How can hydro get a fair shake
There is no arguing that hydroelectric power has enormous assets. In a period of concern about air quality, it is clean; in a time of results-oriented management, it is cost-effective and efficient to operate; in an era of limited resources, it is sustainable. To a true believer in hydro and its worth, these attributes say enough. The value of hydropower may be less clear outside the realm of the faithful...in the executive suite of an electric utility with multiple types of generation, for example. The utility's system planners, financial officers, and chief executive may concede the theoretical benefit of being clean, efficient, and renewable but also may need more information before they agree the qualities are valuable. In the end, a generating plant has to be valued in the [open quotes]currency[close quotes] of the utility that needs the power, its customers, and its regulators. The fact that hydropower's benefits and costs are not always accurately weighed against those of other generating resources is both a testament to the inadequacies of traditional costing approaches and a challenge to those who want to see the analysis process improved.
- OSTI ID:
- 5460809
- Journal Information:
- Hydro Review; (United States), Vol. 12:7; ISSN 0884-0385
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANTS
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
LICENSING PROCEDURES
LICENSING REGULATIONS
LIFE-CYCLE COST
PUMPED STORAGE POWER PLANTS
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS
STATE GOVERNMENT
US FERC
ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES
COST
ECONOMICS
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
PEAKING POWER PLANTS
POWER PLANTS
REGULATIONS
US DOE
US ORGANIZATIONS
130500* - Hydro Energy- Economic
Industrial
& Business Aspects