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Articles on Hydropower

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• DOE: There Is Major Potential To Further Develop Hydropower In U.S.
  May 5, 2014 - renewgridmag.com
  
  
  The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its Oak Ridge National Laboratory have released a renewable energy resource assessment detailing the potential to develop new electric power generation in waterways across the U.S.
  
• Energy Dept. Report Finds Major Potential to Grow Clean, Sustainable U.S. Hydropower
  Apr 29, 2014 - energy.gov

  WASHINGTON – Building on the Obama Administration's commitment to an all-of-the-above energy strategy, the Energy Department and its Oak Ridge National Laboratory released a renewable energy resource assessment today detailing the potential to develop new electric power generation in waterways across the United States. The report estimates over 65 gigawatts (GW) of potential new hydropower development across more than three million U.S. rivers and streams – nearly equivalent to the current U.S. hydropower capacity. These findings demonstrate one of the ways the United States can further diversify its energy portfolio with sustainable and clean domestic power generation.

• Hydroelectric Projects, Dams Could Be Win-Win for Pakistan
  Apr 9, 2014 - Michael Harris, Online Editor - HydroWorld.com 
  
  ISLAMABAD, Pakistan Pakistan's hydroelectric power operators could be significantly vulnerable to climate change given the country's significant lack of water storage capacity, according to a report published by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
  
  
• Congo Open to More Investors Joining 4.8-GW Inga Hydropower Project
  Oct 11, 2012 - Michael J. Kavanagh, Bloomberg - renewableenergyworld.com
  
  Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo -- The Democratic Republic of Congo is open to more investors joining three groups of companies bidding to construct the $12 billion Inga 3 hydropower project, Energy Minister Bruno Kapandji said.
  
  
• Scotland Greenlights Europe's Largest Tidal Energy Project
  Sep 19, 2013 - sustainablebusiness.com
  
  After approving a wave energy project earlier this year, the Scottish government has given the go-ahead for Europe's largest tidal energy project.
  
  
• Transmission Link Will Bring Hydropower From Malaysia To Indonesia
  Aug 28, 2013 - Kelvin Ross - renewableenergyworld.com
  
  The line will join West Kalimantan in Indonesia with a hydropower plant in Sarawak, Malaysia, and construction is expected to be completed by December 2014.
  
  
• Renewables-based Desalination: A Solution to MENA's Water Crisis
  Sep 2, 2013 - Dr. Nasser Saidi, Chairman - renewableenergyworld.com
  
  "You never miss the water till the well runs dry" is an old idiom that is becoming a harsh reality for the Middle East and North Africa region and globally. Water scarcity is now this century's imminent greatest problem, a clear and present danger.
  
  
• Water power offers bipartisan path to tackle climate change -- Wyden
  Apr 23, 2013 - Hannah Northey - eenews.net
  
  Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) rallied the hydropower industry yesterday, saying untapped potential for hydroelectricity across the nation offers the most promising and "ripe" path for an otherwise divided Congress to tackle climate change.
  
  
• Hydroelectric dams said source of greenhouse gas methane
  Jan 15, 2013 - terradaily.com
  
  Small hydroelectric dams, despite their "green" reputation, are creating "hotspots" of greenhouse gas emissions, a European researcher says.
  
  
• Khartoum's Ethiopian hydro-power energy importation tests begin
  Dec 17, 2012 - Tesfa-Alem Tekle - Sundantribune.com
  
  December 16, 2012 (ADDIS ABAAB) -Ethiopia has started a test run of electricity supply to neighbouring Sudan, according to state power utility, Ethiopian Electric and Power Corporation(EEPCo).
  
  
• Alaska's Untapped Potential
  Dec. 10, 2011 - Russell W. Ray - hydroworld.com
  
  Throughout North America, dozens of new hydropower projects are being proposed, planned, constructed or put into operation. One location offering the greatest opportunity for new hydropower development is the state of Alaska in the United States.
  
  
• Climate Change Evaporates Part of China's Hydropower
  Nov. 8, 2011 - Coco Liu and ClimateWire - scientificamerican.com
  
  The nation's hydropower production dropped by 25 percent thanks to an unusual drop in river flow.
  
  
• Welcome To Marshall Hydrothermal-The First System Ever To Unlock The Enormous Energy Potential Of Hydrothermal Vents
  Nov 17, 2011 - marshallhydrothermal.com
  
  Hydrothermal vents have been around since the planet was first formed. They are a natural by-product of Plate Tectonics, the process that forms, moves, and eventually consumes entire continents.
  
