Hydroelectric Maintenance and Modernization Reveals Lucrative Market

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The market for hydroelectric turbine generator modernizations, maintenance, refurbishment, rehabilitation, retrofit, replacement and upgrades shows enormous potential, according to Industrial Info's Power Industry outage tracker and project database.

According to a recent article by Claude Lambert, the CEO of Alstom Hydro North America (Sorel-Tracy, Quebec), the average age of existing hydroelectric power plants is 41 years in the U.S. and 51 years in Canada. Hydroelectric generating units have an average operating life of 40 years, which means that in the coming years, keeping these units online will require major repairs, maintenance and upgrades, as well as major capital improvements, such as new unit additions.

Currently, Industrial Info is tracking 36 hydropower maintenance projects valued at $218 million and 52 capital projects valued at $4.94 billion that are scheduled to start between May 1, 2012, and December 31, 2013.

Industrial Info expects these numbers to grow in the next few years as electric utilities and independent power producers (IPP) seek to keep their existing hydropower facilities licensed and producing clean, renewable energy.

Brock Ramey, Industrial Info's manager for North American Power Research, stated in a recent interview that between 100 and 150 hydroelectric generators are currently seeking relicensing to comply with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) licensing. For additional information, see July 13, 2011, article and webcast - Can Clean and Green Hydropower Maintain its Share of U.S. Electricity Mix?

Facilities typically begin the license renewal process about five years before the initial license expiration date. In the process, FERC tells the owner of a facility how it must operate the facility and what protection, mitigation and enhancement measures (PM&Es) are needed to address the project's ongoing impact. Relicensing is about evaluating the impacts of the project and developing PM&Es to address these impacts as the project continues to operate. During the process to relicense, hydroelectric generation owners will want to assess the impact of modernizing and upgrading their equipment and power plants, such as upgrading turbines and generators, as well as adding additional generation that will create opportunities for equipment and services providers. These are the types of projects that are regularly being added to Industrial Info's database.

Hydroelectric modernization, upgrades, refurbishments and maintenance projects at existing hydroelectric facilities are some of the most cost-effective, readily deployable sources of new, domestic, renewable energy generation and can be completed without building new dams or reservoirs.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.