"Dam It: Feds Say U.S. Can Double Hydropower"

"The Grand Canyon was once targeted as a major dam site by the federal government, a project eventually scuttled after widespread protest. Nobody is revisiting the idea of a dam there, but a new U.S. Department of Energy report shows that the Grand Canyon and other major gorges and rivers across the U.S. may be ideal for hydropower development.

The DOE study suggests America’s rivers are troves of vast untapped hydropower potential and developing many of them could help combat climate change by using renewable energy to reduce reliance on coal-fired power plants that emit climate-changing greenhouse gases.

In all, undeveloped rivers and streams in the U.S. have 84.7 GW (gigawatts) hydropower capacity, enough to generate 460 terawatt hours of electricity annually. Subtracting protected areas such as the Grand Canyon, the U.S. has 65 GW of untapped hydropower capacity, if all the streams with hydropower potential were eventually developed, according to the DOE study."

Bobby Magill reports for Climate Central May 2, 2014.