  
• Abu Dhabi hosts Africa meeting on renewable energy
  Oct. 7, 2011 - Michael Casey - boston.com
  
  African governments should consider investing in renewable energies like wind, solar and hydro power to help feed the continent's growing energy demands and combat threats of climate change, the head of a new international energy agency said Friday.
  
  
• Free Flow Power Reports Positive Results from Turbine Generator in Mississippi River
  Aug 19, 2011 - smartenergynews.net
  
  New Orleans – Free Flow Power, a Boston-based developer of clean energy projects, announced that it has been successfully operating one of its underwater “hydrokinetic” electrical generators in the lower Mississippi since June 20, 2011, in the first full-scale test of the technology. It is the culmination of a three-year R&D project funded by a $1.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, as well as private capital.
  
  
  
• How the DRC’s Inga project could solve much of Africa’s power problems
  Jul 21, 2011 - Claude Harding - howwemadeitinafrica.com
  
  Companies in Africa are severely handicapped by poor power supply.
  
  
• China confronts raft of problems at Three Gorges
  Jun 10, 2011 - Elaine Kurtenbach - Associated Press - energycentral.com
  
  China has admitted that its showcase Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric project, has caused a slew of urgent environmental, geologic and economic problems.
  
  
• Offshore renewable energy storage
  June 4, 2011 - renewableenergyfocus.com
  
  Canadian Thin Red Line Aerospace has developed the Energy Bag, which will see a prototype anchored to the seabed off the coast of Scotland this summer as part of a renewable energy research project led by Professor Seamus Garvey of the University of Nottingham, UK. The project is being supported by E.ON.
  
  
• Interior Report Reveals Potential to Generate Significant Clean Electricity and Create Jobs at Existing Dam Facilities
  Mar 30, 2011 - doi.gov
  
  WASHINGTON, DC – The Department of the Interior today released the results of an internal study that shows the department could generate up to one million megawatt hours of electricity annually and create jobs by adding hydropower capacity at 70 of its existing facilities.
  
  
• Case study: river turbines provide ecologically acceptable power
  Apr 27, 2011 - Bryan Orchard - renewableenergyfocus.com
  
  Near the German town of St. Goar on the river Rhine, KSB Aktiengesellschaft, Frankenthal, has installed and commissioned two river turbines that will generate power without affecting the river flow or harming fish stocks.
  
  
  
• Nova Scotia Joins Surge on Tidal Power
  Mar 16, 2011 - Alasdair Cameron - renewableenergyworld.com
  
  Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia – To date much of the focus on tidal power has been on the Eastern side of the Atlantic with demonstration projects in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Over on the Western side however, the Canadian Province of Nova Scotia looks set to give the old country a firm run for its money.
  
  Wave Power In Oregon Continues To Build
  Mar 16, 2011 - Nino Marchetti - earthtechling.com
  
  Wave energy development in Oregon added a new company to the research mix recently as Texas-based Neptune Wave Power announced it is testing its technology at Oregon State University’s (OSU) Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory. The university is part of a larger collaboration known as the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center (NNMREC), which also pulls in the University of Washington (UW) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
  
  
• Tapping the Mighty Mississippi and Coastal Tides with Underwater Turbine
  Feb 27, 2011 - Joey Peters - ClimateWire - ScientificAmerican.com
  
  The turbines work by capturing the energy of flowing water, which they pick up from waves, tides and currents
  
  
• AECOM and EDF look at hydropower in DR Congo
  Feb 23, 2011 - renewableenergyfocus.com
  
  AECOM and Electricité de France (EDF) have been awarded US$13.4 million feasibility study for Grand Inga hydropower site on Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
  
  
• Chinese-Russian deal will pursue hydropower projects: energy company
  Oct 20, 2010 - Xinhua
  
  Russia had recently sealed a framework agreement with China to develop hydropower, the country's independent energy company EuroSibEnergo said late Monday.
  
  
• Myanmar to export power to Bangladesh
  Oct 20, 2010 - Xinhua
  
  Myanmar has agreed with Bangladesh to build two hydropower plants in western Rakhine state to export a total of 575 megawatts (mw) of electricity to Bangladesh, local media reported Thursday.
  
  
• Energy from Oceans and Rivers to Power the U.S. Grid
  Sep 28, 2010 - STATE DEPARTMENT RELEASE/ContentWorks
  
  There was the sun and the wind -- and now comes the power of water. If the promise of this fledgling energy technology holds true, it could eventually be as affordable and viable as fossil fuel and nuclear power.
  
