| dc.description.abstract | After struggling with severe electricity deficiency for many years, Nepal has finally come one step closer to its vision of becoming a “hydropower nation”, by coming into electricity surplus in the wet season. However, they still have far to go to reach their ambitious electricity strategy. This master thesis addresses how the electricity development of Nepal is shaped by its global context. It investigates this by answering the research question: Which political and economic factors influence the progress of Nepal’s electricity development, and how? The thesis is a qualitative case study and is based on interviews of people with broad and deep knowledge and experience of the Nepalese energy sector. Thematic analysis is used to identify themes considered important by informants. In the analysis a mapping of the energy system and its components is conducted to form a basis for explanation. Then different political and economic factors, how they relate to the state level, and how they lead to progress or delays in four different hydropower projects are examined. While previous research has done system mappings or examined the political economy of Nepal, no research has combined the two approaches. Theories of how global processes and mechanisms influence energy systems in countries with limited financial resources point to influence from three areas or kinds of factors. Those are: international and multinational sources of financing, geopolitics, and the climate and environmental regime. The most important finding in this thesis is that geopolitical factors lead to the most delays in the current shift from electricity deficiency to surplus. This is mainly due to its implications for further investments in energy generation projects, as it blocks Nepal’s strategy of exporting power surplus. This factor’s influence is increased by Nepal’s challenges with increasing electricity consumption. This research also shows that access to sources of funding has been highly important. A consequence has been that actors with access to the needed capital could gain more influence over the progress in the sector and thus limit Nepal’s policy space. Today, however, Nepal’s policy space seems to be more limited by their relationship to India, than by the influence of powerful economic actors. Many other factors have also limited progress, such as increasing risk of environmental and natural disasters on hydropower projects. Several issues on the state and local level, such as lack of good planning, political conflicts, corruption and local opposition have also caused delays for hydropower projects. Together, they may explain the slow progress with electricity development in Nepal, and the difficulties with moving from electricity shortage to surplus. | eng |