Mandates driving surge to the river for hydropower

[jpak]

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=225047&ac=PHbiz

HAMILTON, Ohio — Many decades ago, cost-conscious Henry Ford turned to hydroelectric plants to power his car factories like the one by the Great Miami River, near this Cincinnati suburb. That assembly plant is long gone, but the power plant and the technology behind it aren't.

Far from it. The push to get electricity from moving water is only picking up steam.

There is mounting political pressure to get more energy from alternative sources, and developers are pushing ambitious projects to exploit America's biggest rivers for power.

"Some of these applications have been around for decades, but there's renewed interest now," said Jeff Hawk, spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Pittsburgh district. "We've seen a spurt of applications; we're busier now than ever."

<much more>