Why Hydropower Is the Forgotten Giant of Clean Energy
Hydropower is by far the largest renewable worldwide, producing over twice as much energy as wind, and over four times as much as solar. And pumping water up a hill, aka “pumped storage hydropower”, comprises well over 90% of the world’s total energy storage capacity.
But in spite of hydropower’s outsize impact, we don’t hear much about it in the U.S. While the past few decades have seen wind and solar plummet in price and skyrocket in availability, domestic hydropower generation has remained relatively steady, as the nation has already built hydropower plants in the most geographically ideal locations.
