Frequently Asked Questions

The colors indicate the status category:

• Announced: Projects that have been publicly reported in corporate or government plans but have not yet actively moved forward by applying for permits or seeking land, material, or financing.
• Pre-construction: Projects that are actively moving forward in seeking governmental approvals, land rights, financing, or power purchase agreements.
• Construction: Projects for which equipment installation has begun and site preparation and other development and construction activities are underway.
• Operating: Projects that have been formally commissioned.
• Shelved: Projects for which either an announcement has been made that plans are being put on hold, or for which there have been no reports of progress or activity for at least two years.
• Cancelled: A cancellation announcement has been made, or no progress has been observed for at least four years.
• Mothballed: The project is disused, but not dismantled.
• Retired: The project has been decommissioned.

Each hydroelectric project location is marked “exact” or “approximate.” In the case of exact coordinates, locations are either specifically identified on a mapping service such as OpenStreetMap or Google Maps, or gathered from company or government documentation. If the location of a project or proposed project is not known, Global Energy Monitor identifies the most accurate location possible based on available information.

If a project is still in the pre-operational phases (announced, pre-construction, or construction), there may be no sign of activity. In other cases, only approximate location information could be found. Finally, satellite photos in some geographies are updated infrequently, so recent activity may not be shown.

Location accuracy improves as plants move from early stages of development toward operation. To find out the coordinates of a location and whether a location is exact or approximate, click on the location dot, select the wiki page, and look under the “Location” section for the information in the column header named “Coordinates (WGS 84)”.

The objective of the Global Hydropower Tracker is to provide information on hydroelectric power plants which are currently active or may become active in the future. It includes all facilities with at least 75 megawatts (MW) of nameplate capacity for operating, announced, pre-construction, under construction, and shelved units.

Capacity is measured in megawatts, and refers to the collective nameplate capacity of the hydroelectric power plant.

Projects are the fundamental level of organization for the Global Hydropower Tracker. A given project may consist of a single turbine-generator set, or multiple turbine-generator sets. When available, information about the capacity and number of turbine(s) is included in the “Turbines” field. The “Complex” field is used to link together multiple projects that are part of a collection of related power-generating infrastructure but which should be considered different plants due to distinct physical infrastructure, geographic separation, and/or other factors such as ownership or operation.

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The tracker was designed and produced by Global Energy Monitor, a network of researchers seeking to develop collaborative informational resources on fossil fuel impacts and alternatives.

Please refer to the Download Data page for citation guidance.