Collection of articles related to hydropower technology

The latest news on global small hydroelectric facilities from November-December 2014

Statkraft AS, Norway’s state-owned power company, said it plans to plow as much as 60 billion kroner ($8.1 billion) into renewable energy around the world in the coming years after the government boosted its funding.

The top hydroelectric power news for December 2014

The 130-MW Les Cedres generating station in Canada is a landmark in the history of Quebec hydropower. Hydro-Quebec recently celebrated the station's 100th year of operation, as well as its induction into the Hydro Hall of Fame.

Collection of articles related to hydropower technology

The latest hydropower industry news from Canada

Clean energy investments in India increased to $7.9 billion last year and are expected to surpass $10 billion in 2015.

The Brazilian bank Itau Unibanco Holding SA raised 1.05 billion reais ($408 million) to finance renewable energy and water treatment projects.

The Obama administration is proposing a $4 billion fund to reward states that exceed cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions, and wants Congress to back steeper royalty rates for oil, gas and coal extraction from public land.

India said cheaper credit along with foreign investment will help the world’s third-largest polluter fund an ambitious renewable energy program that would build green power plants faster than China.

New power-generating units at Kenya’s Olkaria I plant are saving East Africa’s biggest economy about 2.2 billion shillings ($24 million) a month on fuel costs, according to the country’s biggest electricity producer.

Global emissions were unchanged last year, the first time that’s happened amid economic growth in four decades, according to the International Energy Agency.

President Barack Obama ordered the federal government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from 2008 levels over the next 10 years by shifting to renewable energy sources such as solar power.

Beijing, where pollution averaged more than twice China’s national standard last year, will close the last of its four major coal-fired power plants next year.

U.K. electricity from low-carbon sources accounted for almost a quarter of the country’s generation in the fourth quarter as Drax Group Plc converted a second coal-power plant to burn wood.

Mexico has become the first developing nation to formally promise to cut its global-warming pollution, a potential milestone in efforts to reach a worldwide agreement on tackling climate change.

Investors have spent more than $2 trillion on clean-energy plants in the past decade and last year added more renewable capacity than ever before.

Brazil will increase the use of renewable energy, target zero net deforestation and push for low-carbon agriculture as part of its climate proposal, Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said in an interview.

A $2 trillion push in the U.S. to blend renewable energy into the power supply and fortify transmission lines against extreme weather means that Americans must act more like Europeans to keep their power costs down.

Two construction workers died as the result of a landslide and additional workers were injured on May 22 at the construction site of the Hamzadere Dam Irrigation System in the Ipsala district of Edirne, Turkey. Edirne is in the northwestern-most part of the Turkey near its border with Greece.

Scientists and economists including BP Plc’s former chief executive officer, John Browne, are inviting governments to join a $150 billion program that aims to make clean energy cheaper than coal.

Uruguay hopes to generate as much as 38 percent of its power from wind by the end of 2017, up from about 13 percent now, cementing Uruguay’s position as South America’s top wind-energy user, according to Gonzalo Casaravilla, chairman of the state- owned electric utility UTE.

Renewable energy will draw almost two-thirds of the spending on new power plants over the next 25 years, dwarfing spending on fossil fuels, as plunging costs make solar the first choice for consumers and the poorest nations.

Long-frustrated wind and solar developers in Australia can now get to work on more than A$14 billion ($11 billion) in projects after a new renewable energy target passed parliament.

India's Union Cabinet has approved cost revisions for its intergovernmental agreement with the Royal Government of Bhutan to implement the 1,200-MW Punatsangchhu-1 hydroelectric project on Bhutan's Punatsangchhu River.

Executives from 13 major U.S. corporations are announcing at least $140 billion in new investments to decrease their carbon footprints as part of a White House initiative to recruit private commitments ahead of a United Nations climate-change summit later this year in Paris.

Companies including Apple Inc., Berkshire Hathaway Energy Co., and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will join Secretary of State John Kerry and top administration officials at the White House for the announcement. In addition to pledges to cut emissions, provide financing to environmentally-focused companies, and reduce water consumption, the companies have said they will procure at least 1,600 MW of new, renewable energy. The White House said in a statement that it expects to announce a second round of similar pledges later this fall from additional companies.

The commitments are being announced as President Barack Obama is looking to build momentum toward a legacy-defining global climate accord in Paris. In addition to company-specific commitments, the corporate leaders on Monday will signal their support for a strong climate agreement out of the United Nations talks. They administration is using the pledges to set an example for companies to find ways to eliminate their carbon emissions.

Climate Talks

“As the world looks toward global climate negotiations in Paris this December, American leadership at all levels will be essential,” the White House said in a fact sheet detailing the announcement.

The administration’s actions are pushing the issue into the 2016 presidential debate. Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, released an energy strategy saying she would both defend and go beyond Obama’s efforts. Republican candidates have criticized the administration’s initiatives as costly to the economy and unnecessary.

Among the pledges, aluminum manufacturer Alcoa Inc. has agreed to reduce emissions by 50 percent from its 2005 levels, while agricultural giant Cargill Inc. says 18 percent of its total energy use will come from renewable sources.

