Hydro Power

Just like wind mills and wind turbines that generate power and electricity from the wind, scientists are now working to generate power from the sea. Stephen Wood, an assistant professor of marine and environmental systems at Florida Institute of Technology's College of Engineering is working on this technology for its advance and proper use. This technology will use Wing waves in a very efficient way to generate electricity and power from the sea. View Comments

Wave energy is among the impressive list of renewable energy resources that is being developed in the United States. New Jersey-based developer, Ocean Power Technologies has launched a project that features the nation’s first commercial wave power farm off the coast of Reedsport, Oregon. Once the project is completed, wave energy will generate power for several hundred homes in Oregon. The wave power farm operates on the wave energy that is created when a float on a buoy flows with the natural up and down movement of the waves. View Comments

Every time we turn around we are seeing something new and exciting in renewable energy forms and Aquamarine Power is the latest in a long line of energy sources to be pumped up about. Aquamarine Power is a company that is developing wave energy. This is a source of energy that has barely been tapped into and they are one of the leaders in developing it. View Comments

With the big push on alternative energy sources, world leaders everywhere are pushing for new power technology to create power plants that will use different resources to keep the earth greener. Her Royal Highness, The Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway has just made a huge step as a leader in this movement as she has announced the opening of the world’s first osmotic power plant, due to begin operations on November 24, 2009. View Comments

Ocean wave energy can be captured directly from surface waves. Blowing wind and pressure fluctuations below the surface are the main reasons for causing waves. But consistency of waves differs from one area of ocean to another. Some regions of oceans receive waves with enough uniformity and force. Ocean waves contain tremendous energy. Currently scientists and companies are considering exploiting the wave power of oceans to harness clean and green energy. View Comments

Off shore wind is steady and blows harder. If a country is densely populated it is hard to find open space to install wind farms. That is why there are more and more offshore wind farms in densely populated Europe where there is limited space on land and relatively large offshore areas with shallow water. Scientists of the Geesthacht GKSS Research Centre are interested in offshore winds and mechanics of sea waves. They are working on a radar system to study the behavior of the sea waves. This technology will be available for utilization on the North Sea on the FINO3 research platform. This technology will help in finding out the details of the interactions between offshore wind power machines and swells. View Comments

The Theme of Concept: Theme of concept is to harness the kinetic energy within the flow of water without using the conventional methods like water wheel or other types of turbines. With some changes this can be a source of producing clean energy from tidal waves. View Comments

Interest in hydrokinetic energy -- which generates power by using submerged or partially submerged turbines that harness the energy from flowing water -- is on the rise throughout the world. Renewable energy advocates, governments and investors are increasingly becoming aware of river currents and the huge associated energy potential. Because hydrokinetic power generation relies simply on the extraction of energy from the natural velocity of water, these power systems can be placed into sources of flowing water with minimal infrastructure or environmental impacts. Scroll down for images. View Comments

President Barack Obama is known as a staunch supporter of green energy. His stimulus plan has raised new hope for the environmentalists and economists alike. On the occasion of Earth Day, President Obama declared that developing renewable energy is crucial to America's prosperity. He also declared that his administration will for the first time lease federal waters for projects to generate electricity from wind as well as from ocean currents and other renewable sources. Obama also emphasized the need for action on global warming and preserving vast and beautiful natural resources of USA. View Comments

We can use slow moving ocean and river waves for a new, reliable and affordable alternative energy source. A University of Michigan engineer has developed a device that acts like a fish that turns the potentially destructive vibrations in water into clean, renewable energy. This machine is named as VIVACE ( Vortex Induced Vibrations for Aquatic Clean Energy). It is the first known device that could draw energy from most water currents around the world, according to a statement from the University of Michigan. "There won't be one solution for the world's energy needs," VIVACE developer Michael Bernitsas, a professor at the U-M department of naval architecture and marine engineering, said in the statement. "But if we could harness 0.1 percent of the energy in the ocean, we could support the energy needs of 15 billion people." View Comments

As the conventional sources of energy are dwindling, scientists are continuously looking for alternative sources of energy. We are frequently reading about generation of alternative and clean energy from unconventional sources. Portugal built Agucadoura, the world's first wave farm off its coast. This wave farm has three Wave Energy Converters which are producing a total of 2.25MW. View Comments

