Findings in a recently published European Union report showed that the Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia make up over 30 percent of the EU countries that have already met their 2020 renewable energy targets.

Ameren is preparing to test a Canadian company’s software that could someday help usher in a radically different business model for the utility.

This week the University of Nevada, Reno announced two discoveries in the Great Basin by the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology using a previously untried method for finding unknown, hidden geothermal resources.

Among my circle of friends and colleagues, everyone is aware of the impact of human activities on climate change - the melting of arctic ice, the destruction of species - and the major causes of it, namely, coal burning for electricity and fossil fuels burning for transport. What nearly everyone is unclear about is what specifically to do about it and how fast.

This week artificial intelligence (AI)-driven energy storage services provider Stem said that it had formed a partnership with New York-based private equity company Syncarpha Capital to build 28.2 megawatt-hours (MWh) of large-scale storage projects co-sited with solar in Massachusetts.

Solar company Hanergy announced that its thin-film solar modules will cover the 150,000 square meter roof of the ‘Rafael Gallery’ located at a Tech City in Shanghai.

On Tuesday, July 23 at the HydroVision International keynote, Vice President Marla Barnes asked the audience to close their eyes and envision their next vacation. “Are you sitting on a beach? Are you packing your family into the car for a wild adventure? What do you see,” she asked.

It may be time to start building power plants in Texas again.

Australian urban planning and design and economics consultancy Cistri is using its evidence-based insights to help Asian developers design and plan urban communities that enhance quality of life.

The addition of hydropower generating capacity to an irrigation network in northern Japan is one step closer to completion. Several sites have been identified for the installation of VLH turbines, with a total capacity of 1.433 MW.

In many countries, needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have led to increased installation of intermittent renewables such as wind and solar.

The 130-MW Les Cedres generating station in Canada is a landmark in the history of Quebec hydropower. Hydro-Quebec recently celebrated the station's 100th year of operation, as well as its induction into the Hydro Hall of Fame.

One or two new runners for the units at the 355-MW Brazeau Power Station in Alberta, Canada, would allow owner TransAlta Corp. to better optimize revenue and provide valuable ancillary services. Modeling of the various upgrade options allowed the utility to arrive at the most valuable solution.

New power-generating units at Kenya’s Olkaria I plant are saving East Africa’s biggest economy about 2.2 billion shillings ($24 million) a month on fuel costs, according to the country’s biggest electricity producer.

Actress Natalie Portman, environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and other high-profile Harvard University alumni are calling for demonstrations to urge divestment from fossil fuels.

Policies favoring clean energy and increased competition would normally dim prospects for existing producers. Not in Chile, where foreign investors are driving a renewable boom at a time of surging returns by local utilities.

U.K. electricity from low-carbon sources accounted for almost a quarter of the country’s generation in the fourth quarter as Drax Group Plc converted a second coal-power plant to burn wood.

Brazil will increase the use of renewable energy, target zero net deforestation and push for low-carbon agriculture as part of its climate proposal, Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said in an interview.

German utility E.ON has agreed to sell its 527 MW Terni hydroelectric power complex to Genoa-based ERG Power Generation S.p.A.

A recent announcement published by Bulawayo 24 indicates several hydro projects are moving forward in Zambia.

Hearings on a pair of bills held by the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee this week could potentially lead to an expansion of hydroelectric power in Alaska.

The European Commission's Climate Change Committee has approved a transfer of US$19.3 million in funding for tidal energy developer Atlantis Resources from the Kyle Rhea project to its 398-MW MeyGen project.

The International Hydropower Association has been re-elected to the steering committee of the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21^st Century (REN21).

On Nov. 11, Germany-based Aquila Capital announced it has signed an agreement with four Norwegian utility companies -- Statkraft AS, Agder Energi, BKK and Skagerak Energi -- to acquire all shares of Smakraft AS, Norway's largest small-hydro company.  

Congress today announced details of a year-end tax deal that could provide a two-year extension on provisions for hydroelectric and marine hydrokinetic resources.

Capping a busy February for the European Marine Energy Centre is an announcement that tidal turbine manufacturer Tocardo has signed a 20-year deal for testing at EMEC's array in Orkney.

More than a year after Prime Minister David Cameron publicly announced support for the Perpetuus Tidal Energy Center (PTEC), Great Britain’s Marine Management Organization (MMO) issued a license on April 20 to Royal HaskoningDHV to deploy and operate a proposed 30-MW tidal array at the center, located off the Isle of Wight.

