Update on Central Asian Hydropower

📸 Erlan | Pexels

What happens when two outstanding early career researchers join forces to conduct a spatio-temporal assessment of Central Asia's hydropower landscape?

The community gets: 

1️⃣ A georeferenced and validated hydropower dataset: HP:CA https://zenodo.org/records/13320645

2️⃣ A review paper on past developments, current status, and future projections: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032125009128 

Spatial distribution of hydropower plants in Central Asia, categorized by powerhouse location (river-based vs. diversion plants), storage capability (with vs. without reservoir), and installed capacity. Source: De Keyser et al. (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2025.116239

Temporal development of the number of hydropower plants and their installed capacity in Central Asian countries up to 2024, including notable individual plants. Source: De Keyser et al. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2025.116239

A shout-out to Jan De Keyser and Patricia Osuna Fuentes who co-led this fantastic effort as part of the Hydro4U project at BOKU University.