Stay Clear, Stay Safe - Dam Safety

Always an important message when it comes to hydroelectric power.

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is urging the public to exercise extreme caution around waterways, and to be mindful of water safety especially near or around hydroelectric stations and dams.

"Stay clear, stay safe is a simple message," says Mike Martelli, OPG's Senior Vice President of Hydro-Thermal Operations. "Ontario's lakes and rivers are popular holiday weekend destinations but people need to keep themselves and their families safe by paying attention to the warnings signs, fences and booms around hydroelectric stations."

Most hydroelectric facilities are controlled remotely by operators located many kilometres away. As a result, dams can suddenly open at any time, creating rapid change to water levels and flows, while producing deadly undertows.
Additional water safety information can be found online at www.stayclearstaysafe.ca including links to OPG's water safety partners - the Ontario Provincial Police, and the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters.

SOURCE Ontario Power Generation Inc.

 @opg Stay Clear, Stay Safe

Hydroelectric Energy Advantages and Disadvantages « Green World Investor

Hydro Power is one of the largest sources of energy accounting for roughly 20% of the worldwide demand of electricity and for well resourced countries it accounts for majority of the energy.For Paraguay 100% of the electricity comes from hydro power and lot of it is exported as well.Compared to other sources of Energy, Hydroelectric Power is one of the cheapest,non Carbon Emitting,non Polluting,Mature Energy Sources.Hydro Power plants have been developed to almost full potential in developed countries because of their superior characteristics and many more are being constructed by developing countries like China and India.However Hydro Power like all other thins in life suffers from disadvantages as well.The failure of a Hydro Dam can result in massive losses of human life and cause widespread devastation.Large Dams have always been controversial leading to displacement of people and ecology.They have also been cited as the reason for earthquakes due to large land changes.Here is a list of the advantages and disadvantages of Hydro Power

Hydroelectric Energy Advantages

No Fuel Cost - Hydro Energy does not require any fuel like most other sources of energy.This is a huge advantage over other fossil fuels whose costs are increasing at a drastic rate every year.Electricity prices are increasingly rapidly in most parts of the world much faster than general inflation.Price shocks due to high fuel costs are a big risk with fossil fuel energy these days
Low Operating Costs and little Maintenance - Operating labor cost is also usually low, as plants are automated and have few personnel on site during normal operation.
Low Electricity Cost – The Electricity produced from Hydro Power is quite low making it very attractive to construct hydro plants.The payback period is estimated to be between 5-8 years for a normal hydro power plant.Hydro Plants also have long lives of between 50-100 years which means that they are extremely profitable
No Greenhouse Gas Emissions/Air Pollution – Hydroelectricity does not produce any GHG emissions or cause air pollution from the combustion of fossil fuels unlike coal,oil or gas.This makes them very attractive as a source of cheap,non carbon dioxide producing electricity.
Energy Storage – Pumped Hydro Storage is possible with most of the hydro power plants.This makes them ideal storage for wind and solar power which are intermittent in nature.Hydro Dams can be modified at low costs to allow pumped storage.
Small Size Possible - Hydroelectricity can be produced in almost any size from 1 MW to 10000 MW which makes it very versatile.Small Hydro Plants are being encouraged by government as they cause less ecological affects than large hydro plants.Even micro hydro plants are possible
Reliability - Hydro Power is much more reliable than wind and solar power though less than coal and nuclear as a baseload source of power.Hydroelectricity is more or less predictable much in advance though it can decrease in summer months when the water is low in the catchment areas.
High Load Factor - The Load Factor for Solar and Wind Energy ranges from 15-40% which is quite low compared to Fossil Fuel Energy.Hydroelectricity on the other hand has a load factor of almost 40-60% .
Long Life - Hydro Plants has a very long life of around 50- 100 years which is much longer than that of even Nuclear Power Plants.The long life implies that the lifecycle cost of a Hydel Power Plant becomes very low in the long term
Hydroelectric Energy DisAdvantages

1) Environmental, Dislocation and Tribal Rights - Large Dam construction especially in populated areas leads to massive Tribal Displacement,Loss of Livelihood and Religious Infringement as potentially sacred Land is occupied by the Government.

2) Wildlife and Fishes get Affected - The Fishes are the most affected species from Dam Construction as the normal flow of the river is completely changed form its river character to a lake one.Submergence of land also leads to ecological destruction of the habitat of land based wildlife.

3) Earthquake Vulnerability – Large Dam Construction has been linked to increased propensity of Earthquakes.Massive Earthquakes in China and Uttarakhand in India were linked to the building of Massive Dams in these countries

4) Siltation When water flows it has the ability to transport particles heavier than itself downstream. This has a negative effect on dams and subsequently their power stations, particularly those on rivers or within catchment areas with high siltation

5) Tail Risk,Dam Failure - Because large conventional dammed-hydro facilities hold back large volumes of water, a failure due to poor construction, terrorism, or other cause can be catastrophic to downriver settlements and infrastructure. Dam failures have been some of the largest man-made disasters in history.The Banqiao Dam Failure in Southern China directly resulted in the deaths of 26,000 people, and another 145,000 from epidemics.

