| Sustainable hydropower
What is a notable IHA achievement in the past year? A crucial step forward this year was the launch of the Global Alliance for Pumped Storage (GAPS) during COP29 in Azerbaijan. IHA brought together an alliance of 30 national government and international institution leaders including: Australia, Brazil, the European Commission, Indonesia, Spain and the United States, to address the urgent need for energy storage. GAPS has been set up to advance the deployment of pumped storage, the essential element to supporting renewable energy and ensuring energy security in an era of rapid transition to wind and solar power. We are calling on governments and non-state
actors to not only support the global energy storage target and the COP29 pledge for 1500GW of storage capacity by 2030 – but to go further with targets into 2050.
Although each country’s targets and aims may differ depending on circumstances, the overarching need to triple renewables and double hydropower remains globally. The International Energy Agency (IEA) and International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), who are both participants in GAPS; estimate that the most cost effective, achievable global net zero energy system will require around twice as much hydropower by 2050 as there is today. That is between 2,500 GW and 3,000 GW, including an increasing proportion of pumped storage. Therefore, hydropower should be seen as a key element of this change worldwide, as long as they align to sustainability guidelines – as set out in the San Jose Declaration and supported by the Hydropower Sustainability Standard.
If anybody is still in doubt about the importance of sustainable hydropower, what would you say to them? Aside from the generation of reliable, secure, clean, renewable energy, hydropower is among the best ways to mitigate droughts. IHA estimates that through the water storage function of its reservoirs, the hydropower industry prevents more than US$130bn in annual GDP losses from drought incidents. To mitigate against drought and floods we need more hydropower, not less. With volatile weather conditions becoming more frequent, water
management and multi-purpose reservoirs will be more important than ever in the future. Hydropower is the answer. While coal and nuclear use up vast volumes of water, hydropower can use the same drop repeatedly.
Only a small minority of the world’s dams are built for hydropower, with the majority of dams built for irrigation, water supply, flood control and other purposes. In the US, it is estimated that about 3% of around 80,000 dams are fitted with hydropower. Globally, nearly 40% of hydropower dams provide multiple non-energy services, including flood control and irrigation. For example, referring to the US again, the top
three uses of federally owned hydropower reservoirs, accounting for approximately 50% of installed capacity, are recreation, flood control and irrigation. Many hydropower dams are used for multiple purposes beyond electricity generation, providing infrastructure to supply clean water for homes, industry and agriculture, as well as recreation and transportation services. Hydropower projects can be used to regulate and
store water to mitigate the impacts of extreme weather events such as floods and drought, which are on the rise due to climate change.
Above: Hydro-Québec’s Eastmain-1 Development in Canada was the first North American facility to secure Hydropower Sustainability Standard certification. (Photo courtesy of Hydro-Quebec)
Left: The 3.75GW Jirau hydropower plant in Brazil was the first project in South America to secure Gold-level certification against the Hydropower Sustainability Standard. (Photo courtesy of Jirau Energia)
www.waterpowermagazine.com | January 2025 | 31
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