"Forgotten Giant" Hydropower is route to cleaner energy, IEA says

Lower carbon hydropower is an important integral for countries to reach net zero; however, it is projected growth for the 2020s is nearly 25% slower than hydropower’s expansion in the previous decade, said the International Energy Agency in a statement on Wednesday.

The agency said, in its Hydropower Special Market report, that this slow in growth is putting “at risk” the ambitions of countries across the globe to reach net-zero emissions.

Hydropower is a foundation for integrating greater amounts of wind and solar power, whose output can vary, depending on factors like the weather and the time of day or year.

“Hydropower is the forgotten giant of clean electricity, and it needs to be put squarely back on the energy and climate agenda if countries are serious about meeting their net zero goals,” said Fatih Birol, the IEA Executive Director in a statement.

In order to reverse the expected slowdown, governments must address the major challenges through strong policy actions.

“It brings valuable scale and flexibility to help electricity systems adjust quickly to shifts in demand and to compensate for fluctuations in supply from other sources. Hydropower’s advantages can make it a natural enabler of secure transitions in many countries as they shift to higher and higher shares of solar and wind – provided that hydropower projects are developed in a sustainable and climate-resilient way,” he added.

The agency said that in 2020, hydropower supplied one sixth of global electricity generation, “making it the single largest source of low-carbon power – and more than all other renewables combined.”

They added that, China is set to remain the single largest hydropower market through 2030, accounting for 40 percent of the global expansion.