Renewable Energy Generation Ltd., a British low-carbon asset developer backed by BlackRock Inc., will build six waste-to-power plants with Caterpillar Inc. and Finning U.K. Ltd. in an expansion of plans published last month.

Tesla Motors Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said shifting to greater use of solar and wind power will challenge utility companies.

The latest hydroelectric power news and information for March 2014

Clean energy assets in the Middle East and North Africa will more than double in capacity by the end of next year, the Dii GmbH industry association said.

BP Plc, recovering from an oil spill that may cost it as much as $42 billion, said it hasn’t set a new target for investing in renewable energy after investing $8.3 billion in the business.

U.K. renewable power generation rose 28 percent last year as more wind farms and solar plants came online, the Department of Energy and Climate Change said.

Greenpeace issued its annual report on the energy efficiency of Internet companies, praising Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and other major providers of online services for improved use of energy resources.

Royal DSM NV, the world’s largest vitamin manufacturer, expects to begin producing cellulosic ethanol in the U.S. by July as the government considers reducing the amount of renewable fuel that oil companies will be required to buy.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government stopped short of setting goals for renewable energy in the final version of a draft plan that reinforces atomic power’s role in Japan’s energy future, calling it a vital source of generation.

Technology is catching up with Thomas Edison’s electricity industry, eating away at the utility business model that hasn’t changed much in a century.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing Japan’s coal industry to expand sales at home and abroad, undermining hopes among environmentalists that he’d use the Fukushima nuclear accident to switch the nation to renewables.

The world needs to triple the energy it gets from renewables, nuclear reactors and power plants that use emissions-capture technology to avoid dangerous levels of global warming, United Nations scientists said.

What’s a beleaguered utility to do when forced by the government to close its profitable nuclear power plants?

Ukrainian officials say they’ve found a way to protect the nation from Russia: Go green.

Germany’s biggest utilities face dwindling market shares as the shift to renewable energy spurs regional power generation and storage technology, a senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party said.

Africa’s renewable energy capacity is expected to quadruple to about 120 gigawatts by 2030 if investors dedicate “substantial flows” of funds to the region, the InternationalRenewable Energy Agency said.

Vestas Wind Systems A/S said scaling back Australia’s renewable energy target would cut the value of more than A$10 billion ($9.4 billion) in large projects across the industry and discourage international investors.

Ohio is debating the sharpest break from a three-decade campaign by 29 U.S. states to reduce reliance on fossil fuels by promoting power from renewable sources.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appointed a former banker to oversee coal, power and clean-energy reforms in a move aimed at resolving fuel bottlenecks and chronic blackouts hampering economic growth.

U.S. President Barack Obama says natural gas can be a bridge from coal to a cleaner energy future. Investors are showing it’s more likely a bridge to nowhere.

Spain set new rates for electricity suppliers that use renewable sources, waste and co-generation based on a “reasonable return,” formally ending a subsidy system dating to the 1990s that had spun out of control.

Renewable energy may reap as much as two-thirds of the $7.7 trillion in investment forecast for building new power plants by 2030 as declining costs make it more competitive with fossil fuels.

The latest news on global small hydroelectric facilities from July-August 2014

The European Union threatened to renew tariffs on biodiesel from the U.S. for another five years in a sign of persistent trade tensions over renewable energy.

The top hydroelectric power news for July 2014

The European Commission approved the U.K. government’s renewable energy contracts and so-called capacity payments, saying the program that benefits power plants complies with state-aid rules.

The U.K. said renewable-power projects will compete for guaranteed payments worth more than 200 million pounds ($340 million) a year as part of its first auction of contracts to spur low-carbon electricity.

France’s planned energy law will mobilize about €10 billion (US $13.4 billion) in investment through tax credits and low-interest loans to spur efficiency and renewable power, Environment Minister Segolene Royal said.

India will begin construction this year on an $8 billion project backed by Germany’s development bank to upgrade its grid to handle a more than doubling of renewable power capacity by 2022.

South African Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson said her department wants to address weaknesses in the process of commissioning renewable-power projects.

A government-appointed panel gave Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott two options to cut emissions more cheaply: either scrap or weaken its main clean energy program.

Kyushu Electric Power Co. will suspend responding to applications from renewable-energy producers applying to access its grid while it reviews how much more clean energy it’s capable of handling.

Research reports and study findings related to hydropower

Japan has added 11,090 megawatts of clean energy capacity since July 2012, when it began an incentive program to encourage investment in renewables, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Extracting energy from “processed poo” to help power homes in the Birmingham area is what Severn Trent Plc, Britain’s second-largest publicly traded water company, is now doing to generate a cost-saving renewable gas.

The European Union is seeking to speed up the creation of a common energy market to help its shift to a low-carbon economy and boost security of energy supplies amid a natural-gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine.

The U.K. government didn’t get the best deal for consumers when it awarded 16.6 billion pounds ($26.8 billion) worth of clean-energy contracts, according to a parliamentary committee.

Brazil, known as a leader in the bioenergy scene, continues to show its dominance in the industry with plans for a new cellulosic ethanol plant and a 150-MW woody biomass plant, the nation's largest.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s government will negotiate with the opposition to cut Australia’s renewable energy target and exempt industries such as aluminum and copper smelting.

Fossil fuels are reaping $550 billion a year in subsidies and holding back investment in cleaner forms of energy, the International Energy Agency said.

Peru’s government is set to announce plans for a renewable-energy auction during a global climate conference to be held next month in Lima.

Research reports and study findings related to hydropower

EON SE’s plan to spin off its fossil fuel plants marks a watershed moment in Germany’s renewables effort that will likely bolster the country’s already leading position in clean energy.

India, the world’s third-largest polluter, will spend at least $100 billion on climate-related projects but isn’t ready to follow China and the U.S., the top two emitters, in promising to limit its fossil-fuel emissions.

South Africa plans to triple electricity production from renewable-energy sources to help alleviate power shortages that caused rolling blackouts throughout the country in recent weeks.

Japan’s trade ministry is setting stricter rules for production and sales of renewable energy in what it says is a drive to speed up development of projects and ensure stable power supply.

Statkraft AS, Norway’s state-owned power company, said it plans to plow as much as 60 billion kroner ($8.1 billion) into renewable energy around the world in the coming years after the government boosted its funding.

The top hydroelectric power news for December 2014

California Governor Jerry Brown proposed spending $59 billion to fix crumbling roads and raising the state’s renewable energy mandate to 50 percent.

GDF Suez SA plans to double renewable power production capacity in Europe over the next decade as the utility shifts its focus away from developing more historic natural gas and nuclear energy sources in the region.