On behalf of the Helios Centre, Philip Raphals has acted as an advisor to the governing board of the Low Impact Hydropower Institute since 2000, and currently serves as chair of its Renewable Markets Advisory Panel. The Low Impact Hydropower Institute (LIHI) is a US non-profit organization created out of a collaboration between American Rivers, a river conservation organization, and Green Mountain Energy Resources, an electricity marketer. It has published detailed, science-based criteria for identifying hydro projects which are low-impact, based on their operations. (New plants are not eligible for certification.)
In 2004, together with then Executive Director of LIHI, the late Fred Ayer, Philip Raphals led a unique initiative, with an international working group of 19 hydropower experts, to distinguish the characteristics that contributed to a hydro project being “green”.
The Helios Centre has also contributed to efforts to define eligibility criteria for hydropower in green energy standards, in Canada and in the U.S.
