hydroelectricity

A study has analyzed the technical and financial feasibility of floating solar at hydro power plants. The report concludes floating PV reduces evaporation from hydropower reservoirs and the water saved can be used to generate more electricity.

The first 5 MW portion of the large floating power plant was connected to the transmission system of a 404 MW hydropower dam on the Black Volta River.

In a national park in Chile, a hydropower plant has been combined with a solar system and battery storage to replace diesel generation.

The country’s National Irrigation Administration will bet on floating PV and solar-powered irrigation to improve water and energy supply. The Pantabangan and Casecnan dams, in the province of Nueva Ecija in the Central Luzon region, have been identified as ideal locations for floating solar.

The United Nations Development Program is seeking consultants to build a 2 MW solar project and three hydropower plants ranging in generation capacity from 1.15-2 MW.

In the latest installment of pv magazine’s renewable energy and geopolitics series, Indra Overland says a new mindset is necessary to understand the geopolitics ahead as the rules of the fossil fuel era will no longer apply. A renewable world will have fewer strategic locations and bottlenecks and less territorial competition.

AC Renewables, the energy arm of Philippines’ Ayala Corp, and Australia’s UPC Renewables have agreed to buy 51% in a 250 MW pumped hydro project and a neighboring 300 MW solar project, both located in South Australia.

In our series of renewable energy and geopolitics interviews, Indra Øverland – head of the Center for Energy Research at the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs – explains why hydropower can be the perfect match for intermittent renewables such as solar and wind. Hydropower assets are one of the biggest geopolitical stories of the energy transition but receive almost no attention. Nations with strong hydro potential may become linchpins of regional renewable energy.