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Global hydropower capacity falls short of net zero targets
14/6/2023
News
Although global hydropower capacity grew by 34 GW over the past year, progress is falling short of the 45 GW requirement to meet net zero 2050 targets, says the International Hydropower Association (IHA).
According to IHA’s inaugural World Hydropower Outlook, 2022 marked the first time since 2016 that more than 30 GW of new hydropower capacity, including 10 GW of pumped storage, came online in a single year. Today, hydropower provides over 15% of the world’s electricity (around 4,400 TWh in 2022), with the current pipeline showing 590 GW of hydropower projects at various stages of development, including 214 GW of pumped storage.
However, the IHA warns that: ‘Despite encouraging signals that governments, industry and wider stakeholders increasingly appreciate hydropower’s critical role in the electricity grids of the future, there is still a considerable deficit in capacity.’ Current estimates show that even if all planned developments come online, a gap of over 700 GW remains to meet the 2050 net zero targets. This is roughly equivalent to the total electricity generation capacity of India and Japan combined.
To continue momentum and reduce the gap, governments must work collaboratively to boost investment, streamline licensing and introduce sustainable practice regulations, states the report.
Some $100bn/y of financial investment will be needed to meet net zero targets, says the IHA, warning that current investment levels are roughly half this figure.
While China continued to lead the field in increasing its hydropower capacity with the addition of 24 GW in 2022, including the final units at the 16 GW Baihetan project, Europe enjoyed a year of unprecedented success, which saw capacity rise by 3 GW.
Both North and South America introduced an additional 1 GW of capacity respectively, with notable increases in Canada (over 1 GW), Colombia (618 MW) and Chile (477 MW).
Meanwhile, nearly 2 GW was installed in central and southern Asia in 2022, including large projects in Pakistan (Karot, 720 MW) and India (Bajoli Holi, 180 MW).
Africa saw steady progress, with just under 2 GW added last year, with a mixture of big projects over 50 MW (Ethiopia, Guinea and Mali) and smaller projects (including in Madagascar, Uganda and Rwanda).
Commenting on the report, Eddie Rich, CEO of IHA, says: ‘Sustainable hydropower is a clean, green, modern and affordable solution to climate change. But the market won’t deliver sufficient hydropower capacity alone. It is imperative that we incentivise sustainable hydropower development through financial and market mechanisms that reward flexibility; accelerate the development of renewables through streamlined permitting and licensing; and embed hydropower sustainability practices in government regulation.’
