The following article is authored by IHA Deputy CEO Pablo Valverde

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Reading about the state visit of His Majesty the King of Spain to China this week brought back memories of my family’s time in Beijing in the mid-1990s. I was still a child, but I remember how my parents, both working for the Spanish Embassy, spent long days preparing for the royal visit in 1995. The choreography of such an occasion is extraordinary: every motorcade route, every meeting, every dinner carefully planned and rehearsed. For a 13-year-old child, it was a fascinating window into diplomacy.

I did not return to China between 1996 and 2022. When I finally returned, the transformation was remarkable, though in many ways it should not have been unexpected. Even then, you could sense the momentum of change in the air, the sense of a country moving forward with quiet confidence. The city I remembered for its morning smog, seen from our fifteenth story window, had evolved into one where electric vehicles are everywhere and fields of solar panels are visible from the airplane window. It was a reminder that the progress of today often begins with the planning and choices made decades earlier. 

As Spain and China meet again in 2025, they do so as two economies at different stages of the same journey, balancing growth with stability and ambition with reliability. The conversations between them will no doubt span trade, technology, diplomacy and energy, recognising that a secure and decarbonised power system is central to all three.

For Spain, the nationwide blackout earlier this year was a reminder of how essential it is to match clean generation with flexibility and preparedness. For China, it is about ensuring that innovation and expansion continue to serve a stable and secure energy system. Both are proof that the transition is not only about building new capacity but about strengthening what already exists.

According to the International Energy Agency, China’s grid investment in 2025 is projected to exceed USD 80 billion. The ratio of investment in transmission and storage to generation capacity in China is several times higher than in Spain, where for every dollar invested in renewables only about thirty cents is invested in the grid (BloombergNEF). The result is a Chinese power system better equipped to absorb variable renewable technologies, maximise their benefits to society and steadily continue to grow.

Part of the difference, I think, is in China’s comprehensive approach to storage. It is investing in batteries, yes, but also pursuing an ambitious long-term strategy for pumped storage and hydropower. Our members, including State Grid Xinyuan, China Three Gorges Corporation and SPIC, are playing central roles in that effort. The ambition is clear: China already has more than 60 GW of pumped storage installed and according to the 2025 World Hydropower Outlook, is aiming for around 120 GW by 2030, with analysis suggesting it could reach as high as 130 GW.

In Europe by contrast, governments are only just starting to realise the importance of pumped storage as a key element in energy security. Two months ago, IHA and Eurelectric shepherded the launch of the Paris Pledge, calling for faster deployment of pumped storage to strengthen grid stability and energy security across the continent. The message is one China would recognise: combining generation with flexibility builds the resilience that a clean energy future requires.

Europe too has much to share with China. Through projects such as ReHydro and XFLEX Hydro, European partners are showing how modernisation, digitalisation and refurbishment of existing hydropower can deliver large gains in flexibility, reliability and environmental performance. For a country with one of the world’s largest hydropower fleets, these lessons in efficiency and innovation could prove as valuable as new capacity itself.

Looking ahead, these are also the priorities that will guide IHA’s own work in 2026. Our strategic focus for the coming year should be on modernisation, pumped storage, and sustainability, three areas that together underpin hydropower’s contribution to energy security. Hydropower can provide the flexibility that power systems increasingly need, while also creating skilled local jobs and relying on short supply chains and domestic resources. In a world where geopolitics often overshadows technology, this makes hydropower uniquely placed to deliver progress that is both practical and enduring.

If there is a lesson from revisiting China, it is that transformation is not accidental. It is the result of consistent vision and long-term commitment. That same sense of purpose will be essential as we shape the next phase of the global energy transition, one that is secure, sustainable, affordable and built to last.