Hydropower development is reviving across the world in response to soaring oil prices and growing concerns about greenhouse gas emissions. That was a primary message to more than 2,000 delegates attending the HydroVision 2006 conference, July 31-Aug. 4 in Portland, Ore. Participants from 47 nations shared information and experiences in seven conference tracks on such topics as operations and maintenance, licensing, and new development. Leslie Eden, president of HydroVision organizer HCI Publications, told conferees the hydro industry is emerging from a decade-long holding pattern, recently securing an estimated $10 billion in contracts for hydroelectric projects around the world. Keynote speaker Sebastian Mallaby, author of a best-selling book on the World Bank, said the hydro industry must foster the World Bank's revived interest in hydropower funding by emphasizing that hydropower is an important part of poverty reduction. Delegates packed conference sessions on the latest issues in development, including: the need for hydropower to firm popular but intermittent wind generation; the prospect of using hydropower for low-impact manufacture of hydrogen fuel; and the requirement that hydro developers pursue environmental, social, and economic sustainability in their projects.
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