
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) announced more than $33 million in projects to advance hydropower and marine energy. These selections include more than $8.6 million for 13 hydropower technical assistance projects through the HydroWIRES Initiative and nearly $25 million for 25 hydropower and marine energy research and development projects at six DOE national laboratories.
Just last week, DOE announced nearly $16.7 million for 25 small-business-led hydropower and marine energy projects through Phase I and Phase II of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program. Phase I projects represent initial funding awards, while Phase II projects involve continued research and development efforts from Phase I.
HydroWIRES technical assistance projects
These 13 technical assistance projects will provide hydropower developers and other stakeholders with DOE national laboratory expertise and capabilities to evaluate opportunities for hydropower hybrids and pumped storage hydropower (PSH). Subject-matter experts from Argonne National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory (INL), National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) will support these projects.
Hydropower hybrids
Hydropower hybrids combine conventional hydropower generation with another type of energy generation or storage. This topic area is meant to help industry partners gain insight into potential values, locations and operational considerations.
A Multi-Objective Optimization Framework for Decision Support in Hybridizing Energy Northwest’s Packwood Hydro Facility — Energy Northwest will work with PNNL to assess the feasibility of installing solar panels over the canals at its Packwood Hydro facility in Washington.
Assessing the Value of Co-Locating a Battery Energy Storage System with the Forks of Butte and Olsen Hydroelectric Facilities — Synergics Energy Services will work with Argonne and INL to study the benefits of hybridizing the Forks of Butte and Olsen run-of-river hydropower plants in California with battery energy storage systems.
Corral Summit Hydro Hybrid Evaluation — Cat Creek Energy will work with INL and PNNL to develop a hybrid setup that integrates PSH with floating solar and battery energy storage systems.
Exploring and Optimizing Value Streams for Hybridizing Grant County Public Utility District’s Wanapum and Priest Rapids Hydro Facilities — Grant County PUD will work with PNNL to evaluate hybridizing the Wanapum and Priest Rapids dams on the Columbia River with battery storage.
Improving the Value of Hydro Assets for Turlock Irrigation District by Battery Hybrid — TID in California will work with INL and Argonne to evaluate the feasibility and benefits of hybridizing its five hydropower units with batteries.
Siting Study for Hybridization of the Central Valley Project — The Northern California Power Agency will work with INL, Argonne and NREL to evaluate whether to hybridize its hydropower plants with battery storage.
Pumped storage hydropower valuation
Under this topic area, industry partners will receive technical assistance from national laboratories focused on evaluating current or prospective PSH projects.
Balancing Energy and Reliability with Craig-Hayden PSH — rPlus will work with NREL and ORNL to assess the operational and grid stability value of a proposed PSH facility between the towns of Craig and Hayden in Colorado.
Developing a Revenue Model for Long-Duration Energy Storage — The National Hydropower Association will work with Argonne and ORNL to analyze the value of PSH and its services in different regions and electricity markets in the U.S.
Marine Pumped Hydroelectric Energy Storage: Concept Design and Use-Case Analysis of Hybrid Offshore Wind/Storage Power Plants — RCAM Technologies will work with Argonne, PNNL and NREL to evaluate the feasibility of combining marine pumped hydroelectric (MPH) technology with offshore wind under future grid and policy scenarios and lay the foundation for a grid-connected pilot demonstration.
PSH Solutions for the Hawaiian Islands — The Hawai‘i State Energy Office will receive technical assistance from NREL and PNNL in using the Pumped Storage Hydro Valuation Tool to evaluate the financial viability of PSH at four sites on publicly owned land across O‘ahu, Maui, Moloka‘i, and Hawai‘i Island.
Technoeconomic Studies for PSH at the Twentymile Mine Site — Rye Development will work with PNNL to evaluate the commercial opportunities for PSH at the Twentymile coal mining site in Colorado.
