Forty-year hydropower generation reanalysis for Conterminous United States

Journal Article · Thu Jun 19 00:00:00 UTC 2025 · Scientific Data (Online)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05323-y · OSTI ID:2584502

Turner, Sean W. D.  ^[1]; Singh, Debjani  ^[1]; Hansen, Carly  ^[1]; Kao, Shih-Chieh  ^[1]

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1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

First published in 2022, the RectifHyd dataset provides hydrologically consistent estimates of monthly net generation for approximately 1,500 hydropower plants in the United States, addressing a gap in industrial surveys that have collected monthly generation data from only ~10% of plants post-2003. Here we present RectifHydPlus—an extended and enhanced dataset that improves on both the proxy information and temporal downscaling methodology adopted in RectifHyd. In addition to providing updated estimates of historical monthly generation for 590 plants with >10 MW nameplate capacity from 1980 through 2019, RectifHydPlus adds a hydrological control dataset that isolates the influence of historical water availability on generation. The new hydrological control dataset is suited to applications seeking to represent the capabilities of the contemporary fleet subject to historical interannual variability in climate. RectifHydPlus also includes a forty-year, daily-resolution, spill-adjusted water release time series for each dam, allowing users to aggregate generation estimates to the desired temporal resolution.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 2584502
• Journal Information: Scientific Data (Online), Journal Name: Scientific Data (Online) Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 12; ISSN 2052-4463
• Publisher: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English