The U.S. Electric Power Research Institute is currently testing a turbine designed for generating hydroelectricity with significantly reduced fish mortality. The turbine, designed by Alden Laboratories, aims to provide safer passage for fish migrating downstream. Current methods of protecting fish, such as bypasses and non-generating spills, are estimated to reduce the amount of hydroelectic power produced by as much as 8,500 megawatt hours per annum  in the United States alone. Instead of the six or more blades common in older turbine designs, the Alden turbine has only three blades, reducing the chance that fish will be struck by a blade. … Continue Reading →

Seven African governments and the world’s largest banks and construction firms met in London this week to plan the most powerful dam ever conceived – an $US 80 billion hydro power project on the Congo River. The Grand Inga dam in the Democratic Republic of Congo would generate twice as much electricity as the world’s current largest dam, the Three Gorges in China. The dam would be about 145 kilometres from the mouth of the Congo, the world’s second largest river, where the river drops 100 metres in about 14 kilometres of rapids. One proposal is for a dam 150 … Continue Reading →