U.S. Department of EnergyOffice of Scientific and Technical Information
Technical Potential for Hydropower Capacity at Non-powered Dams
Abstract
In the last decade, retrofits of existing nonpowered dams (NPDs) have made up the largest share of capacity increases for US hydropower. Accurate estimates of potential capacity and generation at NPDs help identify sites that may be worth investing in detailed feasibility analyses and design exploration. This dataset contains estimates of technical potential capacity and generation at 2,616 NPDs in the conterminous US. This is based on a subset of dams that were found by earlier resource assessments to have at least 100kW of theoretical potential. Historical daily streamflow (modeled or from USGS gauge records) and hydraulic head (based on historical observations or primary purpose and dam height) are the main inputs to the HydroGenerate model, which determines design flow, turbine efficiencies, and assumed friction losses and then calculates nominal capacity, daily generation, and capacity factor. These estimates represent the conditions over the historical period of 1980-2015, and are summarized on a monthly basis (i.e., averaged for each month of the year) and overall (i.e., nominal capacity, average annual generation (MWh), and average annual capacity factor). A total of nearly 4 GW capacity is estimated across all 2,616 NPDs included in the dataset.
- Publication Date:
- Other Number(s):
- 1
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Water Power Technologies Office
- OSTI Identifier:
- 2570407
- DOI:
- https://doi.org/10.21951/HydroCapacity_NPD/2570407
Citation Formats
Hansen, Carly, Gallego Calderon, Juan, Bastidas Pacheco, Camilo, Davis, Cleve, Mendadhala, Rohit, and Russel, Glen. Technical Potential for Hydropower Capacity at Non-powered Dams. United States: N. p., 2025.
Web. doi:10.21951/HydroCapacity_NPD/2570407.
Hansen, Carly, Gallego Calderon, Juan, Bastidas Pacheco, Camilo, Davis, Cleve, Mendadhala, Rohit, & Russel, Glen. Technical Potential for Hydropower Capacity at Non-powered Dams. United States. doi:https://doi.org/10.21951/HydroCapacity_NPD/2570407
Hansen, Carly, Gallego Calderon, Juan, Bastidas Pacheco, Camilo, Davis, Cleve, Mendadhala, Rohit, and Russel, Glen. 2025.
"Technical Potential for Hydropower Capacity at Non-powered Dams". United States. doi:https://doi.org/10.21951/HydroCapacity_NPD/2570407. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/2570407. Pub date:Thu Jun 26 00:00:00 EDT 2025
@article{osti_2570407,
title = {Technical Potential for Hydropower Capacity at Non-powered Dams},
author = {Hansen, Carly and Gallego Calderon, Juan and Bastidas Pacheco, Camilo and Davis, Cleve and Mendadhala, Rohit and Russel, Glen},
abstractNote = {In the last decade, retrofits of existing nonpowered dams (NPDs) have made up the largest share of capacity increases for US hydropower. Accurate estimates of potential capacity and generation at NPDs help identify sites that may be worth investing in detailed feasibility analyses and design exploration. This dataset contains estimates of technical potential capacity and generation at 2,616 NPDs in the conterminous US. This is based on a subset of dams that were found by earlier resource assessments to have at least 100kW of theoretical potential. Historical daily streamflow (modeled or from USGS gauge records) and hydraulic head (based on historical observations or primary purpose and dam height) are the main inputs to the HydroGenerate model, which determines design flow, turbine efficiencies, and assumed friction losses and then calculates nominal capacity, daily generation, and capacity factor. These estimates represent the conditions over the historical period of 1980-2015, and are summarized on a monthly basis (i.e., averaged for each month of the year) and overall (i.e., nominal capacity, average annual generation (MWh), and average annual capacity factor). A total of nearly 4 GW capacity is estimated across all 2,616 NPDs included in the dataset.},
doi = {10.21951/HydroCapacity_NPD/2570407},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Jun 26 00:00:00 EDT 2025},
month = {Thu Jun 26 00:00:00 EDT 2025}
}