Hydropower is becoming a weak link in the clean-energy system. (NYT)
Droughts, floods and decades-old hardware are cutting output across major hydro fleets—Brazil, China, Canada, and the US all posted sharp declines as extreme weather pushed plants below historical capacity.
The global question: whether to double down on refurbishing old dams or build new ones in fragile watersheds—a hard sell in a moment when hydropower is both essential and increasingly vulnerable to the climate that once made it reliable.
Brazil’s response: Its Tucuruí Dam is now in a $270M rebuild as operators try to keep it viable while the country leans harder on fast-growing wind and solar to fill the gaps left by erratic rainfall.