Benefits and Barriers

Hydropower is an abundant, domestically available option for generating clean energy. Today's technology can be used to produce electricity at cost-competitive prices and, depending on site conditions, create environmental and social benefits.

Cost-Competitiveness

Hydro technology has long been one of the world's primary renewable electricity sources. Its cost-competitiveness is evidenced by its current role in the U.S. supply portfolio: In 2002, hydro facilities generated 260 billion kilowatt-hours, almost 7% of the nation's total generation.

Capital costs are high for conventional installations, but these facilities have very long life cycles. In addition, fuel costs are nonexistent, and operations and maintenance costs are generally very low. Cost-performance characteristics are uncertain for emerging free-flow technologies.

Operations & Applicability

Hydro technology can operate continuously. The amount of water flowing through many hydro facilities can be controlled to match power output with electricity demand, and some facilities can be used to store energy and generate electricity as needed. These characteristics, which differentiate hydropower from intermittent renewables such as solar and wind energy, offer important cost and reliability advantages. Hydropower is, however, dependent on precipitation. Droughts can lead to significant decreases in power output.

Only limited gains in the state's hydro generating capacity are possible due to environmental and social constraints. These gains would arise from upgrading and repowering projects at existing, underperforming, or dormant facilities. Free-flow technologies may lead to new low-impact installations in Massachusetts.

Energy Security

Hydropower reduces dependence on fossil fuels including oil, coal, and natural gas that must be imported to Massachusetts. In particular, it reduces U.S. reliance on foreign sources of fuel. Hydropower is also not subject to fuel cost increases, providing a hedge against price volatility.

Air & Water Emissions

Hydro technologies produce no emissions of harmful pollutants or greenhouse gases. Hydro facilities do not emit any of the pollutants that can be extremely harmful to wildlife populations, and they do not contribute to climate change, which is already altering habitats worldwide.

Habitat & Wildlife

While eliminating air pollution, hydropower can have a host of adverse impacts on ecosystems due to their dams and diversions, particularly in large-scale installations.

Conventional hydro technologies disturb natural watercourses, which can change water levels and temperatures, inhibit the cycling and transport of nutrients and sediments, and eliminate seasonal variations in flow. These disruptions can destroy or impair river and stream habitats and nearby land environments.

Fisheries impacts represent the most widely publicized concern. Dams and diversions can prevent or restrict the natural movement and migration of fish and eel species, and individual animals can be killed if they become trapped in flows through turbines. Ladders, screens, and other fish passage and protection measures can be employed to lessen, but not eliminate, adverse impacts at the individual, population, and species levels.

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