  
• Tidal Power Giant Makes Debut
  Aug 18, 2010 - Daily Record - Glasgow - Energy Central
  
  The most powerful and largest tidal turbine ever built was unveiled yesterday in Scotland.
  
  
• Chinese engineers propose world's biggest hydro-electric project in Tibet
  May 26, 2010 - Jonathan Watts - guardian.co.uk
  
  Mega-dam on Yarlung Tsangpo river would save 200m tonnes of CO2 but could spark conflict over downstream water supply
  
  
• Micro hydropower lifeline for villages soon
  May 25, 2010 - The Kathmandu Post
  
  The government will allocate additional resources to build micro-hydro projects with a capacity of 50-100 KW to provide electricity to every village in the country with the potential to generate electricity but without a power connection. Finance Minister Surendra Pandey said on Sunday that government resources would be made available to generate electricity through micro-hydro projects in such villages within the next three years.
  
  
• EDF commissions Nam Theun 2 hydroelectric power station in Laos
  May 17, 2010 - Datamonitor - energycentral.com
  
  The EDF Group has commissioned the Nam Theun 2 hydroelectric power station in Laos, with a total power output of 1070 MW.
  
  
• Tap that water
  May 14, 2010 - economist.com
  
  Controversy surrounds the argument for dam-building in Africa
  
  
• Bhutan hydro project is first cross-border initiative registered under Clean Development Mechanism
  Apr 20, 2010 - hydroworld.com
  
  A Bhutan hydro project supported by the Asian Development Bank and the governments of Austria and Japan was registered as the first cross-border initiative under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).
  
  
• Maps to reveal hydropower potential in UK
  Mar 8, 2010 - renewableenergyfocus.com
  
  A map revealing potential hydropower hotspots in England and Wales has been published by the UK Environment Agency.
  
  
• Hydropower in the United States has potential to quadruple capacity
  Mar 3, 2010 - Lisa Frantzis - hydroworld.com
  
  Hydropower's total capacity has potential to reach four times its current amount in the United States, with job creation expanding exponentially as well, research from Navigant Consulting Inc. suggests.
  
  
• Dam Critics Won't Go Away
  Feb 6, 2010 - Inter Press Service - All Africa Global Media
  
  Ethiopia is building a 240-metre high dam on the Omo River that is intended to end the country's electricity shortage and supply power to neighbouring countries. Not everyone's happy.
  
  
• Ethiopia to build 10 hydroelectric projects
  Nov 19, 2009 - Hydroworld.com
  
  ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia 11/19/09 (PennWell) --

  The government of Ethiopia said it will build 10 hydroelectric projects over the next decade at a cost of US$10 billion, according to Nazret.com, an online news service in Ethiopia.

• World Bank: Africa needs more hydropower
  Nov 17, 2009 - Hydroworld.com
  
  WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S. 11/17/09 (PennWell) --

  A new study from World Bank shows that almost half of the $93 billion needed to improve Africa’s infrastructure must be spent on the construction of new power supplies.
  

• Hydropower Upgrade to Yield Added Generation at Average Costs Less Than 4 cents per kWh - Without New Dams
  Nov 04, 2009 - U.S.Deparment of Energy
  
  $30.6 million Recovery Act investment by the Department of Energy highlights the additional potential of hydro power
  
  
• World bank pledges support for DRC's Grand Inga dam
  Sept 11, 2009 - Bank Information Center
  
  Observers, however, are skeptical that the proposed project presents a solution to Africa's energy problems and whether the millions of Africans without access to electricity stand to benefit.
  
  
• Africa aims to harness its huge hydropower potential
  Aug 26, 2009 - Southern African News Features/All Africa Global Media
  
  Energy experts from Africa will meet in September for the 21st Session of the African Hydro Symposium to explore ways of harnessing hydropower.
  
  
• NGO Develops Mini Hydro-Power Stations
  Aug 26, 2009 -- The Herald/All Africa Global Media
  
  Three regional countries are set to benefit from mini-hydro-power stations being developed by a local non-governmental organisation.
  
  
• Retrofitting dams to generate electricity
  Aug 19, 2009 - Kate Galbraith - The New York Times
  
  Environmental opposition often means that new hydropower facilities are non-starters. But there may be a way around that: retrofitting existing dams.
  
  
• Talks under way for huge power project
  Aug 2, 2009 - Denise A. Raymo - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News
  
  Another large-scale, international hydropower project is in negotiations between the New York Power Authority and Canadian entities.
  