Five companies were recognized this week by the National Hydropower Association during its annual Waterpower Week in Washington conference for work in hydroelectric power that exemplifies "extraordinary recreational, historical, environmental or educational value."

Development-ready sites, with existing reservoirs for new pumped hydro energy storage plants, offer generation potential of 2,291 GWh, according to a newly released report from the eStorage Project.

Companhia Energetica de Minas Gerais (Cemig) of Brazil recently released its first quarter earnings and revealed it has already spent almost half of its forecast investment total for 2016, spending BRL2.15 billion (US$610 million) from January to March, according to BNamericas.

Hydroelectric power developer Snowdonia Pumped Hydro has withdrawn its application for environmental permits for the 99.9-MW Glyn Rhonwy pumped-storage plant from Natural Resources Wales.

Hydroelectric power developer Gilkes Energy has begun construction on a trio of small hydro projects, all of which are to be located on the Attadale Estate near Loch Carron, Scotland.

On July 18, Empresa Publica de Producao de Electricidade (PRODEL) Project Manager, Celso Pontes, announced phase one at the 40-MW Matala hydroelectric project is complete and the detailed design of the second phase is now being prepared.
 

The U.S. Department of Energy released the long-awaited Hydropower Vision report -- alongside $9.8 million in funding for hydroelectric power -- earlier today at HydroVision International 2016 in Minneapolis.

The U.S. Department of Energy released the long-awaited Hydropower Vision report -- alongside $9.8 million in funding for hydroelectric power -- earlier today at HydroVision International 2016 in Minneapolis.

By the time this column is published, oral arguments in the legal challenge to the Clean Power Plan will have already been made. The en banc panel of 10 appeals court judges is not likely to render its decision before the New Year.  No matter the opinion, it will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bernadette A. Hernandez-Sanchez, Ph.D., is a chemist and now the first female researcher from Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) to receive the Outstanding Technical Achievement award from Great Minds in STEM.
 

The first power has been produced at the MeyGen tidal power site in Scotland, according to project developer Atlantis Resources Ltd.

Germany-based entrepreneurial firm, Aquila Capital, opened an office this month in Oslo, Norway, to coordinate investment and transaction management as well as operations in the hydropower sector.

A European marine energy project program under the new Ocean Energy ERA-Net Cofund (Oceanera-NET Cofund) is proceeding with stage two, Cofund Joint Call 2017, on March 20.  

The user selection board of the €11 million (US$11.8 million) Funding Ocean Renewable Energy through Strategic European Action (FORESEA) project has awarded “Recommendations for Support” to 15 offshore renewable energy technologies, according to an announcement today from FORESEA.  

In a portion of her statement delivered yesterday to the European Union, United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May said, “I hereby notify the European Council in accordance with Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union of the United Kingdom's intention to withdraw from the European Union.”
 

A new paper is being launched today at the House of Lords in London that challenges government, regulators and companies working on clean energy to make gender diversity a key priority. The paper has been produced by the EWiRE network, set up by Regen to provide a vibrant network for women working in clean energy.

Only time will tell whether this is right, but EV adoption is clearly rising both on the individual and fleet fronts. Utilities such as Southern California Edison and Ameren, among many others, are working to build EV charging infrastructure and align power distribution in a way to handle it.

New research shows that small run-of-river (ROR) hydropower projects can provide just as much baseload stability as reservoir-based hydropower plants while being highly responsive to real-time grid and market changes. This means that as the U.S. seeks to expand renewable energy sources without compromising reliability, one option is more flexible (and profitable) hydropower that doesn’t involve dams.

Italy must more than double its capacity to store electricity if it wants to slash pollution from burning fossil fuels, the head of the nation’s power transmission network said.

In a first for the country, Germany generated 54.5 percent of electricity from renewable energy in March 2019. This is according to data collected by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems.

ABB and Rolls-Royce on Tuesday announced a global partnership on microgrid technology and advanced automation. Together the two companies will offer a microgrid solution for utilities, commercial and industrial entities.

There are a total of about 530,000 potentially feasible pumped hydro energy storage sites worldwide, with a total storage potential of about 22 million GWh. These astonishing numbers come from a report recently released by Professor Andrew Blakers and other researchers with Australian National University’s RE100 Group.

Global manufacturer Apple today announced it has nearly doubled the number of suppliers that have committed to run their Apple production on 100 percent clean energy, bringing the total number to 44. Because of this partnership between Apple and its suppliers, Apple will exceed its goal of bringing 4 gigawatts of renewable energy into its supply chain by 2020, with over an additional gigawatt projected within that timeframe.