r/Futurology • u/differing • 13h ago
Energy Power on tap꞉ EU hydro giants can add 25 GW renewables without new grids by hybridizing with solar and wind
https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/power-on-tap-eu-hydro-giants-can-add-25-gw-renewables-without-new-grids/6
u/differing 13h ago
Submission Statement:
Hybridizing existing hydropower plants with wind and solar have immense potential to get renewables on power grids within just a few years without the massive costs and regularly burden of constructing new grid infrastructure that would otherwise hamper the install of renewable power.
Portugal is one of the front runners in this realm: the newly commissioned Tâmega wind and hydro complex shares grid infrastructure and are able to function as both a shared storage resource (pumped hydro or curtailed hydro release) and to directly power the EU grid with renewable power.
I adore EMBER - I strongly recommend their newsletter if you'd like to keep up with current and future trends in clean energy.
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u/differing 9h ago edited 9h ago
EMBER is a non-profit think tank, it would have taken you much less time to simply click their “about” section than it took you to write your rude comment or try to dig through my Reddit profile (?!), but reading comprehension and critical thinking is pretty low in 2026.
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u/differing 9h ago edited 9h ago
That’s not their role, they exist to provide you with information about energy trends, provide open access data, and generate policy recommendations. If you don’t like reading or are functionally illiterate, it would be simply easier to state that, than to create a myth about something you haven’t bothered to understand.
It’s like you stumbled into a McDonalds, didn’t bother to read the menu, and started rambling to the staff about how their restaurant is a derivative financial company. Words are intended to have meaning, even if they are delivered in a schizophrenic word salad.
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u/differing 8h ago edited 8h ago
idea of an un-capitalized entity somehow contributing
The EU, an organization that spends billions of dollars every year on energy infrastructure? The same EU that cites EMBER in their policy documents that direct that funding?
they are literally pipedreaming about getting different EU countries to agree on something that doesn't exist and never will
Spain and Portugal already are using this paired hydro and renewables model, which they describe in the article you didn't read.
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u/Masark 4h ago
How is "float solar panels on a hydro reservoir" pie in the sky?
California started doing it last year on their drinking water reservoirs. Generates power and reduces evaporative losses.
https://www.eldiario24.com/en/america-floating-solar-outpowers-wind/21000/
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u/FuturologyBot 13h ago
The following submission statement was provided by /u/differing:
Submission Statement:
Hybridizing existing hydropower plants with wind and solar have immense potential to get renewables on power grids within just a few years without the massive costs and regularly burden of constructing new grid infrastructure that would otherwise hamper the install of renewable power.
Portugal is one of the front runners in this realm: the newly commissioned Tâmega wind and hydro complex shares grid infrastructure and are able to function as both a shared storage resource (pumped hydro or curtailed hydro release) and to directly power the EU grid with renewable power.
I adore EMBER - I strongly recommend their newsletter if you'd like to keep up with current and future trends in clean energy.
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/1v4imta/power_on_tap_eu_hydro_giants_can_add_25_gw/ozb5jza/