The UK government is asking utility companies to increase their use of renewable energy in power supplies. Although there will be a role for small hydro, the new list of renewable energy sources does not include hydro power plants larger than 10MW. The Electricity Asso-ciation, representing UK power companies, criticised the plan to exclude larger hydro schemes.
Scottish and Southern Energy, the UK’s biggest power distributor which owns a number of hydroelectric generation plants, said the plans will not affect its operations. (See article on pp34-5 of this issue for an update on UK small hydro).