Coca-Cola Co. said it would drive down the carbon footprint of its beverage production by 25 percent over the next five years, while Google says it plans to triple its purchases of renewable energy over the next decade. Berkshire Hathaway says it plans to invest up to an additional $15 billion in the construction and operation of renewable energy generators, while Bank of America Corp says it will increase its environmental business initiative by $75 billion over the next decade, according to the White House

Other participating firms include Wal-Mart, United Parcel Service Inc., PepsiCo Inc., Microsoft Corp., General Motors Inc.

The corporate commitments won’t be the administration’s only major climate announcement in the next few weeks. The Environmental Protection Agency is set to present final regulations that aim to reduce carbon emissions from power plants by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 later this week.

While visiting Kenya over the weekend, Obama repeatedly praised the country for its efforts to address climate change, saying its efforts tor educe emissions “has put it in the position of being a leader on the continent.” And next month, the president will travel to Alaska for an international summit on Arctic climate issues.

©2015 Bloomberg News

For more, see Big Companies, Big Renewable Investments.

Endesa Chile has unveiled a plan to develop 36 projects, amounting to 6300 MW of power in Brazil, Chile, Peru and Colombia. The board of directors are looking at hydroelectric power in particular for the bulk of the new capacity.

According to a press release from Aquamarine Power, the marine hydrokinetic (MHK) Wave Power Offtake Device (WavePOD) 10th-scale prototype, a project run jointly by Aquamarine Power, Bosch Rexroth and Carnegie Wave Energy, has received US$3.1 million in new funding. 

German utility E.ON has agreed to sell its 527 MW Terni hydroelectric power complex to Genoa-based ERG Power Generation S.p.A.

HydroEvent.com, the one-stop location for all things related to the world’s largest hydro event, is up and running for HydroVision International 2016. The conference and events are scheduled for July 26-29 in Minneapolis, Minn. at the Minneapolis Convention Center. 

JSW Energy Ltd., based in Mumbai, India, is refinancing about US$1.1 billion via a 5:25 financial structure for its hydropower-related debt following the purchase of two hydroelectric projects in November 2014 from Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd.  

JSW Energy Ltd., based in Mumbai, India, is refinancing about US$1.1 billion via a 5:25 financial structure for its hydropower-related debt following the purchase of two hydroelectric projects in November 2014 from Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd.  

According to the Federal Register, potential power is presently unutilized at the 800-kW East powerhouse and proposed 700-kW West powerhouse for the Potsdam hydroelectric project on the Raquette River in Lancaster County, New York. The proposed West powerhouse received a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission exemption from licensing in 1981.  

News from the Global Renewable Energy Industry

At more than 10,800 ft above sea level, the 510-MW Zangmu Hydropower Station -- the largest in Tibet and one of the highest elevation hydroelectric facilities in the world -- is fully operational. Constructed at a cost of US$1.5 billion, the facility is located in Gyaca County, Shannan Prefecture on the Yarlung Zangbo River (Brahmaputra River), that flows through Tibet downstream into India and Bangladesh.

Knight Construction & Supply Co. has won a $3.7 million contract from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to rehabilitate spillway gates at the Blue River Dam in Oregon.

Schottel Hydro subsidiary, Black Rock Tidal Power (BRTP), has raised C$15 million (US$11.5 million) for investment in its 2.5-MW TRITON floating marine hydrokinetic energy platform.  

Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult and consultancy firm Frazer-Nash, both based in the UK, will perform a live demonstration of their marine hydrokinetics (MHK) energy project risk assessment tool during the International Tidal Energy Summit pre-conference risk and reliability workshop in London on Nov. 23.
 

Murilo Ferreira, chairman of Brazil-based energy conglomerate Petrobras (Petroleo Brasileiro SA), has stepped down effective Nov. 30.

The US$1.6 billion Northern Pass transmission line that could tap into 1,096 MW from Canada’s largest hydropower producer, HydroQuebec, was approved Dec. 7, by a 6-0 vote of New Hampshire’s Site Evaluation Committee [SEC].
 

Tidal energy developer Atlantis Resources remains on track to deliver power to the Scottish power grid from the MeyGen site in the coming year, according to an end-of-year statement issued by the company earlier this week.

Marine hydrokinetics (MHK) company BioPower Systems (BPS) reports it deployed its 250 kW bioWAVE pilot demonstration unit, Dec. 16, in the Southern Ocean off the southeastern coast of Australia near Port Fairy, Victoria.
 

The New Development Bank (NDB), which has an authorized capital of US$100 billion, could provide additional opportunities to fund development of new hydroelectric projects.
 

The Cascade Generation Station on the Seguin River in Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada, is being upgraded from 1.2 MW to 3.4 MW, according to the project’s owner, Parry Sound PowerGen Corp.
 

The U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon ruled on May 4 that the 2014 Columbia Basin salmon biological opinion violates the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act, and declared it invalid.

American Municipal Power and the city of Hamilton held a dedication ceremony for the 105-MW Meldahl hydroelectric plant on June 2.

Recently I traveled to San Francisco to participate in international efforts to meet the challenge of climate change and accelerate the global transition to clean energy. The main event was the Seventh Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM7), a meeting of 23 countries and the European Commission.

Hydroelectric power developer Snowdonia Pumped Hydro has withdrawn its application for environmental permits for the 99.9-MW Glyn Rhonwy pumped-storage plant from Natural Resources Wales.

Hydroelectric power developer Gilkes Energy has begun construction on a trio of small hydro projects, all of which are to be located on the Attadale Estate near Loch Carron, Scotland.