Hydropower dams are one of the primary reasons that only one-third of the world’s major rivers remain free-flowing. The paper explores strategies that range from project-level mitigation to river-basin and regional power-system planning.
Cases from Chile and Uganda show that system-scale planning can meet low-carbon energy targets while avoiding dams on high-priority rivers at a similar system cost. A case study from Colombia shows that strategic siting can also improve financial performance for investors and developers.