Hydropower: The Renewable Energy Elephant in the Room

There is a form of renewable energy which accounts for approximately one sixth of world electrical generation, and unlike wind and solar has a natural form of storage which costs a fraction of any other form of electricity storage, and has black start capability.  Given all these positive characteristics, it may seem surprising that we have not yet written about it.  The renewable energy in question is Hydropower, and the reason we've not covered it before is that the facilities are typically owned and run by governments or diversified utilities.  

Until now, the only Hydropower investments I have been aware of were utilities which produce a high proportion of hydroelectric power, such as Idacorp (IDA).   Just as regulated utilities do not bear the full risk of escalating fossil fuel prices, utility owners are unlikely to reap the full benefits of Hydropower as we transition to a clean energy economy.  Both these risks and benefits tend to accrue to the customers of regulated utilities.  The Economist had an article on what is probably the largest publicly traded hydropower utility, Russia's partly state owned RusHydro.  Unfortunately, as we have seen from the examples of Yukos [YUKOY], and more recently Mechel (MTL), Russia is a very risky place for investors.