Technoeconomic Studies of Paired PSH with Offshore Wind Located Off the Southern Oregon Coast — Rye Development will work with Argonne, PNNL and INL to conduct a power market study and grid stability analysis of two proposed PSH sites in Southwest Oregon paired with utility-scale offshore wind developments.
The Oceanus Integrated PSH and Desalination Plant — Oceanus will work with Argonne, ORNL and PNNL on a technoeconomic analysis of its Integrated Pumped Hydro Reverse Osmosis Clean Energy System (IPHROCES) to provide energy storage and fresh-water supply.
New Hydropower Projects at the National Laboratories
Thirteen new projects at five national laboratories — Argonne, INL, NREL, ORNL and PNNL — will further hydropower research and development.
HydroWIRES: Modeling Gaps
This topic area focuses on improving power system studies to support hydropower operation and planning.
PNNL — in partnership with NREL, INL, V&R Energy and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council — previously developed the Hydrogeneration Analysis Software Platform, which combined hydrologic and electrical models for a more accurate power system model. The team will extend the platform to more states from the Eastern Interconnection grid and develop a new model of hydro turbine governors. This is meant to help to mitigate hydropower modeling gaps regarding water availability, environmental constraints, data issues and other topics. The team also intends to assess the impact of extreme climate events.
HydroWIRES: Future Grid Strength
This topic area focuses on comprehensive, national-scale modeling efforts that capture the unique benefits of hydropower for grid strength, particularly as the power system evolves to include higher shares of resources such as wind and solar that might be less resilient to grid disturbances.
NREL, INL, PNNL and ORNL will develop a method for analyzing hydropower stability on the grid. The team will develop and validate metrics to improve grid strength assessments that can become industry-standard criteria.
HydroWIRES: U.S.-Norway Collaboration
This topic area focuses on projects performed in collaboration with Norwegian researchers and/or partners that are aligned with the HydroWIRES research roadmap.
PNNL will work with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, University of Agder, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and IEEE Power and Energy Society to analyze how grid behaviors can change under different weather conditions and electricity generation sources and determine monitoring and control strategies with the goal of maintaining grid stability.
HydroWIRES: Open Topic
This topic area focuses on new ideas not captured in the HydroWIRES portfolio.
Enhance Hydropower Values with Power Purchase Agreements — Argonne will work with PNNL, Rye Development and rPlus Hydro to address the limitations of long-term utility contracts. The team will investigate the feasibility of new contract types, including hybrid contracts that combine hydropower with other renewable energy, and develop a quantitative tool for stakeholders to design future contracts.
HydroCHiPPs: Coupler-Compliant High-Performance Pliers for Water-Production Cost Model Dynamical Coupling — ORNL will work with Argonne, Cornell University and Brookfield Renewable U.S. to develop models that capture two-way feedback between reservoir operations and the power grid. These models will help hydropower operators schedule generation more efficiently and optimally, leading to enhanced grid flexibility and reliability.
Hydrologic Systems Science: Extreme Weather and Climate Events
This topic area focuses on new research projects addressing extreme weather and climate events and their effects on hydropower infrastructure, operation, and planning.
Coincident Climate and Hydropower Extremes Dataset — Argonne and PNNL will work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and EPRI to incorporate major meteorological datasets into hydropower-relevant datasets. This work will pair watershed information with wind, available solar-generated electricity, temperature and precipitation data to better characterize extreme weather events. This project will enable a “first-of-its-kind” extreme events database that can inform the operation of facilities across the power sector.
Enable Storm Typing-Based Precipitation Frequency Analysis in a Changing Climate — ORNL will work with RTI to create a framework to assess storm types and precipitation frequency over time. This information will offer an assessment of and help enable mitigation of climate change impacts on hydropower infrastructures.
Impact-Informed Dam Safety Risk Assessment for Climate Change-Enhanced Floods — ORNL will work with EPRI on a rapid dam safety risk assessment for climate change-driven floods. The assessment will inform financial assurance requirements, relicensing and decision-making for hydropower stakeholders to address critical infrastructure issues related to flooding.
