Community Highlights

Field research reported in Hydro Review indicates that Natel Energy’s fish-friendly turbine designs can improve survival outcomes for migratory fish species passing through hydropower facilities. The turbine geometry is engineered to reduce strike probability, minimize shear forces, and manage pressure changes during passage while maintaining generation performance. Early findings suggest the approach offers a viable pathway for projects seeking improved environmental compatibility in ecologically sensitive waterways.

Advances in turbine design that integrate biological performance considerations with energy production objectives represent an important step toward modernized hydropower technologies.

Hydro Review – Research Shows Safe Fish Passage Through Natel Turbines

 

The PSH Cost Model Web App, hosted on OpenEI, provides an interactive framework for estimating the lifecycle costs of pumped storage hydropower (PSH) projects. Users can adjust site characteristics, design parameters, and financial assumptions to evaluate capital expenditures, operations and maintenance costs, and economic feasibility. The platform is designed to support structured cost discussions among developers, planners, and financing partners evaluating long-duration energy storage projects.

By increasing visibility into cost drivers and enabling standardized modeling approaches, the tool advances transparent economic analysis for pumped storage development.

NREL PSH Cost Model Web App