How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going

by Vaclav Smil

The concurrent expansion of hydroelectric capacity accelerated during the 1930s, with large state-funded projects in the USA and the USSR, and reached new highs after the Second World War, culminating in the construction of record-size projects in Brazil (Itaipu, completed in 2007, 14 gigawatts) and China (Three Gorges, completed in 2012, 22.5 gigawatts).[64] Meanwhile, nuclear fission began to generate commercial electricity in 1956 at Britain’s Calder Hall, saw its greatest expansion during the 1980s, peaked in 2006, and has since declined slightly to about 10 percent of global electricity generation.[65] Hydro generation accounted for nearly 16 percent in 2020; wind and solar added almost 7 percent; and the rest (about two-thirds) came from large central stations fueled mostly by coal and natural gas.