<
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/07/01/1094435/fish-safe-hydropower/>
"Hydropower is the world’s leading source of renewable electricity, generating
more power in 2022 than all other renewables combined. But while hydropower is
helping clean up our electrical grid, it’s not always a positive force for
fish.
Dams that create reservoirs on rivers can change habitats. And for some
species, especially those that migrate long distances, hydropower facilities
can create dangerous or insurmountable barriers. In some parts of the world,
including the US, Canada, and Europe, governments have put protections in place
to protect ecosystems from hydropower’s potential harms.
New environmental regulations can leave older facilities facing costly
renovations or force them to shutter entirely. That’s a big problem, because
pulling hydropower plants off the grid eliminates a flexible, low-emissions
power source that can contribute to progress in fighting climate change. New
technologies, including fish-safe turbines, could help utilities and regulators
come closer to striking a balance between the health of river ecosystems and
global climate goals.
That’s where companies like Natel Energy come in. The company started with two
big goals: high performance and fish survival, says Gia Schneider, Natel’s
cofounder and chief commercial officer.
The company is making new designs for the turbines that generate electricity in
hydropower plants as water rushes through equipment and moves their blades.
Conventional turbine blades can move as fast as 30 meters per second, or about
60 to 70 miles per hour, Schneider says. When straight, thin edges are moving
that quickly and striking fish, “it’s fairly obvious why that’s not a good
outcome,” she says.
Natel’s turbine design focuses on preventing fast-moving equipment from making
fatal contact with fish. The blades have a thicker leading edge that pushes
water out in front of it, creating a stagnation zone, or “basically an airbag
for fish,” Schneider says. The blades are also curved, so even if fish are
struck, they don’t take a direct hit.
The company has tested its turbines with a range of species, including American
eels, alewife, and rainbow trout. In the case of one recent study with American
eels, scientists found that over 99% of eels survived after 48 hours of passing
through Natel’s equipment. In comparison, one 2010 study found that just 40% of
tagged European eels were able to pass through the turbines of a hydropower
plant, though survival depended a lot on the size of both the eel and equipment
in question.
Changing turbine designs won’t help fish survive all power plants: at some of
the biggest plants with the tallest dams, rapid changes in water pressure can
kill fish. But Schneider says that the company’s technology could be slotted
into up to half of the existing US hydropower fleet to make plants more
fish-safe."
Via
Fix the News:
<
https://fixthenews.com/good-news-global-emotions-poverty-indonesia-bluefin-tuna/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
