Overall awareness regarding the critical nature of renewable energy has increased to a very large extent in recent years. More attention means more news coverage, resulting in more insightful discussions that lead to real progress. The news covers a few topics in greater detail and leaves some slightly in the shadow. It seems that solar, wind, and nuclear(to an extent) has more of the spotlight. These articles or clips in the news inform of the public of developments within these sectors of renewable energy. Whether it be an increase in solar farms, more efficient solar cells, or off-shore wind farms, there is a plethora of information available for people to consume and learn from. 

But what is in store for one of humanity’s oldest sources of energy?

Hydro electric energy, though not as talked about, has a definitive place in our future as it has to our past. One core issue is the lack of available space for new infrastructure to be developed. Over the years, Hydroelectric facilities have been erected in the locations most feasible to source the power of water. Now there seems to be a shortage of places to build. Furthermore, Hydroelectric energy has stirred controversy as a result of some of its drawbacks. The key example here being the “Three Gorges dam in China” which displaced 1.5 million people, and the loss of factories and mines. 

However, it’s not time to give up on Hydroelectric power as there are still possible applications for its use in the future, regardless of space. 

The first discussion is the possibility of miniature dams or all together transitioning from dams to harnessing water without dams. This notion has been “floated” around very much so recently, centralized on the idea of “run of the river plants.” These water plants mainly utilise the flow of rivers and turbine generators to transform the water’s kinetic energy to electrical energy. Essentially these mini-dams would be great in numbers and span all around a country’s river producing energy constantly. A drawback to these mini-plants is the inherent lack of storage and the unpredictability of the water resulting in varying outputs of electricity on different days. 

Another possibility is based around the company “Searaser” which doesn’t use the motion of rivers like dams but using the motion of sea waves to pump water into a nearby reservoir, then uses the down stream of the water to spin a turbine, then generating electricity from that. The main benefits is the simple design and the cheap components it has to do so. 

Whatever the future holds for hydroelectric energy, there are numerous possible future applications that could potentially have a large impact on energy production for the next generation. 

Source:

Chloecox. “Searaser – A Revolution in Wave Power?” Renewable Energy World, 9 Sept. 2019, www.renewableenergyworld.com/2012/02/29/searaser-a-revolution-in-wave-power/.