Hydropower Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Opportunity, and Forecast, 2021-2031

The Global Hydropower Market is projected to expand from USD 244.82 Billion in 2025 to USD 365.15 Billion by 2031, achieving a compound annual growth rate of 6.89%. As a renewable energy mechanism, hydropower generates electricity by utilizing turbines to capture the kinetic energy of flowing water. The industry is primarily propelled by the global shift toward net-zero emissions and the critical need for grid flexibility to accommodate intermittent renewable sources. By offering dependable baseload power and vital storage capabilities, this technology bolsters energy security. Illustrating the ongoing commitment to robust water energy infrastructure, the International Hydropower Association reported a global capacity increase of 24.6 GW in 2024.

However, the industry faces substantial obstacles regarding high initial capital expenditures and lengthy construction schedules. These projects necessitate massive civil engineering efforts and strict adherence to environmental regulations, resulting in prolonged lead times that postpone revenue realization. Such financial and regulatory barriers frequently discourage private sector investment. Additionally, rising climate volatility and the risk of droughts jeopardize water availability, thereby impeding the consistent reliability required for widespread market growth.

Market Drivers

The acceleration of global decarbonization and net-zero emission goals is fundamentally transforming the market as nations prioritize renewable baseload capacity to replace fossil fuels. This shift fuels significant investment in large-scale infrastructure designed to guarantee energy security while adhering to rigorous climate objectives. Hydropower serves as a crucial element in this transition, providing dispatchable clean energy that supplements variable sources like wind and solar. According to the International Energy Agency in October 2025, total hydropower capacity is expected to grow by more than 154 GW between 2025 and 2030 to meet these sustainable development scenarios. This trajectory emphasizes the sector's vital role in the energy transition, supported by continued installation progress, with the International Renewable Energy Agency reporting in March 2025 that global hydropower capacity, excluding pumped storage, reached 1,283 GW by the end of 2024.

The growth of Pumped Storage Hydropower (PSH) has become a key catalyst for integrating renewable energy, addressing the pressing demand for grid stability and long-duration storage. As intermittent renewable generation increases, PSH facilities act as immense water batteries that absorb surplus power during low demand periods and release it during peak usage to maintain frequency control. This function effectively reduces the volatility linked to solar and wind production, rendering PSH essential for grid modernization. Per the International Hydropower Association in June 2025, global pumped storage capacity increased by 5% to 189 GW, highlighting the growing focus on flexible storage assets. Consequently, governments and utilities are aggressively accelerating these projects to bolster system resilience and avert blackouts in an increasingly electrified landscape.

Market Challenges

Substantial upfront capital expenses and extended construction durations represent the primary structural impediments constraining the Global Hydropower Market. In contrast to modular renewable technologies, hydropower initiatives require massive civil engineering undertakings, such as dam and reservoir construction, necessitating significant initial liquidity. Moreover, stringent environmental evaluations and intricate permitting procedures considerably prolong project lead times, frequently delaying operational start dates by more than ten years. This blend of capital intensity and delayed revenue creation establishes a high-risk financial profile that discourages private equity and restricts the number of investors prepared to support long-term infrastructure assets.

As a result, these obstacles directly impede market growth by slowing the transition of planned projects into operational capacity. The challenge of obtaining financing for such capital-heavy ventures leads to a development rate that falls short of global energy transition objectives. According to the International Hydropower Association in 2025, the sector confronts an anticipated capacity deficit of 60 to 70 GW by 2030 compared to the targets needed to triple renewable energy resources. This substantial shortfall illustrates how deeply rooted financial and regulatory difficulties are effectively inhibiting the industry's capacity to sustain consistent expansion.

Market Trends

The deployment of Floating Solar Photovoltaic (FPV) systems atop existing reservoirs is quickly becoming a strategic method to optimize asset utilization and address land limitations. This hybridization enables operators to utilize existing transmission infrastructure while simultaneously lowering water evaporation and algae proliferation, establishing a symbiotic energy generation framework. By co-locating solar arrays with hydropower dams, utilities can effectively offset the seasonal variability of water flows with solar generation, guaranteeing a more dependable power supply. The scale of this opportunity is immense; the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's January 2025 report, 'Floating Solar on US Reservoirs Could Generate Over 1 TW of Power', estimates that federally managed reservoirs in the United States alone hold the technical potential to accommodate between 861 and 1,042 GW of floating solar capacity.

Concurrently, integrating hydropower facilities with green hydrogen production is rising as a transformative route to decarbonize hard-to-abate industrial sectors. This trend entails using reliable, low-carbon baseload electricity from hydro turbines to power electrolyzers, transforming surplus or off-peak energy into a flexible chemical energy carrier. This synergy not only creates diverse revenue streams for plant owners but also offers a chemical storage solution that supplements conventional grid balancing activities. Underscoring this industrial evolution, Andritz announced in a March 2025 press release regarding the Rostock EnergyPort collaboration that it received an order to engineer a 100 MW green hydrogen plant, reflecting the growing commercial magnitude of hydrogen projects enabled by leading hydropower technology providers.

Key Players Profiled in the Hydropower Market

• China Three Gorges Corporation
• Statkraft AS.
• GE Renewable Energy
• Voith Group
• Andritz AG
• Siemens Energy AG
• ALSTOM Holdings
• ABB Ltd.
• Hitachi Ltd.
• Toshiba Corporation

Report Scope

In this report, the Global Hydropower Market has been segmented into the following categories:

Hydropower Market, by Type:

• Mini Hydropower
• Micro Hydropower

Hydropower Market, by Capacity:

• Above 100 MW
• Under 10 MW
• Others

Hydropower Market, by Component:

• Civil Construction
• Electromechanical Equipment
• Electric
• Power Infrastructure
• Others

Hydropower Market, by End-User:

• Industrial
• Utility
• Others

Hydropower Market, by Region:

• North America
• Europe
• Asia-Pacific
• South America
• Middle East & Africa

Competitive Landscape

Company Profiles: Detailed analysis of the major companies present in the Global Hydropower Market.

Available Customization

The analyst offers customization according to your specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:

• Detailed analysis and profiling of additional market players (up to five).

This product will be delivered within 1-3 business days.