Current hydropower technology, while essentially emission-free, can have undesirable environmental effects, such as fish injury and mortality from passage through turbines, as well as detrimental changes in the quality (dissolved gases) of downstream water. Advanced hydropower turbine technology could minimize the adverse effects yet preserve the ability to generate electricity from an important renewable resource.
The goal of DOE's Advanced Hydropower Turbine System (AHTS) Program is to develop technology that will allow the nation to maximize the use of its hydropower resources while minimizing adverse environmental effects. Conceptual designs of environmentally friendly hydropower turbines have been completed under the DOE-industry program. Potential injury mechanisms caused by turbine passage have been identified. Research is being performed to understand the effects of these injury mechanisms on fish and to develop methods for reducing their severity.
Potential Benefits of Advanced Turbine Technology:
- Reduced fish mortality: Advanced turbine technology could reduce fish mortality resulting from turbine passage to less than 2%, in comparison with turbine-passage mortalities of 5 to 10% for the best existing turbines and 30% or greater from other turbines.
- Improved compliance with water quality standards: Advanced turbine technology would maintain a downstream dissolved oxygen level of at least 6 mg/L, ensuring compliance with water quality standards.
- Reductions in CO2 emissions: The use of environmentally friendly turbine technology would help reverse the decline in hydroelectric generation and reduce the amounts of CO2 and other greenhouse gases emitted by consumption of fossil fuels.
The following AHTS reports are available:
Web:
- Efforts to Reduce Mortality to Hydroelectric Turbine-Passed Fish: Locating and Quantifying Damaging Shear Stresses
- Laboratory Studies of the Effects of Pressure on Turbine-Passed Fish: Test Protocol
- Direct Effects of Shear Strain on Fish: Summary Test Results
- Indirect Effects of Shear Strain on Fish: Summary Test Results
PDF:
- Biological Assessment of the Advanced Turbine Design at Wanapum Dam 2005 ( 1.9MB PDF) August 2007
- The Effects of Turbine Passage on C-Start Behavior of Salmon at the Wanapum Dam, Washington ( 561kB PDF) June 2006
- Evaluation of Blade-Strike Models for Estimating the Biological Performance of Large Kaplan Hydro Turbines ( 1.5MB PDF) November 2005
- Effect Of Multiple Turbine Passage on Juvenile Snake River Salmonid Survival ( 1.1MB PDF) Septmeber 2005
- Characterization of Bead Trajectories through the Draft Tube of a Turbine Physical Model (3.4 MB PDF) February 2005
- Stay Vane and Wicket Gate Relationship Study (3.6 MB PDF) January 19, 2004
- Turbine Imaging Technology Assessment (795 KB PDF) December 2004
- Study of Fish Response Using Particle Image Velocimetry and High-Speed, Higo-Resolution Imaging (5.6 MB PDF) October 2004
- Effects of Hyporheic Exchange Flows on Egg Pocket Water Temperature in Snake River Fall Chinook Salmon Spawning Areas (8.2 MB PDF) September 2004
- Six-Degree-of-Freedom Sensor Fish Design: Governing Equations and Motion Modeling (2.9 MB PDF) July 2004
- Further Tests of Changes in Fish Escape Behavior Resulting from Sublethal Stresses Associated with Hydroelectric Turbine Passage (487 KB PDF) April 2004
- Comparison of Blade-Strike Modeling Results with Empirical Data (2.8 MB PDF) March 2004
- Technologies for Evaluating Fish Passage Through Turbines (3.3 MB PDF) October 2003
- Identifying the Effects on Fish of Changes In Water Pressure during Turbine Passage (93 KB PDF)
- Development of a New Technique to Assess Susceptibility to Predation Resulting from Sublethal Stresses (Indirect Mortality) (4.4 MB PDF)
- Fish Passage Through a Simulated Horizontal Bulb Turbine Pressure Regime: A Supplement to “Laboratory Studies of the Effects of Pressure and Dissolved Gas Supersaturation on Turbine-Passed Fish” (972 KB PDF)
- Regulatory Approaches for Addressing Dissolved Oxygen Concerns at Hydropower Facilities (507 KB PDF)
- Evolution of the Sensor Fish Device for Measuring Physical Conditions in Severe Hydraulic Environments (1.9 MB PDF)
- Evaluation of Fish-Injury Mechanisms During Exposure to a High-Velocity Jet (1.7 MB PDF)
- HydroVision paper: Application of CFD to Investigate Fish Survival in Kaplan Turbines (573 KB PDF)
- Large Eddy Simulation of Turbulent Circular Jet Flows (12.1 MB PDF)
- The Development of Advanced Hydroelectric Turbines to Improve Fish Passage Survival (copyright, American Fisheries Society, www.fisheries.org, used with permission) (455 KB PDF)
- Laboratory Studies on the Effects of Pressure and Dissolved Gas Supersaturation on Turbine-passed Fish (4.2 MB PDF)
- Supplement to Laboratory Studies report (above): Simulated Passage Through a Modified Kaplan Turbine Pressure Regime, PNNL Report. (1.8 MB PDF)
- Laboratory Studies of the Effects of Pressure and Dissolved Gas Supersaturation on Turbine-Passed Fish: Test Results (85 KB PDF)
- Laboratory Studies on the Effects of Shear on Fish: Final Report (2.1 MB PDF)
- Final Turbine/Test Facility Design Report, Alden/NREC Fish Friendly Turbine, pt 1 (3.1 MB PDF)
- Hydropower R&D : Recent Advances in Turbine Passage Technology (1.6 MB PDF)
- AHTS Summary Report of the design effort, published June 1999. (487 KB PDF)
- Biological Criteria for AHTS design, published 1997.(11.0 MB PDF)
- Developing Biological Specifications for Fish Friendly Turbines (55 KB PDF)
- Advanced Sensor Fish Device for Improved Turbine Design (49 KB PDF)
- Response of Juvenile Pacific Lamprey to Turbine Passage (375 KB PDF)
These are PDF files and require Adobe Acrobat Reader to view
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