Advanced Hydropower Technology

Hydroelectric power is one of the nation’s most important renewable energy resources, because it represents about 7% of the country’s total electrical generation and 75% of the electricity generated from renewable sources. Hydropower has significant advantages over other energy sources: it is a reliable, domestic, renewable resource with large undeveloped potential, it produces few solid wastes, and it emits essentially none of the atmospheric emissions that are of growing concern, such as nitrogen and sulfur oxides and greenhouse gases. Hydropower projects can provide substantial non-power benefits as well, including water supply, flood control, navigation, and recreation.

Hydropower poses unique challenges in energy development, because it combines great benefits with difficult environmental challenges. The environmental issues that most frequently confront the hydropower industry are blockage of upstream fish passage, fish injury and mortality from passage through turbines, and changes in the quality and quantity of water released below dams and diversions. ESD staff have been instrumental in identifying and mitigating these environmental impacts for more than 25 years.

The Advanced Hydropower Technology (AHT) activity supports the development of technologies that will enable hydropower projects to generate more electricity with less environmental impact. This will be done by: 1) developing new turbine systems that have improved overall environmental and engineering performance, 2) developing new methods to optimize hydropower operations at the unit, plant, and reservoir system levels, and 3) conducting research to improve the effectiveness of the environmental mitigation practices required at hydropower projects.