |
| Hotel / tourism | ~400 | ~5 | 10–50 kWp | Trekking route lodges + valley hotels |
| Total urban rooftop | ~13,000 | ~80 |
Projection: where this goes 2025–2030
If AEPC / EIB / WB financing channels maintain current trajectory:
| Year | Utility (MWp) | Rooftop (MWp) | Off-grid + mini-grid (MWp) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 142 | ~80 | ~115 | ~337 |
| 2026 | 350 | 130 | 140 | ~620 |
| 2028 | 700 | 220 | 170 | ~1,090 |
| 2030 | 1,400 | 400 | 220 | ~2,020 |
Rooftop + off-grid remains ~30% of total by 2030, while its kWh value-weight is higher because off-grid systems displace NPR 60–90/kWh diesel in the cited LCOE context (see Solar and Hydro LCOE).
Coverage / Method
The page combines AEPC cumulative solar home system and mini-grid material, partial NEA net-metering disclosure, EIB / WB project completion context, and private-installer estimates. Figures are grouped by deployment track and geography because rooftop, institutional, mini-grid, and SHS systems do not appear in a single unified registry.
Caveats
The aggregate is an estimate rather than an official inventory. Some figures are extrapolated from AEPC data to 2024, NEA net-metering data are partially disclosed, private-installer estimates are not consolidated, and the total MWp could vary by roughly plus or minus 20%.
Data gaps and next-step ingestion
- AEPC Yearbook 2024 — needed for district-table verification.
- NEA net-metering cumulative MW — currently disclosed only partially; full annual numbers are available in NEA distribution department reports.
- WB Grid Solar & EE Project completion report — final deployment numbers.
- EIB Phase II monitoring report — ground-mounted IPP rooftop MW specifically.
- Private-installer market survey — no consolidated source exists in Nepal yet; a dedicated market survey would close this gap.
Chart spec
Three figures:
- Stacked-bar by province — utility (small, concentrated Terai) vs rooftop (concentrated valleys) vs SHS (spread across hill provinces). Shows the geographic anti-correlation.
- Track × capacity pie with value-weighted-GWh overlay — the under-count story.
- Projection stacked-area 2020–2030 — tracks 1, 2, 3 stacked; shows when utility overtakes the combined rooftop + off-grid total (around 2028 at current trajectory).
Related
- Rooftop, Mini-Grid, and Off-Grid Solar — concept companion
- Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) — institutional context
- Solar Fleet Inventory — utility-scale analogue
- EIB Promotion of Solar Energy in Rural and Semi-Urban Regions II — the financing anchor for mini-grid
- World Bank Grid Solar and Energy Efficiency Project — the institutional financing anchor for rooftop utility track
- Domestic Electricity Demand Distribution — the broader electrification frame