Energy Department Releases 2026 U.S. Hydropower Market Report, Showing Steady Industry Growth

WASHINGTON-Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) today released the fifth edition of the Hydropower Market Report, which shows steady growth for one of America's most affordable and reliable sources of domestic energy. The report analyzes the latest data from public and commercial sources, as well as findings from other DOE research and development projects, to provide a comprehensive overview of the American hydropower and pumped storage hydropower (PSH) fleet and industry trends.

The 2026 report shows that from 2010 to 2025, the U.S. hydropower fleet grew to include 2,258 hydropower plants and a total generating capacity of 80.55 gigawatts (GW), adding 2.1 GW to the national energy mix-enough to power 1.6 million American homes. This amounts to 5.6% of total electricity across the country. In addition, the 41-plant PSH fleet grew to a total generating capacity of 22.23 GW and storage capacity of 553 GWh (or 82.1% of all utility-scale energy storage capacity), adding 1.7 GW through facility upgrades.

In 2025, 21 hydropower facilities received relicenses, more than any year since 2005. From 2025 to 2026, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission also took steps to streamline multiple hydropower permitting processes.

The report showed that United States was the fifth largest exporter of hydraulic turbines globally from 2010-2024. From 2023-2025, U.S. exports of hydraulic turbines averaged $52 million and imports averaged $58 million. These values were 25% higher than the 2020-2022 average for exports and 32% higher for imports, signaling a rebound from the slowdown in refurbishment and upgrade investment caused by a combination of pandemic-related restrictions and supply chain bottlenecks.

Additional key findings show:

• At the end of 2025,
• 200 hydropower and PSH projects (18.5 GW) accounting for 18% of U.S. installed capacity were in the relicensing process with a median relicensing process of six years.
• There were 128 hydropower projects in the U.S. development pipeline with a combined capacity of 1.4 GW-six of them (14 MW) were under construction.
• 92 percent of potential hydropower capacity increase in the pipeline comes from retrofitting non-powered dams.
• The owners of 33 operational hydropower facilities are planning or constructing capacity additions totaling 669 MW.
• At the beginning of 2026, 74 PSH projects were in the development pipeline. 68 of them (totaling 59 GW) were pursuing the FERC permitting process for new projects; four of those 68 have already received a FERC license. Three additional projects under consideration do not require a FERC license.
• Amidst large price fluctuations in wholesale electricity markets in 2020-2024, federal hydropower remained an affordable source of energy.
• Hydropower and PSH displayed consistent ability to increase generation (relative to average) during the top 100 net load hours in 2021-2025.
• In 2024, global hydropower capacity reached 1,283 GW. In the same year, the global PSH fleet reached a capacity of 142 GW.
• Together, hydropower and PSH represented 15% of global electricity generation capacity in 2025.

For more information on the Hydropower Market Report and the full text of the 2026 Report, visit the ORNL website.

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