  
• Laos plans to become regional electricity supplier by 2020
  Jul 2, 2009 - Asia Pulse Data Source
  
  Laos has a plan to transform itself into a battery of the Southeast Asian region so as to go out of the status of a underdeveloped country by 2020, according to the Lao news agency KPL.
  
  
• Quebec has plenty of hydro power to sell
  Jun 2, 2009 - Larry Rulison - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News
  
  Claude Bechard, Quebec's minister of natural resources and wildlife, came to Albany Monday to offer water to Gov. David Paterson.
  
  
• Environment group calls to suspend funding of Ethiopia's dam
  May 8, 2009- McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Sudan Tribune
  
  An international environmental group urged the African Development Bank (AfDB) to reconsider their commitment to fund the ongoing construction of a dam in southwest Ethiopia saying it would affect the ecosystems and livelihoods in the region.
  
  
• China to build four power stations with renewable energy
  Mar 13, 2009 - Xinhua
  
  China will construct two hydropower stations and two wind farms with a total capacity of 2,001 megawatts, a move to develop clean and renewable energy, the country's top economic planner has said.
  
  
• US Energy Secretary: Should Invest Heavily In Pumped Hydro Elec Storage
  Feb 23, 2009 - Dow jones & Company, Inc.
  
  The federal government and markets should invest " heavily" into pumped hydro electricity and compressed air storage, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Monday.
  
  
• China keen to harness power from rivers covering India, Nepal
  Feb 16, 2009 - Asia Pulse Data Source
  
  China has said it favours bilateral partnership with Nepal and India to harness power from transnational rivers that cover the three countries.
  
  
• Hydro power shows signs of comeback
  Dec 27, 2008 - Tim Huber - The Associated Press
  
  CHARLESTON, W.Va. America's search for cleaner electricity has developers studying dozens of government flood-control dams from North Carolina to Oregon to see if it makes financial sense to retrofit them with hydroelectric turbines.
  
  
• Delivering Green Hydroelectric Power-to-Go in Rwanda
  Nov 25, 2008 - Larry Greenemeier
  
  Dartmouth students bring light to once-dark homes in a remote Rwandan village
  
  
• Central Highlands to Become Vietnam's Largest Hydropower Centre
  Aug 18, 2008 - BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
  
  The Central Highlands is expected to become the country's largest hydro-power centre by 2010, as it will have hydro- power plants of a combined capacity of 5,000 MW, equal to one third of the current capacity of the national power grid.
  
  
• Drought could plunge New Zealand into winter power crisis
  Jun 11, 2008 - Power News
  
  New Zealand's electric industry is bracing for possible blackouts this winter as hydro-storage lake levels have plummeted 55% below average, the lowest levels since the country suffered its last power crisis in 1992.
  
  
• OpenHydro connects tidal turbine to UK grid
  Jun 2, 2008 - Datamonitor

  Irish company OpenHydro has announced that it has become the first company to complete the connection of a tidal turbine to the UK national grid and commence electricity generation.

• Africa plans largest hydroelectric dam in world
  Apr 21, 2008 - Xinhua
  
  A plan to build the largest and most powerful hydroelectric dam in the world is being discussed in London, BBC reported Monday.
  
  
• Project to make electricity from Detroit River's flow
  Nov 9, 2007 - Kathleen Gray - Detroit Free Press - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News
  
  The power of moving water has long been harnessed by hydroelectric dams, but an Ann Arbor company has a new idea to use the flow of the Detroit River to generate electricity.
  
  
• Mali, Mauritania And Senegal Receive Assistance for Regional Hydroelectric Development
  Aug 26, 2007 - World Bank/All Africa Global Media Washington, DC - The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved three International Development Association (IDA) credits*, each for US$25 million equivalent to the Republic of Mali, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and the Republic of Senegal under the US$ 350 million adaptable program lending (APL) facility that supports the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP) initiative of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
  
  
• RWE and EOS sign 10-year power exchange agreement
  Aug 24, 2007 - Alexander's Gas & Oil Connections - energy-business-review.com
  
  German utility RWE and Swiss power company Energie Ouest Suisse have signed a 10-year agreement to exchange hydroelectric and coal-fired power that will come into effect on January 1, 2009. RWE will supply around 1 bn kWh per year of electricity from hard coal-fired power plants.
  
  
• Ecuador president declares power emergency
  Aug 8, 2007 - Xinhua
  
  QUITO, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa declared a state of emergency in the nation's power sector Wednesday, amid a surge in national electricity consumption and an energy export stoppage by Colombia.
  
