Community Highlights

Investing in training and workforce development is important to ensuring hydropower continues to provide renewable energy and critical grid services in the future. In addition to direct education, training, and mentoring efforts, this includes appropriate documentation for the future workforce. With this in mind, W.E.S.T. USA, Inc. is working with hydropower owners and operators to develop technical manuals tailored to their facilities. This technical documentation is digital, specific to the facility’s equipment, and incorporates the institutional knowledge of employees that are near retirement to ensure that valuable information is retained. 

Learn more from W.E.S.T. USA, Inc.

Accurately estimating the full value of pumped storage hydropower (PSH) is key to supporting future developments, but PSH provides both market and non-market services that can be difficult to quantify. To address this, Argonne National Laboratory led a multi-laboratory team to create the Pumped Storage Hydropower Valuation Tool. Developed with input from industry participants and guided by a technical advisory group consisting of industry experts and other stakeholders, the free tool provides valuation guidance that accounts for all grid services and contributions from PSH plants. Users of the tool are guided through the 15-step valuation process that features a back-end benefit-cost analysis tool, a price-taker valuation tool for small-scale PSH, and a multi-criteria decision analysis tool. There is also an accompanying guidebook that provides consistent, repeatable methods to more accurately value PSH projects and inform stakeholder decisions on future PSH investments.

Learn more about the PSH Valuation Tool from Argonne National Laboratory. 

All inland bodies of water have some level of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from microbes in the environment that naturally produce carbon dioxide and methane. Current estimates of GHG emissions from reservoirs are incomplete and vary widely, which makes it challenging to calculate total emissions related to hydropower operations. To better quantify and reduce reservoir emissions related to hydropower, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are using advanced tools to measure reservoir GHG emissions released through multiple processes, including degassing as water is passed through turbines. Warmer water temperatures in the future are expected to alter GHG emissions from reservoirs, but better understanding the current GHG emissions can improve models that inform reservoir management to mitigate emissions for climate resilience. 

Learn more from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. 

Pumped storage hydropower (PSH) currently accounts for roughly 96% of all utility-scale energy storage in the United States, and a new approach developed by RheEnergise could make PSH appropriate for more applications. Instead of using water, the RheEnergise approach uses an inexpensive proprietary fluid that is 2.5 times more dense than water. The higher density fluid can generate the same amount of power as a traditional pumped storage hydropower facility while using significantly smaller tanks and requiring less elevation change. That makes the approach a better fit for landscapes with less elevation and smaller footprints. Designed to provide long-duration energy storage of up to 50 MW at individual projects, the high-density hydro approach can be co-located with other energy projects and leverage existing grid infrastructure. It’s an innovative, cost-effective approach to energy storage that could unlock more opportunities for PSH development to support the grid. 

Learn more from RheEnergise.

The future of hydropower is dependent on a well-trained, diverse workforce that is ready to meet industry needs. Hydro School, hosted by Idaho National Laboratory (INL), is one example of hydropower educational outreach that is key to workforce development. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office, INL’s Hydro School summer camp engaged students from the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe to participate in a week-long program. The camp included two days in the classroom, one day in the field, and one day visiting a local hydropower plant, the Idaho Falls Power Hydropower Plant. Students learned about hydropower basics, technologies and applications, and potential career paths, and had opportunities to participate in open dialogue about the their perspectives on natural and cultural resources related to hydropower.  

Learn more about Hydro School. 

Improving fish passage is key to supporting certain migratory fish populations and minimizing the environmental impacts of hydropower facilities. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) worked with Duke Energy to implement new fish passage technologies at hydropower facilities in North Carolina, during the relicensing process for the Yadkin-PeeDee Hydroelectric Project. 

The new fish passage options were tailored to support American eel, American shad, and blueback herring—species that have experienced population declines in part due to habitat loss. A custom, stainless-steel eelway was added at Blewett Falls Dam, along with an “attraction flow”—a stream of water containing the scent of eels in the eelway—to draw eels towards the entrance of the passage. To support other fish species, inflatable gates were installed across the dam to better control water spill during fish migratory season and a new notch was cut in the dam to support downstream fish passage. In total, these new fish passage technologies have restored access to over one thousand miles of additional habitat in the watershed for eel, shad, and herring. 

Learn more from NOAA.

Modernizing the U.S. electric grid means integrating new technologies that are typically connected to the internet. This growing network of integrated systems and technologies—often called the Internet of Things—increases opportunities for security compromises, making cybersecurity a key focus for energy infrastructure, particularly hydropower facilities. 

A new tool developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) aims to provide tailored cybersecurity for hydropower plants. The Cybersecurity Situational Awareness Tool for Hydropower (CYSAT-Hydro) is a data-driven, hardware-agnostic cybersecurity tool designed to protect facilities from becoming access points for hackers and malicious actors. The tool uses artificial intelligence to detect anomalies in technology networks, then sends detailed information about cyberattacks to hydropower operators in real time to help restore functionality post-cyberattack. 

Learn more about CYSAT-Hydro from NREL.

Navigating the hydropower regulatory process is challenging, and can become particularly complex for federally-recognized Tribes which are sovereign nations. In 2024, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) released clear guidance outlining the role of Tribes during the FERC environmental review process. The new guide highlighted FERC’s commitment to promoting a government-to-government relationship between FERC and Tribes, and specified how Tribes can engage with and participate in FERC’s review of proposed energy infrastructure projects on their land. According to the updated guidance, Tribes can become involved in the process at any time, but are encouraged to participate as early and often in the process as possible. Establishing clear guidance for Tribal participation in the FERC environmental review process directly contributes to improving understanding of and access to the hydropower regulatory process. 

Learn more from FERC.