Fleet Modernization, Maintenance, and Cybersecurity: Smart Maintenance Implementation Assistance
This topic area focuses on projects that accelerate the transition to smart maintenance methodologies at hydropower facilities through programmatic assistance to hydropower asset owners and operators.
Argonne will work with NREL, Wayne State University, Ontario Power Generation, the Hydropower Research Institute and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on an open-source asset management tool. The tool will provide an autonomous degradation prediction model for hydropower thrust bearings, which could help to reduce operation and maintenance costs and improve system reliability and be more environmentally friendly. This data-driven approach will be transferable to other components.
Hydropower Program-Wide: Federal Hydropower Memorandum of Understanding Quick Wins
This topic area focuses on “quick win” collaborative projects that solve targeted challenges in federal hydropower facilities.
Environmentally Acceptable Lubricants Technical Feasibility — Hydropower facilities can contain 50,000 gallons of mineral-based turbine oil for use as a lubricant. PNNL, Argonne and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will take oil samples from 75 hydropower facilities and artificially age the samples. The team will identify methods for aging and testing environmentally acceptable lubricants at lab scale, which could help reduce risks for industry adoption.
Self-Lubricating Bushing Testing for Large Kaplan Turbines with Oil-Free Hub — Bushings are metal cylinders that allow turbine shafts to spin. PNNL will work with the Corps to develop a comprehensive workflow for its previously designed self-lubricating bushings testbed. The workflow will include test design, data collection and processing, and performance analysis. That data will then be shared, and the testbed made publicly available to the hydropower industry.
Spatiotemporal Patterns in Growth and Detachment of Aquatic Vegetation in Tennessee Valley Authority Mainstem Reservoirs — Growth of aquatic vegetation can clog hydropower intakes and have large impacts on energy generation. ORNL will work with the Tennessee Valley Authority to review and document excessive growth of aquatic vegetation in hydropower reservoirs. The team will analyze literature and use historical satellite-based remote sensing data to analyze its long-term distribution.
Supporting U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Assessment of Invasive Mussel Biofouling on Fish and Thermal Barrier Materials in the Glen Canyon Forebay — Reclamation is studying the accumulation of invasive mussels and its impacts on fish and thermal barriers in Lake Powell. Thermal barriers are used to choose the depth and temperature of water allowed to enter a turbine. PNNL will prepare anti-biofouling coatings to minimize the impact of accumulating organisms on the fish and thermal barrier at Glen Canyon Dam. Deployment of this system could help avoid as much as $80 million in lost hydropower production and improve environmental outcomes for endangered species such as the humpback chub.
New Marine Energy Projects at the National Laboratories
Six new projects at three national laboratories — NREL, PNNL and Sandia National Laboratories — will further marine research and development.
Next Generation Wave Energy Converter (WEC) Modeling Capability
This topic area supports the development of experimental and numerical models that measure and predict device performance, which can help design and optimize the next generation of marine energy technologies and lower costs.
WEC simulation and evaluation software has limited modeling capabilities. NREL will develop an open-source WEC numerical modeling framework, known as SEA-Stack, that will support developers throughout the design process by integrating low-, mid-, and high-fidelity simulation tools together to more quickly and accurately analyze WEC models.
Next Generation Current Energy Converter (CEC) Modeling
This topic area supports early-stage development and testing of CEC models as well as the creation of open-source modeling for the maritime market portfolio. NREL and Sandia will develop and verify open-source CEC modeling tools to improve representation of marine environments. This project will aim to reduce costs and lower risks on CEC deployments by improving simulation accuracy of deployed turbines, ultimately contributing to the commercial success and sustainability of marine energy technologies.
Open topic
This topic area supports new ideas not captured in other topics that further WPTO’s goals.
Line Testing Facility Development — Mooring lines secure marine energy devices in place, and umbilical cables transfer information from devices during deployments. Few facilities exist to test these lines and cables. Sandia will design and build an advanced testing facility to validate the performance of mooring lines and umbilical cables.
