Category Archives: Hydro Power

Bill Gates backs hydropower technology as renewable energy source

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Microsoft founder Bill Gates is backing a hydropower technology that may potentially “fundamentally change how water is leveraged as a renewable energy source.”

Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which was set up by Gates, joined Schneider Electric in an $11m investment in Natel Energy, which says its Restoration Hydro Turbine (RHT) can boost output from plants while simultaneously cutting effects on fish and other environmental impacts.

Read more: Bill Gates backs ‘game changer’ hydropower technology in global energy transition

Wind surpasses hydro as most used renewable

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Wind is now the top renewable source of electricity generation in the country, a position previously held by hydroelectricity.

Annual wind generation totaled 300 million megawatthours (MWh) in 2019, exceeding hydroelectric generation by 26 million MWh. Wind generation has increased steadily during the past decade, in part, because the Production Tax Credit (PTC), which drove wind capacity additions, was extended. Annual hydroelectric generation has fluctuated between 250 million MWh and 320 million MWh in the past decade, reflecting a stable capacity base and variable annual precipitation.

Read more: Wind has surpassed hydro as most-used renewable electricity generation source in U.S. (eia.gov/todayinenergy/)