Hydropower Gaining Momentum

For 36 years, Bill Smith has been helping hydropower developers navigate the arduous licensing process, and he expects to keep working another 20 years as the industry embarks on what he described as a new era of growth for hydropower.

“I want to ride this next wave,” said the white-bearded Smith. 

Smith was one of 574 hydropower professionals who attended the National Hydropower Association’s (NHA) 2011 Conference, held April 4-6 in Washington, D.C. Citing the conference’s record attendance, Smith said he hasn’t seen this much interest in building more hydro capacity since the hydropower boom of the late ’70s.

“The excitement I see at this conference is like what we had back in ’79, when everyone wanted to do something,” said Smith, president of Hydropower International Services and former NHA president.

Hydropower projects representing more than 88,000 MW of new capacity are pending before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), up from 30,000 MW two years ago.

“This is a historic time,” said outgoing NHA President Andrew Munro. “Hydro is now a leading driver in the energy policy debate. NHA is an organization to reckon with on Capitol Hill.”

In addition, several state and federal agencies have signed new memorandums of understanding (MOU), which has led to a lot more cooperation in licensing and permitting new projects. In fact, Smith said one of his projects received a license in just six months.

“Not every one of them are going to go that smoothly, but I see a much better trend in licensing,” Smith said.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who in March introduced the Hydropower Improvement Act of 2011, delivered the conference’s keynote address. She said hydropower is a clean, efficient energy resource that is poised to secure a larger share of the nation’s renewable energy pie.

“I am a strong, strong hydro proponent,” said Murkowski, ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “I consider hydro to be one of our hardest working renewable resources.”

The bipartisan hydropower legislation was heard by the full committee just two weeks after it was introduced on March 17.

“That was not by accident,” Murkowski said. “That is because we introduced a bill that went through a vetting process. That’s why we have good bipartisan sponsorship.”

The committee quickly approved the bill on April 12, less than a month after it was introduced in the Senate.

During the conference, the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory released an eye-opening study that found the U.S. could add 12,600 MW of renewable power capacity to the grid by adding hydropower to 54,000 existing dams.

Most of the potential – 8,000 MW – is concentrated at 100 dams in the south and Midwest, Brennan Smith, a water resources engineer at Oak Ridge, told attendees at the conference.

“If we want to make a big bang, all we have to really do is look at 100 dams,” he said. “That’s a much more manageable program.”

The 10 largest non-powered dams identified in the Oak Ridge study could generate up to 3,000 MW of renewable power capacity, the study showed.

Linda Church Ciocci, executive director of the National Hydropower Association, said the study “clearly shows that there is huge potential to expand hydropower in areas of the country that may not think of themselves as having renewable energy resources.”

FERC Commissioner John Norris and Assistant Secretary of Interior Anne Castle also spoke to hundreds of conference attendees during the opening session.

“There is great opportunity for hydro moving forward,” Norris said. “We are in a period of transition in our energy economy.” 

Castle pointed to a recent Department of Interior study that identified 70 non-powered sites operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) that have “reasonable potential” to produce electricity and create jobs. If hydropower were added to all 70 sites, up to 226 MW of renewable power capacity could be added to the grid, the study showed.

“We think that those 70 facilities could produce about 1 million additional megawatt hours of electricity and serve about 85,000 homes,” Castle said. “We think this report is a great example of how government can use better the resources that it has at its disposal.”

The Interior report also estimates that about 1,200 public and private jobs could be created if hydropower were added to all 70 sites. The report is just the first step in the agency’s effort to assess its hydropower potential. The agency also is evaluating canals and constructed waterways to determine the hydropower potential of USBR’s low-head sites. The assessment is expected to be completed by the end of the year, Castle said.

“We wouldn’t be doing a hydropower resource assessment unless we were interested in seeing that development,” she said.

Hydropower advocates also touted a new, updated MOU between FERC and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that promotes timely review of proposals to construct and operate non-federal hydropower projects at dams owned by the Corps. The MOU had not been updated in 23 years.

“Instead of gaining up on each other, we gained up on the issues that were confronting us,” said Kamau Sadiki, the Corps’ national hydropower business line manager. “The Corps is committed to that MOU.”

Ann Miles, director of hydropower licensing at FERC, said the number of proposals for new hydro projects is soaring. 

“Historically, most of our work has been relicensing,” Miles said. “Now, over a third of our work is new construction.”

Also, the number of preliminary permits issue to hydropower developers has doubled in the last year, Miles said.

Russell Ray is senior editor of Hydro Review magazine and chairman of HydroVision International 2011. Russell has 11 years experience as an energy journalist, covering the oil and gas industry in Oklahoma and the growth of solar and nuclear power in Florida. He served eight years as the energy reporter for the Tulsa World. He held the same position at the Tampa Tribune for two and a half years before joining Hydro Review in 2009.