6) Cannot be Built Anywhere - This disadvantage of Hdyro Energy is present with other forms of Energy as well.Some forms of Energy are just better suited to some places.For example you can’t build a nuclear plant on top of an earthquake prone region,you can’t build a wind farm near the Dead Sea etc.Hydro Energy can only be built in particular places though enough of those places exist globally

7) Long Gestation Time - The time to construct a large hydro power project can take between 5-10 years which leads to time and cost overruns.

CTV - Energy giants take aim at renewables

CTV- RICHARD BLACKWELL

Several of Canada’s largest energy and resource companies are quietly staking out positions in a sector that seems at odds with their usual extractive activities: the renewable power business.

Oil sands, pipeline and coal-power firms are now among the biggest players in renewables, with portfolios of wind, solar, small hydro power and ethanol production that in some cases outpace the holdings of most “pure” green companies.

Environmentalists and small companies in the sector are sanguine about the competitors; they welcome the big firms as a significant source of clout and capital that can add momentum to the shift to renewable energy.

“It reflects the reality of energy in the 21st century,” said Ian Bruce, a climate change specialist at the David Suzuki Foundation. “A lot of the innovation is happening at the small company level and then is getting [moved] up to larger businesses that have the capital to invest more.”

TransAlta Corp. has emerged as the biggest green energy player among the large energy firms. The Calgary-based owner of coal mines and coal- and oil-powered electricity plants already had a substantial portfolio of clean energy assets before it bought Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. last year. But with that acquisition, TransAlta became the biggest wind farm operator in Canada with more than a dozen facilities in Alberta, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. These generate about 1,000 megawatts, almost one-third of the total wind power in Canada.

TransAlta also has more than two dozen hydro electric plants, along with a biomass facility and a geothermal project in the United States. Altogether, renewables make up more than 20 per cent of the company’s energy portfolio.

Pipeline company Enbridge Inc. also has a wide-ranging portfolio of wind farms, waste heat power plants, a geothermal project, and it owns one of the largest operating solar farms in the world, just outside Sarnia, Ont.

Meanwhile, Calgary pipeline operator Fort Chicago Energy Partners recently bought up three small-hydro operations – Swift Power Corp., Pristine Power Inc., and the B.C. hydro assets of Enmax Corp.

Oil sands developer Suncor Energy Inc. has been in the renewable game longer than most of the others, having built its first wind farm almost a decade ago. It now has four operating wind projects, and a fifth in the works, along with a large ethanol plant in Sarnia.

“We think of this as a parallel path to future growth,” said Gordon Lambert, Suncor’s vice-president of sustainability. “We saw renewables starting to emerge as an important part of the energy mix, [and] we viewed our step into the space as an early entry into a diversification of the energy supply system.” Wind and biofuels were chosen because they seemed to be the most commercially viable technologies, he said.

While Suncor plans to add one wind farm a year to its holdings, Mr. Lambert is loath to predict how large a proportion of its business renewables will make up. So much depends on access to power grids, provincial energy rules, and the shape of the still-undefined federal energy strategy.

It makes sense to have a diverse range of companies in the renewable business, he said. “You need to have those entrepreneurial players who are creating new ideas and innovating, then you need the big players for the growth stages of many of these technologies where access to capital is important.”

Small green energy companies agree. “The more that gets done, the better, whether it is by a pure play or by a traditional fossil fuel generator,” said Kent Brown, the former chief executive officer of Canadian Hydro who is now running a startup firm called BluEarth Renewables Inc. “We want to see projects get done and get done successfully.”

Tim Weis, director of renewable energy policy at the Pembina Institute, said the fact that large companies have the resources to shift “big money” into the renewable sector can be very helpful, and if they use their political clout to support it, that’s even better. One concern, however, is that companies may use their clean energy holdings as a token to show they are in game, but not take it seriously. And if government support policies shift to favour big companies – who prefer tax breaks over financial aid – that won’t help, he added.

Some traditional resource firms are just now dipping their toes into the renewable sector. Mining giant Teck Resources Ltd. recently signed a joint venture with Suncor to develop the Wintering Hills wind power project under construction near Drumheller, Alta.

John Thompson, vice-president of technology and development at Teck, said the company is interested in getting involved with clean energy projects in jurisdictions where it has mines – and consequently consumes a lot of power. The power projects may also generate renewable energy “credits” that could offset carbon penalties Teck might face in those jurisdictions.

Teck isn’t completely new to the electricity business, however, Mr. Thompson said. the company has owned a hydro dam in British Columbia since 1954 – it provides power to the company’s smelter in Trail.

Teck will continue to look at possible further renewable projects in British Columbia, Alberta, the United States and Chile, he said, although there aren’t any specific projects on the immediate horizon.

Mr. Thompson said his firm has received no criticism for moving into the renewable power sector, but has been welcomed as a new player and source of investment. “No one has phoned me up and said ‘You’re butting your nose in the wrong place,’” he said.

http://www.ctv.ca/generic/generated/static/business/article1855878.html