twelve reasons to exclude large hydro from renewables initiatives
governments must reduce non-renewable energy production, but are large hydro-electric dams part of the solution?
Read the 12 reasons why they are not, or find them fully explained in the report (pdf, 419kb).
1. Large hydro does not have the poverty reduction benefits of decentralized renewables
2. Including large hydro in renewables initiatives would crowd out funds for new renewables
3. Promoters of large hydro regularly underestimate costs and exaggerate benefits
4. Large hydro will increase vulnerability to climate change
5. There is no technology transfer benefit from large hydro
6. Large hydro projects have major negative social and ecological impacts
7. Efforts to mitigate the impacts of large hydro typically fail
8. Most large hydro developers and funders oppose measures to prevent the construction of destructive projects
9. Large reservoirs can emit significant amounts of greenhouse gases 10. Large hydro is slow, lumpy, inflexible and getting more expensive
11. Many countries are already overdependent on hydropower
12. Large hydro reservoirs are often rendered non-renewable by sedimentation
