Short answers, pulled from the story.
Hydroelectricity generated 4,210 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2023. This output exceeds the combined production of all other renewable energy technologies and surpasses global nuclear power plant output.
William Armstrong developed the world's first hydroelectric power scheme in 1878 at Cragside in Northumberland, England. This installation powered a single arc lamp in his art gallery to prove water could generate electricity.
The Three Gorges Dam in China became the largest power-producing facility of any kind on Earth in 2008. It surpassed the Itaipu Dam, which had held the record since 1984, and the Grand Coulee Dam, which eclipsed the Hoover Dam in 1942.
The World Commission on Dams estimated that dams had physically displaced 40 to 80 million people worldwide in 2000. Large reservoirs submerge extensive areas of land, destroying biologically rich lowland and riverine valley forests, marshland, and grasslands.
The Malpasset Dam failure in Fréjus on the French Riviera collapsed on the 2nd of December 1959. This disaster killed 423 people in the resulting flood and remains one of the significant hydroelectricity disasters in history.
Switzerland produces 88% of its hydroelectric potential, while Mexico produces 80%. The International Energy Agency forecasted 141 gigawatts generated by hydropower from 2022 to 2027, which is slightly lower than the deployment achieved from 2017 to 2022.