Reflections on the Pace of Change for Global Hydro16 April 2012 In the same way, it is also perhaps hard to imagine a time when hydropower was not a major fixture in the global energy supply portfolio. To think back to a time before hydropower is to envisage a very different world indeed, a world beyond comprehension for most of the population — although, sadly, not all — when electricity was a new and rare commodity. Again, though, the process of harnessing the power of nature has been explored by humankind since our earliest origins; it is only the mechanisms that have changed and evolved over time. Reflecting on this changing world, it is perhaps hard to believe that HRW — Hydro Review Worldwide is now in its twentieth year of publication. Although today it too is mirrored with an on-line presence at HydroWorld.com, such an anniversary also presents an opportunity to consider what else has changed since that first edition of HRW was created. One of our features in that earliest incarnation explored a number of the opportunities that exist in the hydro world, such as new development, small hydro, and rehabilitation and privatization, as well as the challenges that needed to be overcome. Today, opportunities certainly still exist, in rehabilitation, emerging markets, pumped storage and balancing and in new technologies found in marine and tidal stream developments. We also still see challenges to their realization, for example, the explosive impacts as a means to address potential attacks on embankment dams, a tragic necessity in these troubled times.
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