International Journal of Science and Technology (IJST)

The Implementation of Hydropower Electric Generation That Is Able to Be Sustained Well into the Twenty-First Century

Hydropower supplied about 71 % of the world’s renewable electricity in 2016, making it the dominant renewable source at that time. In Europe and North America, the boom years for dam construction were roughly 1920 to 1970; since most prime sites are now occupied and social environmental costs have risen, both regions are dismantling more dams than they build. From the 1970s onward, developers shifted their attention to large rivers in lower income regions—especially the Mekong, Amazon, and Congo—where new projects often come with familiar downsides: altered river ecology, deforestation, diminished aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity, greenhouse gas emissions from reservoirs, mass displacement, and major disruptions to local food systems, water quality, and agriculture. This paper reviews the surge in large scale dams across the Global South; evaluates how climate change projections should shape siting decisions; and discusses persistent governance gaps, compensation shortfalls, and the tendency to overstate benefits while downplaying true costs. Finally, it outlines design and policy adjustments—such as pairing hydropower with solar, wind, and other renewables—that could help the sector deliver electricity with far lower social and environmental impacts.