Big Hydro Falls Behind

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” target=”_blank”>Himalayas mean the global amount of new hydro capacity being added may well remain around the higher levels of the 2000s, but there is unlikely to be a clear growth trend in large hydro. (And strong public opposition, decreasing economic competitiveness of large hydro versus the new renewables, and fears over climate change risks, should (hopefully) mean a trend of clear decline).

But the strong annual growth of wind and solar will continue. Wind, as we’ve seen, has already overtaken big hydro installations, and is forecast to continue rising at double-digit rates over the next decade. Projecting a conservative 30% annual growth rate for solar power indicates that solar installations (both photovoltaics and concentrating solar) will soar past big hydro by 2015 – only five years away!!

As I blogged on the HuffPo:

The fact that wind is now a bigger and more dynamic industry than hydro is more than just symbolic of the times a changin’. It means that the new renewables industries will increasingly have more economic and political clout and that the lobbying power of Big Hydro will steadily wane.