Hydropower development situation and prospects in China

China's economic development faces an energy challenge, and the appropriate solution to this energy bottleneck is the key to a robust, rapid, and sustainable development. Abundant hydropower resources provide unprecedented advantages and opportunities for China's rapid hydropower development over the last five decades. China's hydropower growth contributed greatly to the global output net growth, with the current installed hydropower capacity at 320 GW. This study uses the 13th Five-Year energy plan to summarize the development of China's hydropower sector for the past 50 years and its current progress, recommend the major hydropower bases and its scale, describe the main problems encountered in developing China's hydropower resources and the solutions to these difficulties, and predict China's hydropower development trends and prospects in the future. This study aims to give an overview of the present situation of hydropower in China and its future political, economic and environment perspectives and challenges.