This 1940 cover photo shows a streamlined crane lowering the first rotor into position at the Hiwassee Dam in North Carolina.

As cost and schedule pressures rise, controversial B.C. megaproject, set to commission in 2025, awaits key government ruling before reservoir filling can start this fall.

The effort to build the 87.8-MW Kakono power plant secured $300 million in funding, paving the way for its engineering, procurement and construction phase to begin.

Long-planned $878.5-million project at Howard A. Hanson Dam, which gained new federal funding, would open 100 miles of the upper Green River for salmon spawning and rearing.

The world’s fifth-tallest arch dam, on the Coruh River in a mountainous region of northeastern Turkey, began operating in late November, passing a major milestone for the project.

North Michigan Creek Reservoir and its surrounding facilities are among the main recreational attractions at State Forest State Park.

Ethiopia has begun generating electricity at its new 5,000-MW roller-compacted concrete gravity-type dam on the Nile River. The first 375 MW went to the national grid on Feb. 20. 

Hydropower sector participants usually at odds—industry firms, dam safety groups and environmental advocates—now are finding common ground in project funding and new legislation.

The historic Derby Dam diverts water into the Truckee River that would otherwise flow into Pyramid Lake. However, that diversion led to the near extinction of the endangered native Lahontan cutthroat trout in the lake.

To remediate seismic safety issues and enhance flood-handling capacity at the concrete thin-arch dam, the $32-million project called for cutting a notch in the existing structure, placing a new ogee-shaped spillway and installing reinforced armor at the dam’s base.