The project will promote the adoption of Clean Cooking Solutions in Nepal’s Terai region. Nepal has been making efforts to shift towards clean fuels and cooking technologies. While there has been progress in both urban and rural areas, the share of population with access to clean cooking solutions remains low – at approximately one third of the population. Use of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) for clean cooking is higher than use of electricity. Nepal relies heavily on hydropower for its electricity generation, which is a clean and renewable energy source. Nepal has enormous potential for hydroelectricity and 80 per cent of its population are connected to the national grid. The Terai region has a higher electricity access rate than the Hills and Mountains. However, use of electricity for cooking remains relatively low. 

Promoting and increasing access to electricity for cooking will be achieved through a range of innovative concepts that target both households and local authorities, including bulk tendering via reverse auctioning for cost effectiveness; output-based financing for de-risking of investments and institutional capacity building of 150 Local Governments in the renewable energy sector.  Activities will include scaling up the deployment of clean cooking technologies through accelerated investment and market development, as well as installing 500,000 Electric Stoves, 490,000 Tier 3+ ICS and 10,000-biogas plants.