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The Department of Electricity Development (DoED) issued survey permits to 99 hydropower projects in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025/26.

According to the DoED, hydropower projects with a total capacity of 3,211 MW received survey permits in the review period. In addition, seven solar energy projects with a total of 311 MW capacity were also granted survey permits.

Likewise, in the transmission line segment, survey permits have been issued to 179 circuit kilometers of 220 kV capacity and 270 circuit kilometers of 132 kV capacity projects. Similar permits were issued to 132 circuit kilometers of 33 kV capacity transmission line projects.

Meanwhile, the DoED issued production permits to 29 hydropower projects with a total capacity of 1,857 MW in the last FY. Three projects in the solar energy segment also received production permits. The capacity of these projects stand at 31 MW.

The DoED collected royalty worth about Rs 3.5 billion from the energy sector in the review year. The royalty amount received is distributed to the provincial and local levels.

As of now, the DoED has issued production licences to 264 hydropower projects, with cumulative capacity of 12,336 MW. In the solar energy segment, a total of 10 projects with production capacity of 74.6 MW have been permitted with the licenses.

Likewise, the DoED has granted permission for the construction of 1,097 circuit kilometers of 400 kV capacities in the transmission line sector till date. Similarly, 656 circuit kilometers of 220 kV capacity and 1,060 circuit kilometers of 132 kV capacities of the transmission lines have been given the permits for construction.

In 33 kV capacities, permissions have been issued to projects equivalent to 337 circuit kilometers, according to the DoED.