Hydro

The ‘Perfect Partner’: Brazil Follows its Own Wind Energy Model

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Brazil is a country blessed by nature. Famous for its beaches, renowned for its beauties, the emerging global economic leader is also blessed by huge energy reserves, ranging from deep sea oil to huge rivers that drive hydroelectric production and some of the best wind resources in the world.

Countries have built wind energy as a complement to their existing power infrastructure, but in few places does the natural setting make wind so much “the perfect partner” for hydroelectric power as Brazil, the Global Wind Energy Council said in a report on regulatory frameworks for the country’s emerging wind industry. That is nature at work, with the wind cycle complementing Brazil’s rainy season by blowing strongest during the dry season. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 22, 2012 at 3:30 PM

In Hydropower, Small Can Be Beautiful

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While some parts of the world take hydropower for granted, it’s an unfamiliar concept in many others. Energy market analysts at GlobalData, however, say government support globally is “making hydropower a key renewable energy resource” and that small hydropower plants (SHP) in particular are showing serious growth, largely because of the numerous advantages they have over larger facilities.

According to a recent GlobalData report, global installed hydropower capacity grew from 896.9 gigawatts in 2006 to 1.072.1 gigawatts in 2011. The company anticipates that number to climb to 1,443 gigawatts by 2020 because of continued government support. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 2, 2012 at 1:00 PM

#Switzerland faces challenges as it seeks to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 1/5 by 2020 while phasing out nuc power http://bit.ly/MSXogm

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#Switzerland faces challenges as it seeks to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 1/5 by 2020 while phasing out nuc power http://bit.ly/MSXogm @IEA

 /  Published July 16, 2012 at 3:00 PM

Renewable Energy’s Five Year Plan: Building the Transparency Set Amid Hectic Growth

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‘What gets measured, gets managed,’ is an long-standing cliché of business, but its truth is often self-evident when it comes to governance. In planning energy policies, regulators and businesses and even voters must have access to the right kind of data before they can even see which problems are most pressing and which solutions most viable.

The International Energy Agency’s new five-year forecast for the renewable energy sector joins the fuel-specific reports covered by its widely read oil, natural gas and coal mid-term reports. Those fossil fuels need little introduction, and in the developed countries covered by IEA and its parent organization – the OECD – production, processing, use and reserves of the traditional energy complex is very advanced and taken as fact. Keep reading →

 /  Published July 6, 2012 at 4:20 PM

If Renewables Can Meet 80% of Our Electricity Needs, What are we Waiting For?

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Calling it the most comprehensive analysis of high-penetration renewable electricity in the continental U.S. to date, a new report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) says

 /  Published June 21, 2012 at 3:00 PM

Seeking a Bridge to the Renewable Energy Finance Future

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There simply couldn’t be a better time to talk about how renewable energy is financed, and how changes in financing are affecting the entirety of a market that has matured at a rapid pace.

As bankers, project developers, analysts and regulators gather for another year at the Renewable Energy Finance Forum – Wall Street, they will be standing before that overused but apt metaphor: A crossroads. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 11, 2012 at 11:30 AM

Asian Power Sector Review: Growth Potential Matched by Challenges

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Asia is the world’s largest infrastructure market, with $4.1 trillion in power market spending expected over the coming decade, experts told industry participants and journalists at a recent quarterly power sector briefing held by infrastructure firm Black & Veatch. Keep reading →

 /  Published May 21, 2012 at 8:00 AM

Energy in Brazil: A Profile in Local Innovation at Energisa

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For all the talk of lessons learned and new global approaches to energy, local conditions can – and should – prevail when it comes to choices for energy infrastructure additions, one of Brazil’s leading energy executives recently told Breaking Energy.

Brazil has been a “hot” developing market for a number of years, undergoing an economic renaissance even as traditionally dominant US markets have stagnated and neighboring Argentina has marked itself out as a risky place for foreign energy investors. But the country cannot seek to recreate the “gold standard” reliability of US and European generators, Energisa CEO Ricardo Botelho told Breaking Energy at the DNV KEMA Utility of the Future Summit in DC recently. Keep reading →

 /  Published May 17, 2012 at 1:00 PM

Connecticut Focuses on Unique Reverse Auctions to Drive ‘Green’

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Two people walk through a forest in Easton, Connecticut identified as at risk for development.

Connecticut has made a controversial choice in selecting a unique reverse auction system to foster renewable generation. Keep reading →

 /  Published April 30, 2012 at 2:30 PM

Energy Plants at Risk From Rising Seas, Report Says

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U.S. electric power plants, oil refineries and natural gas installations are at increased risk from flooding as a result of rising sea levels in coming decades, according to a new report from the climate research group Climate Central.

In a report presented to Congress on April 19, the research group identified 287 energy facilities in 22 coastal states that are located less than four feet above the high-tide line where flooding becomes increasingly likely with global sea-level rise. Keep reading →

 /  Published April 23, 2012 at 11:30 AM
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