Hydroelectricity - World Hydroelectric Capacity

World Hydroelectric Capacity

See also: List of countries by electricity production from renewable sources and Cost of electricity by source

The ranking of hydro-electric capacity is either by actual annual energy production or by installed capacity power rating. Hydro accounted for 16 percent of global electricity consumption, and 3,427 terawatt-hours of electricity production in 2010, which continues the rapid rate of increase experienced between 2003 and 2009.

Hydropower is produced in 150 countries, with the Asia-Pacific region generated 32 percent of global hydropower in 2010. China is the largest hydroelectricity producer, with 721 terawatt-hours of production in 2010, representing around 17 percent of domestic electricity use. Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Austria, Switzerland, and Venezuela have a majority of the internal electric energy production from hydroelectric power. Paraguay produces 100% of its electricity from hydroelectric dams, and exports 90% of its production to Brazil and to Argentina. Norway produces 98–99% of its electricity from hydroelectric sources.

There are now three hydroelectric plants larger than 10 GW: the Three Gorges Dam in China, Itaipu Dam in Brazil, and Guri Dam in Venezuela.

A hydro-electric plant rarely operates at its full power rating over a full year; the ratio between annual average power and installed capacity rating is the capacity factor. The installed capacity is the sum of all generator nameplate power ratings.

Ten of the largest hydroelectric producers as at 2009.

Country	Annual hydroelectric production (TWh)	Installed capacity (GW)	Capacity factor	% of total capacity
China	652.05	196.79	0.37	22.25
Canada	369.5	88.974	0.59	61.12
Brazil	363.8	69.080	0.56	85.56
United States	250.6	79.511	0.42	5.74
Russia	167.0	45.000	0.42	17.64
Norway	140.5	27.528	0.49	98.25
India	115.6	33.600	0.43	15.80
Venezuela	85.96	14.622	0.67	69.20
Japan	69.2	27.229	0.37	7.21
Sweden	65.5	16.209	0.46	44.34