Hydropower Articles & Analysis

In 2023, renewable energy sources accounted for 45.3% of gross electricity consumption in the EU, a significant 4.1 percentage points (pp) increase from 2022. This marks the largest annual increase in the share of renewable energy in gross electricity consumption since the time series began in 2004. In addition, the annual increases in 2022 (3.5 pp) and 2020 (3.3 pp) were the second and third ...

By Smart Grid Observer

The world’s electricity consumption is forecast to rise at its fastest pace in recent years, growing at close to 4% annually through 2027 as power use climbs in a range of sectors across the economy, according to a new IEA report released this week.Electricity 2025, the latest edition of the IEA’s main market analysis of the sector, forecasts that the growth in global demand will be the ...

By Smart Grid Observer

The International Hydropower Association (IHA) has this week launched a toolkit for pumped storage hydropower (PS) development. This toolkit details the barriers for delivering policy solutions to PS development and the appropriate mechanisms needed to drive this growth. PS is the largest form of renewable energy storage, with nearly 200 GW installed capacity, providing more than 90% of all long ...

By Smart Grid Observer

According to its provisional energy report, Spanish utility Iberdrola SA (BME:IBE) generated 83,294 GWh of electricity from its renewable energy projects worldwide in 2024, a 5% increase from the previous year. According to the data, renewable energy production fell 2.1% to 19,993 GWh in the fourth quarter. In comparison to the same period last year, the output varied across Iberdrola's markets ...

By IBERDROLA Engineering and Construction

With global electricity demand set to grow strongly, new technologies are opening up the massive potential of geothermal energy to provide around-the-clock clean power in almost all countries around the world, according to a new IEA report.The report, The Future of Geothermal Energy, finds that geothermal energy could meet 15% of global electricity demand growth between now and 2050 if project ...

By Smart Grid Observer

On a power grid partly supported by wind turbines, solar panels and hydropower turbines, weather and climate patterns can significantly affect how much power is produced. And as more wind and solar are added to the grid, utilities will need to understand how seasonal patterns in climate and weather might cause swings in energy generation. In new research, a team from the Department of ...

By Smart Grid Observer

The COP29 Global Energy Storage and Grids Pledge has gained the support of 58 countries, including major players from all continents like Brazil, Kenya, the USA, Ukraine, Pakistan, Morocco, Uruguay, Congo, Peru, Venezuela, Malaysia, Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, numerous European countries, and dozens of organisations. These signatories are taking the lead in implementing the ambitious target of ...

By Smart Grid Observer

No two hydropower facilities are the same. They all work similarly by harnessing the power of rushing water to spin turbines and generators, which in turn creates electricity. But their differences—in size, age or mechanical parts—means there’s no one answer that can solve every problem that arises. “Hydropower facilities are like snowflakes; even individual turbines ...

By Smart Grid Observer

The International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) today announced the release of a groundbreaking guidance document aimed at ensuring the global transition to renewable energy is both rapid and sustainable. Titled "Improving Decision-Making for the Energy Transition: Guidance for Using Strategic Environmental Assessment," this comprehensive resource provides governments and ...

By International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA)

PG&E has been awarded $34.5 million in grant awards from the U.S. Department of Energy Grid Deployment Office to support 19 hydroelectric projects across its system.The grant awards are part of the DOE's Maintaining and Enhancing Hydroelectricity Incentive program, and will fund work that provides grid resiliency, improves dam safety, and reduces environmental impacts associated with ongoing ...

By Smart Grid Observer

Renewables remain competitive despite fossil fuel prices returning closer to historical cost levels, concludes Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2023, released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) at the Global Renewables Summit during the UN General Assembly in New York this week. Of the record 473 gigawatts added in 2023, 81% or 382 GW of newly commissioned, utility-scale ...

By Smart Grid Observer

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange (i2X) program and Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, through a Partnership Intermediary Agreement with ENERGYWERX, announced the Innovative Queue Management Solutions (iQMS) for Clean Energy Interconnection and Energization program. This program will award $11.2 million to no more than 25 distribution utilities to ...

By Smart Grid Observer

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has released version 2.0 of the Cybersecurity Value-at-Risk Framework (CVF), a free, publicly available tool that helps power plant owners and operators assess their cybersecurity risks and make sound cybersecurity investment decisions. Informed by feedback from industry stakeholders, these updates provide users with advanced tools to assess and ...

By Smart Grid Observer

Faced with the challenge of electric grid modernization, many have called for supporting utility managers and operators with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) tools that can remove some of their decision-making burden. Understandably, utilities are cautious in adopting new technologies when the consequences of failure are costly and could affect customers. Additionally, the ...

By Smart Grid Observer

PV modules generate the largest amount of electricity when directly exposed to the sun. In theory, using two-axis trackers would maximize the yield. For obvious economic reasons, a fixed installation towards the south is the more popular setup. But it is not the power output alone, that counts in the end, as power prices differ a lot throughout the day. They are low at noon, when there is plenty ...

By OTT HydroMet - Veralto

The world’s demand for electricity is rising at its fastest rate in years, driven by robust economic growth, intense heatwaves and increasing uptake of technologies that run on electricity such as EVs and heat pumps, according to a new report by the IEA. At the same time, renewables continue their rapid ascent, with solar PV on course to set new records.Global electricity demand is forecast to ...

By Smart Grid Observer

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced this week that USDA is partnering with rural Americans on hundreds of clean energy projects to lower energy bills, expand access to clean energy and create jobs for U.S. farmers, ranchers and agricultural producers. Many of the projects are funded by President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, the nation's largest-ever ...

By Smart Grid Observer

NREL this week released the 10th annual electricity sector data for the Electricity Annual Technology Baseline (ATB)."For a decade, the Electricity ATB has been supporting consistent, timely assumptions in energy analyses," said Brian Mirletz, who leads the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Electricity ATB project. "The free, open-source product provides detailed cost and performance data ...

By Smart Grid Observer

Swiss-based Alpiq has placed an order with Merus Power to build a 30 MW/36 MWh energy storage facility in Valkeakoski to be connected to Fingrid's grid. Merus Power has carried out the project development work and is responsible for the overall supply of the energy storage facility. In addition, the parties have concluded a contract for operation maintenance services. ...

By Energy Central

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI), through the Foresight Initiative, is providing valuable statistics on water management and energy production in Africa through an open access database. IWMI’s research provides the most detailed analysis on freshwater demand for electricity in Africa for the year 2020. This level of data use is unprecedented: previous statistics and ...

By International Water Management Institute (IWMI)