European Hydropower Storage

Assessment of European Pumped Hydropower Storage Potential (This is posted on behalf of the JRC – Joint Research Centre) Dear colleagues We have finished our modelling of the potential for pumped hydropower storage in 21 European countries (see list below). This potential is the result of adding up individual results from 3500 sites (topology A […]

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Papers in Energy Policy from Mark Delucchi and Mark Jacobson, Stanford / California University USA – 100% renewable energy at reasonable prices and timescales

Mark Jacobson and Mark Delucchi recently published two papers in Energy Policy expanding upon our article on 100% wind, water, and solar power for the world, published in Scientific American in November 2009. I am attaching corrected in-press proofs of the articles. Mark and I continue to work on various aspects of this, so we […]

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European hydro capacity compared to the demand for electricity

Hydro Capacity in the EU-15 and Norway 22 days the energy storage capacity of hydro across Western Europe, (the EU15 countries plus Norway and Iceland),  expressed in terms of average daily electricity demand 177 TWh the storage capacity, put another way. That’s the same as 0.604 quads, 22MTCe, 15 MTOe, 152Pcal,  637PJ, or 465kWh per person across […]

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Existing hydro power statistics

Storage hydropower roughly produces 405 TWh per year in the scenario area and has a storage volume of roughly 241 TWh.  Hydropower Scandinavia: Finland 3.062 GW (14.04 TWh) Norway 27.524 GW (132.82 TWh) Sweden 16.236 GW (65.38 TWh) Sum: 46.820 GW (212.23 TWh) http://www.eia.doe.gov/international/RecentHydroelectricInstalledCapacity.xls http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/RecentHydroelectricGenerationKilowatthours.xls Existing Hydropower capacity in the scenario area was roughly 201 […]

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a regular up to date source of hard info on renewable energy- Renew

Need a regular up to date source of hard info on renewable energy? Renew is a 36 page newsletter on renewable energy developments and policy which has been produced  by Open University Professor Dave Elliott without a break bi-monthly since 1979. It’s widely seen as a reliable and up to date source of information, news […]

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Has Professor MacKay FRS, Chief Scientific Advisor to DECC, underestimated Britain's potential for Renewable Energy?

Today, The Times has claimed that Britain’s potential renewable resources are insufficient to meet demand, and therefore that Britain needs new nuclear plants. This is reported as having been stated by the new Chief Scientific Advisor to DECC, Professor David MacKay FRS, the author of the free online book: Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air – though it appears that The Times invented this quote. Nevertheless, the claim that Britain cannot live on its own renewables, is also made in his book.

However, the claim is not true.

On the professor’s own (underestimated) calculation of Britain’s renewable potential, it is possible for Britain to power itself from wind and solar. Current energy demand (heat, transport & electricity), is 98kWh per person per day (245GW), and the professor’s book identifies 68kWh/d (170GW) of wind onshore and offshore, and 55kWh/d (137.5GW) from photovoltaics, which together gives 123kWh/d (307.5GW). That means that even ignoring wave, tidal, geothermal and biomass, Britain’s renewable potential supply just from solar and wind substantially exceeds our energy demand.

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Fury at plan to power EU homes from Congo dam – Grand Inga – World Bank supports controversial $80bn project

Plans to link Europe to what would be the world’s biggest hydroelectric dam project in the volatile Democratic Republic of Congo have sparked fierce controversy.

The Grand Inga dam, which has received initial support from the World Bqank would cost $80bn (£48bn). At 40,000MW, it has more than twice the generation capacity of the giant Three Gorges dam in China and would be equivalent to the entire generation capacity of South Africa.

Grand Inga will involve transmission cables linking South Africa and countries in west Africa including Nigeria. A cable would also run through the Sahara to Egypt.

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