Wednesday, 07 September 2011 09:03
 Image:Freefoto.com U.S. Department Energy Secretary Steven Chu and U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today announced nearly $17 million in funding over the next three years for research and development projects to advance hydropower technology. Sixteen projects in 11 states were selected through a competitive grant process for their ability to contribute to the development of innovative technologies that produce hydropower more efficiently, reduce costs and increase sustainable hydropower generation. The funding will help advance the Obama Administration's goal of meeting 80 percent of our electricity needs from clean energy sources by 2035.
"By improving and deploying advanced hydropower technologies, we can maximize our use of this proven clean energy resource, create jobs, and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels," said Secretary Chu. "Hydropower can be used to store energy to help utilities better integrate other sources of renewable energy like wind and solar into the grid, improving our energy security and diversifying our clean energy resources."
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Saturday, 06 November 2010 23:19
 Image: www.freefoto.com U.K. Climate Change Minister Greg Barker today called on enterprising communities to harness the power of their rivers and streams to generate both green electricity and money, as he visited the Torrs Hydro scheme in New Mills, Peak District. Greg Barker will use today's visit to a successful community hydro scheme in the Peak District to announce that former mills and water turbines which are brought back to life will now be eligible for financial support under the feed-in tariff. To help drive forward the ambitious new plan, DECC is also launching the new hydropower help guide, prepared by the Environment Agency, which offers advice to groups looking to use the power of local streams, weirs or rivers to cut emissions and generate new income for their areas. Energy and Climate Change Minister, Greg Barker, said: "I'm calling on communities across the UK to harness the power of their rivers and streams to generate electricity and money. The community of New Mills in the Peak District are already doing this. When it comes to the UK's performance on renewables there's much more to do and hydropower is currently a missed opportunity. There is more to renewable energy than just large wind turbines. We need to unlock the clean energy of our past as well as the future. To do that we need to make it easy and attractive for local people to revive our traditional waterways and help produce more local clean energy."
Monday, 01 November 2010 15:48
 Image: www.freefoto.com The Department of Energy (DOE), Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), and the Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) today announced eight joint research awards totaling nearly $5 million to support the responsible siting and permitting of offshore wind energy facilities and ocean energy generated from waves, tides, currents and thermal gradients. This critical research will address key information gaps regarding the potential environmental effects of renewable ocean energy. This collaborative, interagency effort will help lay the foundation for a clean, renewable offshore energy industry that will diversify our nation's energy mix, enhance our energy security, create American manufacturing jobs, and reduce carbon emissions. "The nation's oceans represent a major potential source of clean renewable energy, and DOE is committed to developing the innovative technologies that will harness that potential," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. "Our partnership with fellow federal agencies will help to streamline the responsible deployment of offshore renewable energy technologies that will create U.S. jobs while improving America's energy security."
Saturday, 25 September 2010 23:49
 Image: WWF Financial institutions must play a more active role in promoting sustainable hydropower development in the lower Mekong river basin, says WWF. On September 24th in Bangkok, Thailand, leading US, European and Asian financial institutions will attend a conference co-convened by WWF and other development partners to highlight the financial, social and environmental risks and responsibilities of hydropower development on the lower Mekong river. The meeting will also explore ways to understand and mitigate these risks. "It is a missed opportunity," said Marc Goichot, Sustainable Infrastructure Senior Advisor for WWF Greater Mekong. "Lower Mekong dam sites were selected in the 1960's and there has not been a process to review them with the benefit of today's science and technology." Currently, there are 11 hydropower dams proposed for the lower Mekong river, which runs through Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. If the one of these dams is built it will break the lower Mekong's ecosystem connectivity, which can have a cascade of negative impacts.
Thursday, 15 July 2010 18:21
 Image: www.freefoto.com In the Danish coastal waters off Lolland a floating pilot-scale wind-wave power machine called Floating Power Plant - Poseidon is producing 130 kW of electricity that is being fed into the Danish grid. It has cost DKK 35 million so far, and its owners are now hunting for another DKK 30 million for documentation and testing that they hope will give them a commercial breakthrough. Company chairman Erik Schultz sees the floating wind-wave power plant, a triangular structure with wind turbines mounted at each corner, as a challenger to conventional offshore plants which rest on foundations fixed into the seabed. "Our ambition is to create an alternative to the very expensive foundations used for offshore wind turbines. Existing foundations account for over 60% of the price of an offshore wind turbine. We think we can bring down the cost significantly."
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