Economics of hydropower energy: A critical assessment

With a high potential in generating clean electricity, hydropower energy is an important resource of producing clean energy. In this article, a critical assessment of economics of hydropower energy in developed and developing countries such as USA, Canada, India, and China was carried out. From the literature, China potential of installed hydropower systems was estimated around 600 GW but due to some economic and technical problems, it is currently concentrated on the nominal capacity of 500 GW but aims to increase its installed hydropower capacity to 350 GW by 2020. After the critical assessment, the social and environmental impacts of dam construction on the quality of life of people, and flora and fauna, living in the vicinity of dams were studied. As a result, dam construction makes it necessary, in many cases, to destroy a large part of forests and wildlife. This, in turn, can trigger rare plant and animal species' risk of extinction.