Briefings

Environmental

Online portal now available for water quality assessment worldwide

The IIWQ World Water Quality Portal is available online to “assist with global water quality assessment and capacity building for streams, lakes and rivers.”

This portal was developed by EOMAP GmbH & Co. KG to support the International Initiative on Water Quality (IIWQ) of UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme. It was launched in January at UNESCO headquarters.

The portal is based on EOMAP’s web service and provides users with near real-time data, campaign planning support, and access to remote and inaccessible areas, according to a press release. Such water quality parameters as turbidity, chlorophyll, and indicators for cyanobacteria blooms can be mapped via satellite globally with weekly or even daily sampling frequencies under cloud-free conditions.

Users can select specific locations to view, such as the Itaipu/Parana reservoir (impounded by Itaipu Dam, which supplies water for a 14,000-MW hydroelectric plant). Or they can set a virtual station on a map of the world. Historical data is available back through 2016.

The data is available through the IIWQ World Water Quality Portal online.

Business & Finance

Alberta to investigate benefits of dispatchable resources, including hydro

The Alberta Electric System Operator is assessing how dispatchable renewables and electricity storage could benefit the Canadian province’s electricity system as it transitions toward 30% renewables by 2030.

This work is being performed under the direction of the government of Alberta.

AESO has invited interested stakeholders to provide their views on dispatchable renewables and electricity storage in Alberta by Feb. 14, 2018. AESO will publish a summary of the feedback received and will engage with targeted stakeholders to gain further insights that will help inform its recommendations to the government of Alberta. The government has requested that the work be completed by May 2018.

The review is to include all forms of renewable generation typically associated with the ability to be dispatched when required – hydroelectricity, biomass and geothermal – as well as the role electricity storage can play to enhance the availability of these sources and to firm wind and solar.

AESO says it “will carefully coordinate this assessment with ongoing capacity market design work and any future Renewable Electricity Program competitions.”

The government has asked AESO to prepare a recommendation detailing whether any additional products or services are required, whether they may be procured using existing market mechanisms or whether discrete competitions will be required, and the proposed structure and timeline of such competitions if required.

The competition will be launched no later than November 2018.

Regulation & Policy

Privatization to move ahead in Brazil with Cesp, possibly Eletrobras

Cesp (Companhia Energetica de Sao Paulo) in Brazil has resumed its partial privatization process, which was previously under way but suspended last September.

The decision came after the federal government signed a decree that would assure “the private group taking over the company is granted a 30-year concession contract over the state-run company’s power plants.”

For Cesp, this action extended the company’s concession for the 1,540-MW Porto Primavera hydro project. Cesp’s Porto Primavera concession now lasts until 2048, strengthening the company’s position and increasing its chances of a private sale.

Brazilian President Michel Temer announced reforms in August 2017 that would privatize many sectors in the country, including electricity. The reported goal of this “privatization package” is to reverse the country’s economic stagnation.

Pumped Storage

Dubai studying feasibility for 400-MW pumped-storage facility in Arabian Gulf

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority will study the feasibility of building a 400-MW pumped-storage hydropower plant in Hatta, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

DEWA said it signed a memorandum of agreement with GCC Interconnection Authority and Belgian Dredging, Environmental & Marine Engineering Group to conduct the study.

According to DEWA, the deal aims to study building a 400-MW pumped-storage station in the Arabian Gulf that has a 2,500 MWh storage capacity in an effort to diversify DEWA’s energy mix and enhance energy storage technologies.

Technology & Equipment

Rosatom looking to capitalize on South African market

Rosatom’s push into South Africa’s hydropower market continues with a deal that will see the Russian company install a small hydro plant near Mpompomo Falls.

The deal, brokered by Rosatom subsidiary Ganz Engineering & Energetics Machinery and its partner Blue World Power Energy & Resources, will result in a project up to 1 MW in capacity.

Based in Hungary, Ganz manufactures self-contained hydropower plants designed to fit into a standard shipping container. The company previously said these containers would be outfitted with reversible Francis turbines, generator and control systems.

The units are made to be deployed easily and rapidly, with controls and monitoring available via satellite, internet or mobile network. Blue World said it hopes the relative ease of their installation makes them attractive to other developers on the continent. “These mini-hydro units have become our focus as they are capable of bringing power quickly and efficiently to rural communities in Africa,” said Blue World Managing Director Gavin Carlson.

Dams & Civil Structures

India announces several new dam safety measures

India is launching the latest software version of the Dam Health and Rehabilitation Monitoring Application (DHARMA) tool and introducing seven dam safety guidelines aimed at helping the country focus on dam rehabilitation using a variety of best practices.

The seven new dam safety guidelines will be released under the Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP). DRIP is designed for rehabilitation and improvement of about 250 dams, initially in the seven states of Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Uttarakhand. The program is also designed to strengthen institutional and project management in Central Water Commission (CWC) and other implementing agencies.

CWC is a water resources technical organization in India that is attached to the government’s office of Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. CWC has three departments: Designs and Research, River Management, and Water Planning and Projects.

DHARMA is a web-based software package developed from DRIP resources. It is custom designed to enhance the capacity of individuals and organizations throughout India to manage their dam assets scientifically and professionally to sustain irrigation and water supply, flood control, hydropower and prevent disasters, according to CWC.

Marine Hydrokinetics

Ireland, U.S. collaborating to deploy wave energy converter in 2018 in Hawaii

Vigor, based in the state of Oregon on the U.S. northwest coast, will construct the Ocean Energy OE Buoy marine wave energy convertor for deployment in 2018 at the U.S. Navy Wave Energy Test Site (WETS).

Ocean Energy, based in Cobh, County Cork, Ireland, made the announcement saying the contract awarded to Vigor is valued at $6.5 million. It is part of a $12million project funded in part by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), under an agreement committing the American and Irish governments to collaborating on marine and hydrokinetic energy technologies.

WETS is located at Kaneohe Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH) on the northeast coast of the island of O‘ahu.

The OE Buoy weighs 826 tons, measures 125 by 59 feet with a draft of 31 feet and has a potential rated capacity of up to 1.25 MW.

Ocean Energy says that when deployed commercially, each OE Buoy device could “reduce CO2 emissions by over 3,6005 tons annually, which for a utility-scale wave farm of 100 MW could amount to over 180,000 tons of CO2 in a full year.”

New Development

First unit at Pakistan’s Golen Gol begins trial run

Officials in Pakistan’s northern state Khyber Pakhtunkhwa hope operation of the 108-MW Golen Gol project will help alleviate the region’s load shedding.

Pakistan’s Water and Power Development Authority reported testing of the first of three 36-MW turbines at the plant began in late January, with the remaining units scheduled for commissioning in March and May. Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was expected to officially inaugurate the plant in February.

Speaking during a site visit, WAPDA chair Muzammil Hussain said he expects the project will help spark economic development with revenues generated through power sales and the availability of additional electricity for industry.