The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) site is going to be the place where marine energy farm Aquamarine Power is going to become the first Scottish company to test both wave and tidal technologies. Aquamarine Power has reached an agreement with EMEC to place its tidal stream power device known as Neptune at the test site on the Isle of Eday. Neptune is an Edinburgh-based company. View Comments

The flowing waters in the rivers and tidal waves can be a good source of alternative energy. With 70% of the earth's surface covered with water, a great amount of energy can be produced by placing turbines at strategic locations under strong currents. This method of generating electric power is called hydrokinetic power generation. In fact, plans are under way to install 875 submerged turbines inside the Niagara river. View Comments

Paul Taylor: World’s first commercial-scale tidal stream turbine set to be installed. Bristol-based Marine Current Turbines (MCT) is set to deploy its 1.2MW SeaGen Tidal System in Strangford Narrows, Northern Ireland on Easter Monday. Producing enough clean energy for 1000 homes (when fully operational), this will be the first, commercial scale, tidal stream turbine installed and operating anywhere in the world. It will generate one of the most environmentally-friendly forms of energy - it makes no noise, is almost completely below the surface, never runs out and has zero emissions. View Comments

Pakistan inventor Sarfraz Ahmad Khan has been working hard to develop new hydro technologies like this hydro power invention. His latest concept features the run of river active setup of micro hydro power generation blended with basic principals of hydraulics. This concept explores the possibility of transmitting the (collective) mechanical power gained from run-of-river hydro setup by converting it into hydraulic pressure. The sum-up of hydraulic pressure will make the main generators work. The basic concept requires hydraulic systems that can help to us to gain some reasonably good mechanical advantages. The hydro-mechanics will convert the mechanical force into hydraulic pressure. The collective hydraulic pressure shall be utilized to rotate the generator shaft. View Comments

Paul Taylor: Installation Of The World's First Commercial Tidal Current Power System Confirmed. Marine Current Turbines has today (June 6th 2007) confirmed that installation of its SeaGen commercial tidal energy system will commence during the week of August 20th in Northern Ireland's Strangford Lough. At 1.2MW capacity, SeaGen will be the world's largest ever tidal current device by a significant margin, and will generate clean and sustainable electricity for approximately 1000 homes. It is also a world first in being a prototype for commercial technology to be replicated on a large scale over the next few years. View Comments

A new hydro power technology is being developed by Sarfraz Ahmad Khan of Pakistan. In theory these hydro plants would not require a reservoir and would have a minimal impact on the environment. They could be run side-by-side in rows and would be much cheaper to build, operate and maintain. Sarfraz has high hopes that his ideas could revolutionize hydro power in his country and across the globe. He is currently seeking expert confirmation of his ideas; this article provides a brief summary of his ideas along with some of the 3D images he has created. You can help him by leaving your comments at the bottom of the page, or by joining the discussion that inspired this article. View Comments

The development of the first subsea commercial wave farm by a Scottish company took another important step forward today (Tuesday February 20th 2007) with news that Scottish wave energy company, AWS Ocean Energy Ltd. based in Alness, Ross-shire, has secured £2.128 million funding from the Scottish Executive. The funds will be used to develop and commercialise AWS' Archimedes Wave Swing, one of the few proven technologies worldwide for generating clean, renewable electricity from the ocean's waves. The support for AWS is part of a £13 million support package for Scottish marine energy developers funded by the Scottish Executive, which aims to establish Scotland as a world leader in marine energy. View Comments

The Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition (OREC) was founded in 2005 by Sean O'Neill (founder of Symmetrix) and Carolyn Elefant (Law Offices of Carolyn Elefant). The mission of OREC is the advancement and commercialization of offshore renewables, including offshore wind, ocean wave, OTEC and ocean and stream based tidal and current (hydrokinetic) technologies. In 2006 OREC lobbied for federal funding for offshore renewable projects and tax incentives to stimulate private investment. View Comments

Harnessing hydel energy can be an effective way of reducing poverty. China and India have already done that successfully. It is not a fruitful idea to keep discussing as to how much the number of people living below the poverty line has come down during the last five years. Considering that even with the reduced percentage, those suffering from acute poverty are still too many to be left on their own. Now is the time to move on and discuss the best strategy to reduce poverty and help the economy grow at the same time. Article submitted by Arshad H Abbasi. View Comments