Historical Perspective on the U.S. Department of Energy's Hydropower Program

Conference · Tue Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 2006

OSTI ID:963614

Sale, Michael J; Cada, G F; Dauble, Dennis D

For 30 years, the U.S. Department of Energy supported unique research and development activities focused on improving the domestic hydropower industry. In the 1970s and early 1980s, DOE’s Hydropower Program focused on technology assessment and a Small Hydropower Demonstration Program. After a period of zero funding in the late 1980s, the Program restarted with the goal of developing new technology that would improve the environmental performance of hydropower projects. A unique partnership of industry and federal cost-sharing allowed the Advanced Hydropower Turbine Systems activity to be established in 1994 – this led to new fish-friendly turbine designs and testing. Interagency cooperation with organizations like the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been a consistent part of the Program, along with scientific leadership and technical expertise from three of DOE’s National Laboratories: INL, ORNL, and PNNL. Program accomplishments include several new turbine designs, biological design criteria, computational and physical modeling, and environmental sensors. In contrast to other R&D on fish passage at dams, the DOE-sponsored research has focused on making the path through the turbine safer.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 963614
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-49358; EB4402010
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

13 HYDRO ENERGY
DAMS
DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS
DESIGN
INTERAGENCY COOPERATION
ORNL
PERFORMANCE
SIMULATION
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
TESTING
TURBINES
US CORPS OF ENGINEERS
hydropower