Models for Hybrid Offshore Renewable Energy-Powered Electrochemical Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal and Measurement, Reporting, and Validation — To help assist in the planning of hybrid renewable energy-powered marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) pilot plants, NREL will work with PNNL to create tools that include models of the three types of electrochemical mCDR powered by wave, tidal, wind and solar energy. This project will focus on how these plants can use hybrid offshore energy, their monitoring needs, and how small WECs can power those monitoring needs. The modeling tools will inform the deployments of marine energy for mCDR measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification in the near term and marine energy-powered mCDR pilots and deployments in the longer term.
Mechanical Load Measurement Analysis, Tools, and Demonstration for International Electrotechnical Commission 62600-3 — Sandia will develop, demonstrate and disseminate mechanical load case measurement methods and data analysis tools based on novel fiber optic strain measurement techniques. The information could allow marine energy developers to determine new measurements of mechanical loads on turbine blades following the IEC marine energy standard.
Marine Energy-Powered Enhanced Resiliency System — NREL will develop an enhanced resiliency system (ERS) focused on integrating marine energy converters to provide high-value products to remote and underserved communities, including local water treatment, ammonia production and oxygen for generating new products for the blue economy. The ERS will simultaneously provide a long-duration energy storage solution for variable renewable energy resources.
Marine Energy Sapling Projects at the National Laboratories
WPTO selected six “Sapling” projects through its Seedlings and Saplings program, which encourages and supports new research ideas at DOE’s national laboratories. Most projects started as “Seedlings” and received up to $100,000. They have now been selected to become “Saplings” and will receive additional funding of $200,000 to $400,000. These projects were funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Sapling projects
Powering the Woods Hole X-Spar Buoy with Marine Renewable Energy — The X-Spar is a free-drifting buoy with sensors for measuring temperature, humidity, pressure and other variables to better understand the flow of moisture, heat and gases like carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and ocean. Sandia will improve the X-Spar by creating a deployable prototype capable of converting ocean waves into electricity that can power equipment on the buoy.
Automatic Generation of WECs Equations of Motion for Control, Optimization, Modeling, and Monitoring Applications— Equations of motion (EOM) are a set of differential equations that define the motion of a system, such as its position, velocity and acceleration while being subjected to forces like ocean waves. Deriving the analytical EOM of a WEC is often the first step needed for developing a control or design optimization algorithm. NREL will work with Sandia to create an open-source tool to automatically generate the EOM that can be integrated with software such as the Wave Energy Converter Design Optimization Toolbox, Wave Energy Converter SIMulator and Response Amplitudes of Floating Turbines.
Load and Power Requirement Models for Marine Energy Technology Integration with Powering the Blue Economy Applications — NREL will continue to develop and validate open-source load and power requirement models for blue economy markets. This project is meant to help inform marine energy converter designs for these markets and de-risk open water deployments.
WhaleOmics: A Multi-Omics Framework for Measuring Physiological Stress Response in Whales Around Marine Energy — PNNL will build a framework that enables regulators to identify acute stress in large whales as they move through areas impacted by marine energy development. The team will measure whale blubber samples from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Southwest Fisheries Science Center’s sample repository to provide baseline day-to-day stress profiles that can be compared to whale stress levels as marine energy converters are installed.
Online Monitoring of Mooring Lines — Mooring lines keep WECs in place and support energy harvesting but are prone to failure due to abrasion and fatigue. PNNL will work with Sandia to demonstrate how mooring lines with smart sensors can be used with a predictive online monitoring system to detect damage to mooring lines.
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler Deployment Using a Low-Cost Autonomous Underwater Landing Vehicle— Sandia and Florida Atlantic University will upgrade an autonomous underwater landing vehicle technology that is used to deploy instruments that measure current velocities. The team will conduct open water testing to demonstrate a longer deployment of at least two weeks and further engage with customers and a potential partner, moving the technology closer to commercialization.