ABSTRACT
This chapter explains how East Asia's hydropower development has been historically state-driven. The hydropower is the oldest and most established mainstream renewable energy (RE) sector and by far the most dominant in power generation. Hydroelectric dams played a historically important role in powering 20th-century industrialisation in virtually every part of East Asia. While hydropower has been able to deliver substantial levels of energy over time, the environmental and socio-economic costs borne from large-hydro dams have made it the most controversial RE sector of all. Hydropower plays, a vital role in mitigating climate change and delivering cleaner energy in relation to fossil fuel alternatives, the considerable environmental and socio-economic costs arising from large-hydro especially make this the riskiest and most controversial RE sector of all. The chapter focuses on mounting and increasingly effective public opposition to large-hydro projects in China and Southeast Asia, leading to more circumspect political thinking toward them.
