Global Hydro Power Report Ed 1, 2011
This new report looks at the global hydro market, the changes, developments and forecasts for the future. Following years of stagnation and bad press, hydro power is experiencing resurgence. Technologies with a lower environmental impact such as run-of-river, small hydro and low head turbines are proving to be extremely popular to both appease critics of hydro and meet energy needs. So much so that in the USA, the regulator of hydro projects, the FERC, has signed memorandum of understandings with five states to streamline the licensing of small projects. There has been an increase in pumped storage projects as a standalone option and retrofitted on to existing hydro power assets. As pumped storage is the most mature technology to store electricity generated from intermittent renewables such as wind and solar and then release it to meet peak demand. A large number of such projects are planned or under construction in the USA, China and Europe, which have a significant number of solar and wind projects installed or in the pipeline.
