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> Tangentially, Paraguay runs entirely on hydropower from the Itaipu dam Which is hardly incidental, having access to ungodly amounts of hydro power is the eas

> Tangentially, Paraguay runs entirely on hydropower from the Itaipu dam Which is hardly incidental, having access to ungodly amounts of hydro power is the easiest way to run on 100% renewables. Iceland has similarly been 100% (or near enough) renewables for decades, despite more than 70% of its electricity going to aluminum smelters. Norway similarly runs on 100% renewable electricity because it has enough hydro for pretty much all of it (Norway is the 213th country by population, but something like top 10 hydro producer)

alwa 3y ago
I’d always lazily imagined Iceland’s renewable production to involve mainly their geothermal resources. I was surprised to learn that a phenomenal amount of hydro came online in a pretty quick period in the ‘00s [0]. A casual shufti suggests this was part of a broad policy push, but that it was mainly to do with a series of purpose-built hydro projects specifically to support Alcoa’s smelting facility. [1] It smells like there’s a story of a few strong personalities with ambitious visions somewhere in the mix here. Would any of this crowd know where I might turn to find that story? [0] https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/energy-consumption-by-source-and-country?stackMode=absolute&country=~ISL https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/energy-consumption-by-sou... [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kárahnjúkar_Hydropower_Plant#History https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kárahnjúkar_Hydropower_Plant... (with a fair bit of Wikipedian NIMBY-ish color commentary in the mix there)
- masklinn 3y ago
  The overall energy mix leans much more heavily on geothermal, but it’s used a lot for direct heating. And Kárahnjúkar is not a case of the NIMBY, to an approximation there’s no one living in the highlands. It’s large scale environmental destruction for the benefits of a large company which the people of Iceland objected to.
kuhewa 3y ago
Tasmania has long produced more than enough power from hydro.

alwa 3y ago

I’d always lazily imagined Iceland’s renewable production to involve mainly their geothermal resources. I was surprised to learn that a phenomenal amount of hydro came online in a pretty quick period in the ‘00s [0]. A casual shufti suggests this was part of a broad policy push, but that it was mainly to do with a series of purpose-built hydro projects specifically to support Alcoa’s smelting facility. [1] It smells like there’s a story of a few strong personalities with ambitious visions somewhere in the mix here. Would any of this crowd know where I might turn to find that story? [0] https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/energy-consumption-by-source-and-country?stackMode=absolute&country=~ISL https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/energy-consumption-by-sou... [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kárahnjúkar_Hydropower_Plant#History https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kárahnjúkar_Hydropower_Plant... (with a fair bit of Wikipedian NIMBY-ish color commentary in the mix there)

masklinn 3y ago
The overall energy mix leans much more heavily on geothermal, but it’s used a lot for direct heating. And Kárahnjúkar is not a case of the NIMBY, to an approximation there’s no one living in the highlands. It’s large scale environmental destruction for the benefits of a large company which the people of Iceland objected to.

kuhewa 3y ago

Tasmania has long produced more than enough power from hydro.