Publications

Survey of Energy Resources 2007

Hydropower - Introduction

The Chairman's Summary of the Fifteenth Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (May 2007) includes the following statements relating to hydropower's contribution:  'Energy is crucial for sustainable development, poverty eradication and achieving the internationally agreed development goals'. Action was committed to:

• 'Substantially increase, as a matter of urgency, the global share of renewable energy in the energy mix'
• 'Enhance and facilitate, as appropriate, regional cooperation in the field of generation, transmission and distribution of energy, including through sustainable exploration and utilization of regional hydroelectric potentials'.

Working through the International Renewable Energy Alliance, a partnership of the leading international organisations representing hydro, wind, solar and geothermal technologies, the mandate of the International Hydropower Association is to:

• identify the current status of hydropower worldwide;
• quantify the potential future contribution of hydropower;
• evaluate and promote international good practice;
• establish a framework for sustainability performance assessment;
• resolve issues and barriers that impede future development

Fig. 7-1  (Estimated hydropower development by region)