Articles

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Prospects to Generate Waterspouts to Increase Hydroelectric Power

By Harry Valentine, Commentator/Energy Researcher, , December, 07, 2011 - Canadian engineer Louis Michaud of Vortex Engine has undertaken much research into producing artificial tornadoes that may drive wind turbines. Michaud based his research on the occurrence of natural tornadoes, cyclones and the counterpart, waterspouts that occur over water. There may be potential to adapt Michaud's earlier research at several North American coastal locations, to generate waterspouts that may indirectly enhance hydroelectric power production and provide potable water for the human population. more...
Article Viewed 1881 Times | 2 Comments

Small Hydro Power Generation along with Thermal Power Plants: an introduction to Use of Modified Electronic Governor Control Systems

By S. Deepak Kumar, , , July, 12, 2011 -

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Article Viewed 2856 Times | 1 Comments

Adapting a Mayan Hydraulic Concept to Modern Hydroelectric Power Generation

By Harry Valentine, Commentator/Energy Researcher, , June, 02, 2010 - While the engineers of the Mayan Empire are credited with having developed suspension bridges and buildings that could survive earthquakes, they are also credited with having initiated several innovative feats of hydraulic engineering that date back well over 1000 years. The rock dams they built at high elevation along the tributaries that were the headwaters of major rivers reduced flooding at the lower elevations. They also found a means by which to make water to appear to flow uphill. more...
Article Viewed 2653 Times | 5 Comments

Hydro Industry Seeks to Weaken Standards

By Peter Bosshard, Policy Director, International Rivers, March, 13, 2009 - Just like developers and contractors, affected people need enforceable rights in dam projects. The public interest in cost effectiveness and environmental protection must be safeguarded by clear standards. Yet the dam industry is currently trying to roll back rights and standards that have been established over the past 20 years. more...
Article Viewed 545 Times | 1 Comments

Cambodia: Chinese hydro concessions generate controversy

By Grainne Ryder, Policy Director, Probe International, January, 30, 2009 - In a desperate bid to attract investment in Cambodia's failing power sector, the government is offering guaranteed power revenues to Chinese companies willing to finance and build large hydro dams, and sell their entire output to the financially-strapped state utility, Electricite du Cambodge (EdC). First in line for the new guarantee was Sinohydro, the company that helped build China's Three Gorges dam and is now building dams across Africa, backed by China's state development banks. The Cambodian government approved its guarantee earlier this year, insuring payment to Sinohydro for electricity produced over its 44-year concession to build and operate the 193-MW Kamchay dam. more...
Article Viewed 1140 Times | 9 Comments

Canadian Energy in a Changing Climate

By Harry Valentine, Commentator/Energy Researcher, , April, 09, 2008 - The Northeastern United States receives a large percentage of its electrical power from Canadian hydroelectric power dams. California imported electric power from the hydroelectric power dams of British Columbia during a power shortage. Canada is also America’s largest foreign supplier of oil that can only be extracted from frozen tar sands after steam is pumped into the ground to liquefy that oil for it to flow into pipes. A climate that can ensure an adequate supply of water plays a critical role in Canadian energy. However, Canada’s historical climatic record reveals several periods of drought. more...
Article Viewed 844 Times | 2 Comments

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The Case for Expanding Pumped Hydroelectric Storage

By Harry Valentine, Commentator/Energy Researcher, , March, 21, 2008 - Advances that are occurring in energy conversion technologies and in the marine shipping industry could strengthen the case for high capacity pumped hydraulic energy storage at Niagara Falls. At the present time the United States leads the world in the number of pumped hydroelectric installations of over 1,000 megawatts, followed closely by Japan. America’s largest such installation at Bath County, Virginia transfers water over a vertical height of 1,262 feet and is rated at 2,100 megawatts. The Ludington installation on Lake Huron in Mason County, Michigan, uses a vertical height of 363 feet and is rated at 1,872 megawatts. more...
Article Viewed 1000 Times | 9 Comments

Micro-hydroelectric Power from Fog Fences

By Harry Valentine, Commentator/Energy Researcher, , September, 25, 2006 - Fog fences have been used for decades to collect the water droplets from dew and fog after which the moisture is sent to storage systems via piping systems. These fences are typically located at higher elevations near coastal regions where moisture is carried in by winds that blow over a cold ocean current during the early morning hours. The circulation of air from sea to land results from a landmass warming at a faster rate after sunrise than seawater in an adjacent ocean. The result is that moisture laden cool air will slowly blow across the cooler sea to the land after sunrise each day. more...
Article Viewed 1192 Times | 5 Comments

Should You Invest More in Your Hydro Assets?

By Ramon Mischkot, Principal Consultant, Transactive Management, July, 13, 2006 - In conducting depreciable life studies of almost every type of fossil-fired and renewable power generating technology over the past nine years, I have found hydroelectric generation to offer the best combination of economic and environmental advantages. Yet this energy alternative has failed to attract the investment necessary to expand existing systems or to develop new ones and US hydro capacity has actually declined by over 10 percent over the past twenty years. The reason? The perceived cost and risk of addressing the wide range of environmental and other issues that interveners can introduce under a 1986 amendment to the Federal Power Act have proved a barrier to new investment. more...
Article Viewed 456 Times | 4 Comments

Finding the True Cost of China's West-East Hydro: SERC should step in

By Grainne Ryder, Policy Director, Probe International, May, 24, 2006 - Just outside Kunming, the capital of southwest China's Yunnan province, a giant billboard advertises Hydrolancang on a blue-sky background. You wouldn't know it from the billboard, but Hydrolancang is the company building two of the world's tallest and most controversial hydro dams on the Lancang River just a few hundred kilometres to the south. more...
Article Viewed 1295 Times | 5 Comments

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