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(plus ~3 GW in Switzerland, Norway & Turkey) which together would provide more than 700 GWh of storage capacity – enough to power two major European economies for over 10 hours. Key policy asks include: A dedicated EU initiative to accelerate electricity- storage deployment. Recognition, in legislation, of long-duration storage as distinct from short-duration solutions. Ensuring remuneration for system-services and security of supply across all time-frames, with PSH able to participate in revenue-stabilisation schemes. Elimination of double grid-fees for storage technologies and fast-tracked permitting for PSH development.


By issuing the Paris Pledge, the industry signalled: building pumped storage is no longer a niche option, it is central to Europe’s clean-energy transformation. The pledge complements the commissioning of assets like Limberg III not only from a technical standpoint, but by embedding regulatory and market reform as intrinsic to deployment success.


China’s surge on storage While Europe made headline inaugurations and the


UK debated frameworks, China kept doing what China does: build at unprecedented scale. By mid-2025, the country was on track to exceed its 2030 pumped storage target by more than 8%, potentially reaching ~130 GW by decade’s end. The sheer pipeline (over 200GW of PSH under construction) dwarfs activity elsewhere and highlights how policy signals (notably pricing mechanisms that reward peak-shifting and ancillary services) can turn storage from “pilot” to industrial program. For global OEMs, consultants, and EPCs, China’s PSH surge remains both a competitive challenge and a market barometer for costs, timelines, and staffing models.


The Americas: diversification,


divestments, and drought lessons Brazi, historically the world’s hydropower bellwether,


spent 2025 extending a trend that would have sounded like heresy a decade ago: leaning more on wind and solar to hedge hydro’s hydrology risk. In August, wind and solar together supplied a record one- third of the country’s electricity, while hydro’s share fell to a four-year low. The good news: fossil backup stayed muted. The takeaway: climate variability is now baked into dispatch planning, and market rules need to reward both flexibility and firming. Policy and procurement followed suit. In August,


energy auctions focused on modernising and optimising existing hydro fleets rather than adding new mega-dams, which is consistent with Brasília’s post-Belo Monte stance that large Amazonian projects carry political and environmental costs out of step with today’s climate and biodiversity priorities. Meanwhile, researchers quantified the economic drag deforestation imposes on hydropower output, putting real money on the table for forest protection as energy infrastructure risk mitigation. To the north, the US saw fewer ribbon cuttings and more paperwork. 2025 was a permitting year for PSH, with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) advancing major environmental reviews such as the draft EIS for the Seminoe PSH project in Wyoming. Faster, clearer federal permitting is the difference between decade-long limbo and bankable timelines. Industry data roundups this autumn underscored the same message: the project pipeline is large, but only regulatory throughput (and a revenue model for long-duration services) will convert “paper GW” to shovels and steel. Across the Andes, Peru surfaced repeatedly this year for both grid modernisation and the politics of new dams. UNOPS announced upgrades to core hydropower components on the Mantaro system while debate reignited over the long-stalled Pakitzapango project and its social footprint. The pattern echoed across the region: rehabilitation and uprating of existing plants moved faster than greenfield mega- hydro, which faces stiffer scrutiny over displacement, biodiversity, and river ecosystem impacts.


Below: Crest of GERD main dam with the two powerhouses at its base. Credit: Webuild Multimedia Library


www.waterpowermagazine.com | December 2025 | 11


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