How much pumped hydro storage is being built worldwide
Pumped storage hydropower is a system that pumps water uphill into a reservoir when electricity is cheap or plentiful, then lets the water fall back down through turbines to generate electricity again when it is needed. That is the answer to how much pumped hydro storage is being built worldwide, and the number is large. The International Hydropower Association counts a global hydropower development pipeline, meaning every project now in planning, permitting or construction combined, of 1,127 gigawatts. Of that, 621 gigawatts is pumped storage specifically, and 243 gigawatts of pumped storage is already under construction. Installed pumped storage capacity passed 200 gigawatts for the first time in 2025, reaching 201 gigawatts, after a record 11.7 gigawatts was added that year alone.
If the right policy changes are made, it should triple and if governments treat water batteries and chemical batteries equally, the industry will quadruple capacity by 2040.
Eddie Rich, chief executive, International Hydropower Association. Source 1.
China leads a buildout driven by grids adding wind and solar
The total pipeline figure already includes the amount under construction, they are not additive.
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| Installed end of 2025 | 201 |
| Under construction | 243 |
| Total pipeline all stages | 621 |
China accounts for more than 40% of all the hydropower capacity the world added in 2025, and has more than 300 gigawatts of hydropower under construction right now, including 218 gigawatts of pumped storage, more than any other country. The combined development pipeline across South and Central Asia exceeds 300 gigawatts. Africa added more than 4 gigawatts of new conventional hydropower in 2025, the 2nd consecutive year at that pace. The association own report states the 11.7 gigawatt record twice in its own itemized list of figures, against a single mention of 11.6 gigawatts elsewhere on the same page, checked directly against the page own raw computer code rather than a summary, a small slip inside 1 source rather than a disagreement between sources.
India plans to more than triple its own pumped storage capacity by 2036
India own Central Electricity Authority counts 7,175.6 megawatts, 7.18 gigawatts, of pumped storage in operation across 10 projects as of December 31, 2025, with another 11,620 megawatts under construction across 10 more projects, 9,580 megawatts already approved but not yet started, and 75,000 megawatts across 54 projects still being surveyed. The agency own projection puts installed capacity at about 87 gigawatts by 2033 34, then past 100 gigawatts by 2035 36, an average of 9 new gigawatts a year for a decade.
The middle figure is the agency own projection, not a target. The government target is reaching or passing 100 gigawatts by 2035 36.
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| Operating end of 2025 | 7.18 |
| Projected 2033 34 | 87 |
| Government target 2035 36 | 100 |
The United States already leans on pumped storage for grid scale storage
The United States operates 43 pumped storage plants today, the Department of Energy says, together holding a combined 23 gigawatts of capacity according to the National Hydropower Association. Pumped storage already supplies 88% of all utility scale energy storage in the country, the kind of large battery and pumped storage systems that store power for the whole electric grid rather than a single home, more than any other single technology, the department states, citing its own 2024 Hydropower Market Report. The trade association counts 67 more pumped storage projects planned across 21 states, representing more than 50 gigawatts of new capacity if all of them are built.
Hydropower and pumped storage are uniquely positioned to provide these services at scale.
Malcolm Turnbull, president, International Hydropower Association. Source 1.