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Hydropower Worldwide

  • Percentage of electricity generated worldwide that comes from hydropower: 16.11

            Other sources are:
               – Coal: 39.8%
               – Natural Gas: 19.6%
               – Nuclear: 15.7%
               – Oil: 6.7%
               – Wind, solar, geothermal and bioenergy combined: 1.8%

  • Percentage of electricity generated in Canada that comes from hydropower: 58.4 (coal: 15.9%)2 
  • Percentage of electricity generated in the U.S. that comes from hydropower: 6.8 (coal: 44.5%)3

  • Canada's rank among hydro producing nations: 2nd4
     

Hydro Superpowers (2007)5

    Country

 Production
(TWh/year)

 Capacity (MW)
1   China 440 130,000
2   Canada 355 70,858
3   Brazil 351 73,678
4   USA 270 90,090
5   Russia 168 46,100

 

  • For stats on untapped hydro potential in Canada, the US and the world see the "Future of Hydro" fact sheet.
     
  • Capacity of the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest dam: 22,500 MW6 (when complete)

   
             – That's more than 16 times the size of Manitoba's
                largest dam, and more than four times
                Manitoba Hydro's total capacity.
             – Official project cost: US$27.2 billion (unofficial
                estimates are far higher)7
             – The dam is 101 m high (about 30 stories)
                and 2.1 km (1.3 miles) long.8
             – The reservoir reaches 660 km (410 miles)
                upstream from the dam.9
             – The flooding has displaced 13 cities, 140
                towns, and 1,350 villages.10
             – For more on the impacts of this "model
                disaster," as one prominent NGO calls it, see
                the International Rivers website.
             – View the Three Gorges Dam on Google Earth
               (via the International Rivers website).   
                                                                                                     International Rivers document, 2009
 

More fact sheets:
Hydropower Worldwide
Manitoba Hydro Finances
Manitoba Hydro Operations
Exports
Wind Energy
       See also: Impacts
                       The Future of Hydro

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Notes:

  1. Source: "Hydro's Contribution," International Hydropower Association, undated pdf document (accessed August 2010 / no longer available).
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  2. Source: "Power Connections: Canadian Electricity Trade and Foreign Policy," Roger J. Goodman, Canadian International Council, June 2010, pp.10-11. The statistics quoted are for 2008.
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  3. Source: United States Energy Information Administration website (accessed January 2011). The statistics quoted are for 2009.
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  4. Source: "Hydropower in Canada: Past, Present and Future," Canadian Hydropower Association, pdf document, 2008, p.17 (accessed August 2010). The document cites the World Atlas and Industry Guide 2007 and United States Energy Information Administration as sources for the statistics quotes above.
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  5. Ibid.
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  6. Source: Wikipedia article on Three Gorges Dam (accessed August 2010).
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  7. Source: "China's Three Gorges Dam: A Model of the Past," International Rivers, pdf document, 2009 (accessed August 2010).
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  8. Ibid.
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  9. Ibid.
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  10. Ibid.
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