Harnessing renewable energy is a crucial step in building sustainable communities, and as climate change accelerates, finding carbon-free energy sources that are affordable, reliable, and can handle changes in policy, extreme weather events, and rising demand is more important than ever. One often-overlooked solution? Our rivers. Small hydroelectric turbines (“Small … [continued]
Who gives a dam? Drop-in hydrokinetic turbines could bring hydropower to canals, rivers, and tidal waterways without damming up the flow of water.
A few months ago, we wrote about Republican millionaire Jay Faison’s apparent attempt to bring some sanity to Republican politics and push for solutions to global warming. It’s nice to see another person in the party has woken up to the threat of global warming enough that he is trying to jolt … [continued]
One notable driver of small hydropower is the low generation cost compared to other off-grid renewable technologies. This information comes from a deeper analysis that Transparency Market Research published in a new report titled, Small Hydropower Market, by Installed Capacity – Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth Trends, and Forecast, 2015 — … [continued]
A significant number of new run-of-river hydroelectric projects are set to be developed in a 5-state area encompassing Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Mississippi, following on the closure of a senior loan facility between Free Flow Power (FFP) New Hydro and Crestline Investors, according to recent reports. The 21 … [continued]
This morning the United Nations Environment Program released its 9th annual report on Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment. The news is very good: 2014 was the best year ever for newly installed renewable capacity. The Frankfurt School–UNEP Collaborating Centre and Bloomberg New Energy Finance prepared the report. In spite of the 50+% collapse in … [continued]
China continues to play a major role in strengthening renewable energy infrastructure in Africa. The Asian giant has been lending financial and technical assistance to African countries looking to install solar, wind, and hydro power projects. Tanzania has become the latest beneficiary of financial assistance from China, for a 300 MW … [continued]
Hugh Keenleyside Dam, a run-of-river hydropower station operated by BC Hydro, and the Arrow Lakes Generating Station “Run-of-river” hydro power, gentler and smaller-scale than massive hydroelectric projects that irretrievably flood huge areas of land, may become a $1.4 billion-dollar industry in the next 10 years, according to Tocardo International BV, … [continued]
Germany, South Korea, Japan, and China aren’t the only countries looking to up step on the renewable energy pedal. Brazil, another major world economy, has also recently announced big renewable energy plans.
A new national 10-year plan from Brazil shows that the country will triple its use of renewable energy by 2020 and that a lot of that energy will be wind energy.
