When one thinks electricity, one usually thinks about electricity produced in one of world’s dams and these 8 countries that produce the most hydroelectric power in the world are global powerhouses in this category. According to U.S. Energy Information Administration, entire global energy production in the world amounts to almost 21.5 trillion Kilowatthours. Around 3.6 trillion Kilowatthours of that figure goes on global hydroelectric production. That’s a huge chunk of total renewable energy sources which amount to almost 4.7 trillion Kilowatthours. In order to simplify things further on, we’ll convert Kilowatthouts to Terawatthours. That way global energy production comes to 21,500 TWh, while global hydroelectric energy production comes to 3,600 TWh. You might also be interested in 8 countries that produce the most geothermal energy in the world. Geothermal energy also counts among renewable energy sources, though geothermal sources offer much lower yields than hydroelectric sources.
Our data has been pulled from already mentioned U.S. Energy Information Administration. We have expressed all data in billion KWh or simply TWh since these units are basically of the same value. We have, however, decided to use the average hydroelectric energy generation for a three-year period between 2010 and 2012. For starters, there’s no data available for the post-2012 period, and hydroelectric energy production has a high fluctuation between yearly intervals. It highly depends on atmospheric conditions, so pretty much every country that produces hydroelectric energy can’t really expect constant generation year in, year out. That’s why we think it was only fair to use a three-year average for this list of 8 countries that produce the most hydroelectric power in the world. The results would have remained almost the same though, had we used only 2012 data. We won’t fail to mention where the data has changed, so read on.
8. Venezuela
Total production: 80 TWh
Average Venezuelan hydroelectric energy production for the period of given three years amounts to 80 Terawatthours. That’s 2.2% of global hydroelectric energy production which might seem a little bit low, but there are only 7 countries making more than Venezuela after all.
7. Norway
Total production: 125 TWh
Norway’s hydroelectric power production grew to 140 TWh in 2012, but on average they produce 125.05 TWh a year. That’s close to 3.5% of global hydroelectric power production.
6. India
Total production: 130 TWh
India’s hydroelectric power generation fluctuates for the given period. It jumps from 122 TWh to 142 TWh, only to plummet back to 124 TWh in 2012 again. On average, India produces 130 TWh of hydroelectric energy which accounts for 3.6% of total global production.
5. Russia
Total production: 164 TWh
Russia is one of the countries with biggest hydro potential in the world, but they only rate fifth on our list of 8 countries that produce the most hydroelectric power in the world. Their median annual production of 164 TWh, however, amounts to 4.5% of global hydroelectric energy generation.
4. The United States
Total production: 285 TWh
The United States’ total hydroelectric power generation of 285 Terawatthour accounts to almost 8% of global production. US production took a sharp 45 TWh decline for 2012, but it’s still some 30 TWh better than that in 2010.
3. Canada
Total production: 365 TWh
Canada produces 365 TWh of hydroelectric energy on a yearly basis. That’s more than 10% of world’s net production, and both 2011 and 2012 have been even better in terms of production than the average figure.
2. Brazil
Total production: 411 TWh
Brazil produces 411 Terawatthour of hydroelectric energy a year when we look at the given three-year period. In terms of total global production percentages, that comes to almost 11.5%.
1. China
Total production: 754 TWh
Number one spot on our list of 8 countries that produce the most hydroelectric power in the world belongs to China. Apart from producing 754 TWh a year on average (856 TWh for 2012), China boasts world’s largest dam – the Three Gorges Dam. Their production amounts to almost 21% of total world hydroelectric power generation.