  
• Giant dam projects aim to transform African power supplies
  Jun 19, 2007 - Sarah J. Wachter - International Herald Tribune
  
  PARIS: Maps As the world's political leaders debate ways to alleviate poverty in Africa, industrialists are moving ahead with their own designs for pan-African development - including the building of the world's largest hydroelectric dam at a bend in the Congo River, between Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Atlantic Ocean.
  
  
• Over 6,000 Ethiopia's rural towns to be electrified next year: minister
  May 14, 2007 - Xinhua
  
  ADDIS ABABAEthiopia's Ministry of Mines and Energy said Monday it has plans to electrify over 6,000 rural towns next year.
  
  
• Zambia Needs $2.1bn for Hydropower Generation
  Feb 9, 2007 - All Africa Global Media
  
  Parliament heard yesterday that Zambia needs US$2.1 billion investment to expand hydropower generation and transmission to avoid a looming power shortage in the next five years.
  
  
• Massive hydroelectric project could help with climate change
  Feb 6, 2007 - Associated Press
  
  Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams cast himself as an environmental champion Tuesday, saying the proposed Lower Churchill hydroelectric development could help Canada dramatically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
  
  
• Waterwheel Invention Promises Cheap Electricity
  Dec 31, 2006 - energycentral.com
  
  It's a mechanical problem that's troubled scientists since Archimedes and the ancient Greeks but now an electrician has come up with a new invention that could help save consumers thousands of pounds in energy bills.
  
  
• Hydropower Stations Dot Yangtze River
  Nov 27, 2006 - Xinhua
  
  A thousand kilometers upstream from the Three Gorges Project, China continues to throw up hydropower stations on the Yangtze.
  
  
• Hydropower and Other Renewables: Best Source of Electricity for Canadians Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
  Oct 31, 2006 - Minister Lunn - Canada NewsWire
  
  "Using additional hydropower capacity could make a substantial contribution to reducing greenhouse gases and air pollution both in the United States and here at home," said federal minister of Natural Resources Gary Lunn, addressing delegates at the seventh Forum on Hydropower. "However, action on regulatory efficiency is essential to ensure the continued development of hydropower and other renewables."
  
  
• Plutonic Power Secures the Rights for Three New Run-Of-River Green Energy Hydropower Projects
  Sep 7, 2006 - Plutonic Power Corporation- CCN Matthews - marketwire.com
  
  Plutonic Power Corporation is pleased to announce that it has successfully completed Stages 1 and 2 towards securing a Water License and Crown Land rights from the Integrated Land Management Bureau (Ministry of Agriculture and Lands) and the Water Stewardship Division (Ministry of the Environment), for the development of three run-of-river nonstorage hydroelectric power generation projects to be located on Smythe Creek, Stanton Creek and Fissure Creek, near the headwaters of Knight Inlet, approximately 200 km North of Powell River, BC.
  

• Mali, Mauritina And Senegal Receive Assistance for Regional Hydroelectric Development.
  
  The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved three International Development Association (IDA) credits*, each for US$25 million equivalent to the Republic of Mali, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and the Republic of Senegal under the US$ 350 million adaptable program lending (APL) facility that supports the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP) initiative of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
  
  
• Uganda: Micro-Hydro Sites Identified
  Aug, 2006 - AllAfrica.com
  
  THE Japanese delegation to Uganda on August 3 concluded a one-week fact finding mission on potential sites for generating electricity for rural communities.
  
  
• Enlightening a Continent in the Dark– Prospects for Hydropower Development in Africa (pdf)
  Oct 27-29, 2004 - Dr. Michel Claude Lokolo - United Nations Symposium on Hydropower and Sustainable Development
  
  "Enlightening a Continent in the Dark"— Prospects for Hydropower Development in Africa. It is well recognized that — access to clean, reliable energy is vital to socio-economic development.
  
  
• Giant Congo hydroelectric project is a 'betrayal'
  Sep 30, 2002 - Fred Pearce
  
  The heart of darkness could soon be lighting up Africa. There are plans to build the world's largest hydroelectric project on the Congo river and connect it to a continent-wide electricity grid.
  
  
• China Eyes Hydropower to Relief Pollution
  Jan 2, 2001 - People's Daily
  
  China's installed hydropower capacity will rise by 35 percent from the current 74 million kilowatts to 100 million kilowatts by 2005 to replace dirty and inefficient thermal power.

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