Estimation of economic parameters of U.S. hydropower resources

Technical Report · Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1218138· OSTI ID:1218138

Hall, Douglas G. ^[1]; Hunt, Richard T. ^[1]; Reeves, Kelly S. ^[1]; Carroll, Greg R. ^[1]

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1. Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States). Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Lab. (INEEL)

Tools for estimating the cost of developing and operating and maintaining hydropower resources in the form of regression curves were developed based on historical plant data. Development costs that were addressed included: licensing, construction, and five types of environmental mitigation. It was found that the data for each type of cost correlated well with plant capacity. A tool for estimating the annual and monthly electric generation of hydropower resources was also developed. Additional tools were developed to estimate the cost of upgrading a turbine or a generator. The development and operation and maintenance cost estimating tools, and the generation estimating tool were applied to 2,155 U.S. hydropower sites representing a total potential capacity of 43,036 MW. The sites included totally undeveloped sites, dams without a hydroelectric plant, and hydroelectric plants that could be expanded to achieve greater capacity. Site characteristics and estimated costs and generation for each site were assembled in a database in Excel format that is also included within the EERE Library under the title, “Estimation of Economic Parameters of U.S. Hydropower Resources - INL Hydropower Resource Economics Database.”

• Research Organization: EERE Publication and Product Library, Washington, D.C. (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Wind and Water Technologies Office (EE-4W)
• OSTI ID: 1218138
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

develop
development
operation
maintenance
O&M
regression
curve(s)
costs
licensing
construction
environmental
mitigation
capacity
upgrade
upgrading
turbine(s)
generator(s)