Hydropower Vision A New Chapter for America's 1st Renewable Electricity Source
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
- ORNL
- Signal Hydropower
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Wind and Water Power Technologies Office has led a first-of-its- kind comprehensive analysis to evaluate future pathways for low-carbon, renewable hydropower (hydropower generation and pumped storage) in the United States, focused on continued technical evolution, increased energy market value, and environmental sustainability. Undertaken through a broad-based collaborative effort, the Hydropower Vision initiative had four principal objectives: characterize the current state of hydropower in the United States, including trends, opportunities, and challenges; identify ways for hydropower to maintain and expand its contributions to the electricity and water management needs of the nation from the present through 2030 and 2050; examine critical environmental and social factors to assess how existing hydropower operations and potential new projects can minimize adverse effects, reduce carbon emissions from electricity generation, and contribute to stewardship of waterways and watersheds; and develop a roadmap identifying stakeholder actions that could support responsible ongoing operations and potential expansion of hydropower facilities. The Hydropower Vision analysis finds that U.S. hydropower could grow from 101 gigawatts (GW) of capacity to nearly 150 GW by 2050. Growth under this modeled scenario would result from a combination of 13 GW of new hydropower generation capacity (upgrades to existing plants, adding power at existing dams and canals, and limited development of new stream-reaches), and 36 GW of new pumped storage capacity. If this level of growth is achieved, benefits such as a savings of $209 billion from avoided greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions could be realized, of which $185 billion would be attributable to operation of the existing hydropower fleet. Transformative technical innovations able to meet the co-objectives of environmental sustainability and low-carbon energy will be critical to enabling additional hydropower growth beyond these levels. The Hydropower Vision report specifically does not evaluate or recommend new policy actions but instead analyzes the feasibility and certain benefits and costs of various credible scenarios, all of which could inform policy decisions at the federal, state, tribal, and local levels.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 1502612
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL/TM--2016/688
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
How Today's Hydropower Impacts Tomorrow's Grid: Counterfactual Scenarios Showing Grid Impacts if Hydropower Goes Away
Grid Planning Impacts of Hydropower Growth and Decline