China, India lead Asia's biggest hydropower crunch in decades
Hydropower generation in Asia has plunged at the fastest rate in decades amid sharp declines in China and India, data shows, forcing power regulators battling volatile electricity demand and erratic weather to rely more on fossil fuels.
The two countries, which account for about 3/4 of Asia's power generation and most of its emissions, are also to a lesser extent using renewables to make up for the hydropower shortfall and address rising electricity use.
Major Asian economies have faced power shortages in recent years due to extreme weather conditions, including intense heat and lower rainfall over large swathes of northern China and Vietnam, as well as in India's east and the north.
Higher use of polluting fuels such as coal to meet electricity demand spikes and supply shortages underscore the challenges of lowering emissions.
Asia's hydropower output fell 17.9% during the seven months through July, data from energy think tank Ember showed, while fossil fuel-fired power rose 4.5%.
«Despite a strong growth in solar and wind power generation in Asia, supply from fossil-fuel thermal power plants has also increased this year as a result of a large decline in hydropower generation,» said Carlos Torres Diaz, Rystad Energy's director of power and gas markets.
«Intense and prolonged heatwaves across the region have resulted in low reservoir levels and the need for alternative sources of power to help meet demand,» he added.
China's hydroelectricity generation during the eight months ended August declined at the sharpest rate since at least 1989, falling 15.9%, an analysis of National Bureau of Statistics data showed.
In India, hydropower generation fell 6.2% during the eight months ended August in the sharpest decline since
