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 Hydropower Overview
In 2005, net generation of hydropower was 270 billion kilowatt hours.
According to the Energy Information Administration, this generation accounted
for approximately 6.5 percent of the nation's net generation last year. As
illustrated in the graph below, hydropower represents a smaller slice of the
national energy mix than it does in the Northwest. Nationally, coal still
generates approximately 50 percent of the nation's electricity.
While hydropower may represent a relatively small percentage of
generation on a national level, the generation mix at the regional level
is very different. In the states represented by the Northwest
Hydroelectric Association (California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and
Montana), hydropower provided 40% of the electric generation mix in
2004.
Total 386,800,000 MWhrs (approx)
Reliance on hydropower for electric generation is even more dramatic if
viewed by individual state. Washington, Oregon and Idaho all rely on
hydropower as a source for the majority of their electric generation.
Note: the following generation mix represents the electric generation (not
consumption) by state. "All other renewables" includes: wood, black
liquor, other wood waste, municipal solid waste, landfill gas, sludge waste,
tires, agriculture byproducts other biomass, geothermal, solar thermal,
photovoltaic energy and wind.
 
Total: 102,165,052 MWhrs
Total 51,381,278 MWhrs
 
Total:
194,780,355 MWhrs
Total 10,863,039 MWhrs
Total
26,788,768 MWhrs
For a detailed breakdown of state electricity profiles and source data for these graphs, see the
Energy
Information Administration's State Electricity Profiles of 2004, published in
May, 2006. DOE/EIA-0629(2004).
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