The promise of marine energy is seemingly boundless and thanks to a recently upgraded tool powered by new high-resolution data sets, users can pinpoint promising sites.Developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) resource characte
Argonne leads creation of definitive valuation guide for pumped storage hydropower
(Image by Shutterstock / Alberto Masnovo.)
It is increasingly critical to properly value pumped storage hydropower as the prevalence and penetration of wind and solar energies grow in importance in the U.S. electrical power grid.
Newswise How do we catch the wind or hold a sunbeam in our hands? We don’t but pumped storage hydropower is the quiet giant that does it for us.
This commercially proven energy storage method uses pumps to transfer water from lower to higher ground when wind and solar energy sources have generated more electrical power than we need and when electricity rates are low. Then, the water generates electricity as it goes back downhill and rushes through propeller-like turbines when solar or wind energy is scarce, user demand is high and rates are peak. Pumped storage hydropower currently provides about 94% of all energy storage in the U.S. It has done so for decades, prov
Monday, 03 May 2021
ORPC, Inc., a developer of clean, renewable power systems that harness free-flowing rivers and tidal currents, has been selected by the Maine International Trade Center (MITC) as Innovator of the Year. ORPC’s RivGen® unit installed in Alaska is the longest operating river current energy converter in the Americas. A second unit will be installed there this summer. By providing fully renewable baseload power supply, the marine energy industry, is now ready to play a critical and essential role in achieving a 100 percent clean energy economy and net-zero emissions. Courtesy of ORPC
“ORPC’s talented US product development teams have created a suite of renewable power systems that are now ready for commercialization and capable of competing in the global marketplace,” said ORPC President John Ferland.
Evaluating the Efficiency of Hydropower as an Alternative Energy Source and its Effects on the Ecosystem
Dr. Raj Shah, Ms. Sharika Hoque, Mr. Stanley Zhang | Koehler Instrument Company
Introduction
Humans have been utilizing the abundance of water for thousands of years. For example, the ancient Greeks used water mills as a form of hydroelectric power to grind wheat into flour and perform other tasks. Today, hydroelectricity accounts for 73% of global renewable energy generation through three main hydropower facilities: impoundment dams, run-of-the-river dams, and pumped storage facilities. The most common type of hydroelectric power plant is an impoundment facility. This type of plant uses a dam to store river water and then releases the water into a turbine which causes it to spin. Unfortunately, dams can potentially disrupt the river ecosystems on which they are built on, but modifications can be made to limit these harmful effects.