Community Highlights

Wildfires can affect hydropower facilities by altering water quality and timing of runoff. Forest restoration efforts can mitigate these damaging effects and result in more water supply—further benefiting hydropower by increasing the total potential revenue from water power generation. But it is challenging to accurately estimate the value of added water supply from forest restoration efforts for hydropower facilities. 

Researchers from Blue Forest Conservation, University of California Davis, and The Nature Conservancy simulated the effects of forest restoration in a California reservoir system and found that it could increase average annual water runoff to rivers in the watershed. That additional water supply would boost hydropower electricity generation and potentially increase revenue equivalent to 8-15% of the initial forest restoration costs. It’s an example of how improving the valuation of power and non-power hydropower services would have benefits for hydropower and beyond. 

Learn more about the research from Blue Forest. 

The U.S. Department of Energy launched an incentives program for infrastructure improvements at hydropower facilities. The program, Maintaining and Enhancing Hydroelectricity Incentives—also referred to as Section 247 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005—was funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. It made over $550 million dollars available in 2024 to eligible hydropower facilities to invest in infrastructure enhancements that increase grid resilience (including the addition of energy storage capacity), advance dam safety, or support environmental improvements. Through this incentive program, 293 hydropower facilities across 33 states received funding to improve their facilities. The effort directly supports the safety, security, and functionality of hydropower facilities throughout their lifetime, including modernizations necessary for hydropower to continue providing valuable services. 

To learn more, visit the program website. 

Long-lived hydropower infrastructure must be kept well-maintained and periodically modernized to ensure functionality and safety—particularly in the face of altered rainfall patterns and flood risk due to climate change. To inform emergency and safety planning in the state of California, a consortium of researchers funded by the Yuba Water Agency, California Department of Water Resources, and the National Science Foundation developed ARkStorm 2.0, which simulates possible 1000-year extreme storm and flood scenarios. Based on historic megastorm events in California, ARkStorm 2.0 also incorporates the effects of climate change and advanced climate and hydrological science to improve simulations of these possible weather events. The information in ARkStorm 2.0 about extreme storm and flood scenarios can help inform dam safety investments and emergency planning, to prepare for extreme weather events that can lead to spillway damage, downstream erosion, and even dam failure. 

Learn more about ARkStorm 2.0.

Appropriately valuing hydropower’s contribution to the grid as energy markets evolve is key to justifying future hydropower investments and operations. The move towards clean energy technologies that do not have a direct fuel cost means that future electricity markets will be dominated by frequent, extended periods of low to zero electricity prices. Such unpredictable energy markets could make it prohibitively risky to develop new energy generation in the future. A report by Argonne National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory investigated the role of hydropower resources in future zero-carbon markets to set the stage for discussions about alternative electricity market mechanisms. Specifically, the report highlighted how generators could be compensated for relatively low-cost hydropower energy and found that hydropower was likely to benefit in a zero-carbon system by providing flexibility and energy storage in systems with high percentages of variable renewable resources. 

Learn more and read the report, “Price Formation in Zero-Carbon Electricity Markets: The Role of Hydropower.”

The Salmon in the Classroom curriculum, sponsored by the Benton Conservation District (BCD), is an annual program in which fourth and fifth grade students across eastern Washington raise fish in the classroom. The curriculum culminates in the release of the fish into the Columbia River during the Salmon Summit, where students learn about fish passage, hydropower, and related careers. With support from the Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office, researchers from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) partner with BCD bring the latest science on hydropower and fish passage to thousands of students in person and via live stream, including live demonstrations of juvenile salmon tagging and release. 

The educators involved in Salmon in the Classroom are also invited to participate in PNNL’s Teacher-Scientist Partnership—a professional development opportunity for educators to work directly with PNNL researchers and staff to tackle real-world scientific challenges. The program aims to help teachers take real-world problems and lessons—in this case about hydropower—back to their students to inspire the future workforce.  

Learn more about Salmon in the Classroom at the BCD website. 

The Hydropower eLibrary is an online database and search tool designed specifically for users looking for hydropower information within the massive Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) eLibrary. Developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) with support from the U.S. Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office, the Hydropower eLibrary is a comprehensive repository of FERC’s hydropower-related documents and data, accessed using a streamlined and powerful search tool. The tool is intended to help hydropower community members quickly access information that will help them navigate the complex regulatory and licensing processes related to hydropower. Hydropower eLibrary offers unique built-in features including the ability to filter results by key document types, view most-accessed documents, and access all available information for individual hydropower projects via an interactive map of U.S. hydropower facilities. 

Learn more about the Hydropower eLibrary or test it out at hydropowerelibrary.pnnl.gov.

River infrastructure, such as locks and dams, alters water flow patterns in ways that can affect river species and habitats. The Sustainable Rivers Program is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and The Nature Conservancy to find sustainable ways to manage river infrastructure and water flows that maximize benefits to both people and nature. Specifically, the program helps determine environmental flow requirements for rivers—the water flow on either side of a dam necessary to support river species and habitats—and operating plans for infrastructure that use these flows. The program takes a collaborative approach that combines science and stakeholder engagement to review new environmental flow patterns and modernize river infrastructure. Since 2002, the Sustainable Rivers Program has grown to include 44 rivers and 90 associated reservoirs and dams. 

Learn more about the Sustainable Rivers Program from The Nature Conservancy and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 

Navigating federal and state energy regulations and permitting can be a complicated process for developers and regulators, which can slow investments in energy projects. Launched in 2015, the Regulatory and Permitting Information Desktop (RAPID) toolkit is designed to help make it easier to navigate the regulatory processes for hydropower, geothermal, solar, and bulk transmission. Specifically, the free toolkit: 

• offers easy access to permit applications, processes, and manuals
• outlines regulatory requirements and clarifies the permitting process
• provides best practices, case studies, and how-to information
• facilitates communication among stakeholders

Since 2015, the toolkit has been accessed from all over the United States by users at federal agencies, universities, state and local governments, utilities and developers, and consultants. Hydropower stakeholders can also provide input to continue improving the toolkit over time and keep it updated. RAPID was developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Renewable Energy and the Office of Electricity, with additional support from Tetra Tech, Environmental Management and Planning Solutions Inc., Kearns and West, and Herrick Solutions.

Check out the RAPID toolkit.

Economics is a key driver behind the mix of energy sources contributing to the U.S. electric grid. The market value of different energy sources—such as hydropower, solar, wind, or fossil fuels—can determine how competitive they are on the power market. But it is a challenge to accurately estimate the value of hydropower grid services because some of hydro’s key attributes—flexibility and reliability—aren’t included in traditional valuations. To better reflect hydropower’s value, researchers from the Electric Power Research Institute simulated different energy and operating scenarios in the Western Electric Coordinating Council (WECC) region, which encompasses the western United States and parts of Canada and Mexico. With funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to quantify the value of hydropower in the electric grid, this research established the many value streams available to hydropower and identified opportunities to better assess the value of the full range of services that hydropower provides.

To learn more, read the report and check out a summary from Hydro Review.