Pumped Storage Capacity by Country

Pumped storage capacity by country measures installed pumped-storage hydro capacity for each country, in gigawatts (GW). Unlike conventional hydropower, pumped storage is primarily used to store electricity and shift it between periods of lower and higher demand. The statistics are based on the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) International Energy Statistics. The table covers 44 countries, all with a reported value for 2024, and includes data from 2019 to 2024. The world total stood at 200.63 GW in 2024, up from 193.29 GW in 2023.

China (58.69 GW) led in 2024, about 2.1 times Japan (27.34 GW). The United States (23.16 GW), Switzerland (12.28 GW) and Germany (9.45 GW) completed the top five.

Pumped Storage Capacity by Country

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#	Country	2024 (GW)
1	China CN	58.69
2	Japan JP	27.34
3	United States US	23.16
4	Switzerland CH	12.28
5	Germany DE	9.45
6	Italy IT	7.26
7	France FR	6.79
8	Spain ES	5.65
9	Austria AT	5.61
10	India IN	4.79
11	South Korea KR	4.7
12	Portugal PT	3.87
13	United Kingdom GB	2.9
14	South Africa ZA	2.73
15	Australia AU	2.71
16	Taiwan TW	2.6
17	Poland PL	1.8
18	Norway NO	1.4
19	Belgium BE	1.31
20	Luxembourg LU	1.3
21	Russia RU	1.22
22	Czech Republic CZ	1.17
23	Ukraine UA	1.16
24	Iran IR	1.04
25	Bulgaria BG	1.01
26	Argentina AR	0.97
27	Slovakia SK	0.92
28	Lithuania LT	0.9
29	Morocco MA	0.81
30	Serbia RS	0.74
31	Philippines PH	0.74
32	Greece GR	0.7
33	Thailand TH	0.56
34	Bosnia and Herzegovina BA	0.42
35	Romania RO	0.37
36	Israel IL	0.3
37	Ireland IE	0.29
38	Croatia HR	0.28
39	Iraq IQ	0.24
40	Slovenia SI	0.18
41	Canada CA	0.18
42	Sweden SE	0.1
43	Honduras HN	0.01
44	Brazil BR	0

China accounted for about 29.3% of the world total in 2024. The top two together held about 42.9%, the top three about 54.4%, the top five about 65.3%, and the top ten about 80.3%.

China's expansion exceeded the global net increase

China recorded the largest increase in absolute terms, rising from 50.94 to 58.69 GW (+7.75 GW, about 15.2%). The world total rose from 193.29 to 200.63 GW (+7.34 GW, about 3.8%). China's increase alone exceeded the net world increase because declines in other countries offset part of the additional capacity. Spain recorded the largest decline among reported pairs, falling by 0.75 GW, or about 11.8%.

Most major pumped-storage fleets barely moved

Japan (-0.2%), the United States (+0.0%) and Switzerland (0.0%) barely changed in 2024, while Germany (+0.7%) and Italy (+0.1%) edged up. China was the clear exception, adding 7.75 GW in a single year.

Pumped storage capacity rose 20.1% since 2019

Reported world values were 167.02 GW in 2019, 167.54 GW in 2020, 174.38 GW in 2021, 186.02 GW in 2022, 193.29 GW in 2023 and 200.63 GW in 2024. Capacity ended about 20.1% above the 2019 level, with growth in every year shown. The pace of growth picked up after 2020, with the world total adding 33.09 GW from 2020 to 2024, compared with only 0.52 GW in 2019–2020.

Pumped storage is a different kind of power capacity

Pumped storage capacity does not represent a conventional source of electricity generation. These facilities store electricity by pumping water to an elevated reservoir and later release it through turbines when electricity is needed. This makes suitable geography and reservoir infrastructure important factors in where pumped-storage capacity can be developed. Switzerland's 12.28 GW therefore places it fourth in this ranking despite its much smaller overall power system than the largest countries. The ranking reflects installed storage capacity, while EIA reports pumped-storage generation as negative on a net basis because these plants consume more electricity for pumping than they return to the grid.

Pumped Storage Capacity by Country

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#	Country	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
1	China	30.29	30.32	36.39	45.79	50.94	58.69
2	Japan	27.47	27.47	27.39	27.39	27.39	27.34
3	United States	22.78	23.02	23.01	23.04	23.15	23.16
4	Switzerland	10.82	10.73	11.35	12.27	12.28	12.28
5	Germany	6.48	6.49	6.49	6.49	9.38	9.45
6	Italy	7.24	7.25	7.22	7.26	7.25	7.26
7	France	7.22	7.09	7.1	7.1	7.1	6.79
8	Spain	6.41	6.41	6.41	6.41	6.4	5.65
9	Austria	5.67	5.73	5.76	5.8	5.56	5.61
10	India	4.79	4.79	4.79	4.79	4.79	4.79
11	South Korea	4.7	4.7	4.7	4.7	4.7	4.7
12	Portugal	2.76	2.76	2.76	3.65	3.71	3.87
13	United Kingdom	2.9	2.9	2.9	2.9	2.9	2.9
14	South Africa	2.73	2.73	2.73	2.73	2.73	2.73
15	Australia	2.61	2.61	2.61	2.61	2.61	2.71
16	Taiwan	2.6	2.6	2.6	2.6	2.6	2.6
17	Poland	1.8	1.8	1.8	1.8	1.8	1.8
18	Norway	1.41	1.47	1.45	1.45	1.45	1.4
19	Belgium	1.31	1.31	1.31	1.31	1.31	1.31
20	Luxembourg	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.3
21	Russia	1.22	1.22	1.36	1.36	1.22	1.22
22	Czech Republic	1.17	1.17	1.17	1.17	1.17	1.17
23	Ukraine	1.51	1.52	1.52	1.84	1.16	1.16
24	Iran	1.04	1.04	1.04	1.04	1.04	1.04
25	Bulgaria	1.01	1.01	1.01	1.01	1.01	1.01
26	Argentina	0.97	0.97	0.97	0.97	0.97	0.97
27	Slovakia	0.92	0.92	0.92	0.92	0.92	0.92
28	Lithuania	0.76	0.76	0.76	0.76	0.9	0.9
29	Morocco	0.46	0.46	0.46	0.46	0.46	0.81
30	Serbia	0.61	0.61	0.74	0.74	0.74	0.74
31	Philippines	0.74	0.74	0.74	0.74	0.74	0.74
32	Greece	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.7
33	Thailand	0.56	0.56	0.56	0.56	0.56	0.56
34	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.42	0.42	0.42	0.42	0.42	0.42
35	Romania	0.37	0.37	0.37	0.37	0.37	0.37
36	Israel	0	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
37	Ireland	0.29	0.29	0.29	0.29	0.29	0.29
38	Croatia	0.28	0.28	0.28	0.28	0.28	0.28
39	Iraq	0.24	0.24	0.24	0.24	0.24	0.24
40	Slovenia	0.18	0.18	0.18	0.18	0.18	0.18
41	Canada	0.18	0.18	0.17	0.17	0.18	0.18
42	Sweden	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
43	Honduras	0	0	0	0	0.01	0.01
44	Brazil	0	0.03	0.02	0.02	0	0

Methodology

The statistics are based on the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) International Energy Statistics. Values represent annual installed pumped-storage hydro capacity in gigawatts (GW). Where no value is available, the cell is left empty. A value of 0 indicates that the source reports zero. The sum of the countries listed on this page may not equal the reported world total because the country-level data presented here do not necessarily represent the complete set of values used for the world total. This page covers pumped-storage capacity only; generation from these plants, which is negative on net, is reported separately in the source.