Senate Committee Highlights Opportunities to Advance Hydropower | Article

Hydropower provided 7.3 percent of the total electricity generated in the United States in 2020, enough to power 7 million homes, and 37 percent of its total renewable energy. Hydropower can complement more variable energy sources such as solar or wind by helping to provide baseload power, the minimum amount of electricity needed by the grid at any given time. Baseload demand is usually met by power plants capable of generating stable electricity 24-7.

Hydropower facilities are concentrated in the western United States, but nearly every state has at least one facility, and the industry employs over 67,000 people. Aging infrastructure, bureaucratic hurdles, and declining reservoir levels have hampered the upkeep and development of this energy resource, threatening the economies that rely on hydropower and national goals to expand availability of low-carbon energy. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Full Committee Hydropower Hearing discussed these issues along with potential solutions, with multiple points of bipartisan consensus.

Upgrading Infrastructure

Hearing panelists discussed the significant funding opportunities for hydropower made available through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (P.L. 117-58), and emphasized opportunities to expand hydropower deployment by retrofitting non-powered dams with hydroelectric capabilities and by upgrading hydroelectric facilities that already exist. Jennifer Garson, acting director of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office, cited a 2016 DOE report estimating that 6.3 gigawatts (GW) of additional power nationally could be generated through hydropower upgrades, 11 GW from powering non-powered dams, and 15 GW from building new dams by the year 2050.

Additional legislation has been proposed to further strengthen hydropower in the United States. Stanford University’s Uncommon Dialogue brings together environmental, safety, and industry players to develop legislative proposals that accomplish goals related to the rehabilitation, retrofit, and removal of dams. This collaboration resulted in two pieces of legislation introduced in Congress: The Maintaining and Enhancing Hydroelectricity and River Restoration Act (S.2306) sponsored by Senators Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Murkowski (R-Alaska), which would create a 30 percent clean energy tax credit to support upgrades at existing hydropower dams, and The 21st Century Dams Act (S.2356) sponsored by Sen. Feinstein (D-Calif.), which would provide investments to power unpowered dams and remove dams that are no longer necessary.

Streamlining Bureau of Reclamation Permitting

The Bureau of Reclamation is also seeking to make data available and user friendly as it streamlines the Lease of Power Privilege (LOPP) permitting process for non-federal entities to power Reclamation-owned dams. Potential developers are aided by resources identifying hydropower potential on Reclamation dams, and a website outlining LOPP processes and needed materials.

Digital infrastructure, predictive analytics, and data collection are other areas ripe for innovation in the hydropower industry. Hearing witness Scott Corwin, executive director of the Northwest Public Power Association, noted the importance of these tools and encouraged federal support for the Hydropower Research Institute, a public-private collaboration focused on identifying critical maintenance needs through data analytics. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton, who also testified at the hearing, discussed how the agency, which manages 475 dams, is investing in data analysis capabilities to encourage more efficient facility asset management.

Overcoming Permitting Hurdles

Multiple witnesses noted the difficulty of managing and expanding hydropower facilities due to hurdles in permitting processes. Non-federal hydroelectric projects must be licensed for operation by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and 30 percent of current licenses—representing 281 facilities—are going to expire by 2030.

Relicensing processes are both costly and time consuming, lasting an average of 7.6 years and costing upwards of $10 million for projects over 100 megawatts. Scott Corwin highlighted that the recently published Department of Energy report, An Examination of the Hydropower Licensing and Federal Authorization Process, covers many of the permitting hurdles operators face.

Corwin further discussed how 90 percent of projects seeking to renew licenses are abandoned before getting the license, saying: “Time plus cost equals abandonment because developers and investors have other places to focus their resources and project sponsors cannot afford to continue to pursue these projects at exorbitant cost on an unpredictable timeline.”

In the past 10 years, over 40 hydroelectric facilities have submitted applications to surrender their licenses to operate instead of relicensing, and 36 percent of hydropower industry asset owners are “actively considering” decommissioning facilities, according to Malcom Woolf, president and CEO of the National Hydropower Association.

In order to maintain buy-in from industry players and expand hydroelectric deployment, Woolf urged federal regulators in written testimony to “modernize the expensive and uncertain timing of the hydropower licensing, relicensing, and license surrender process.”

Adapting to Western Drought

The Bureau of Reclamation is the second-largest producer of hydropower in the country after the Army Corps of Engineers, operating 53 hydroelectric power plants. These plants produce about 40,000 gigawatt hours of electricity each year, but the generating capacity of Reclamation-owned dams, particularly in the Colorado River Basin, is expected to decrease in line with declining reservoir levels.

The Colorado River Basin is facing a 22-year drought, with levels at the reservoirs feeding into the Hoover Dam and Glen Canyon Dam at record lows. The Glen Canyon Dam alone has reduced generation by 16 percent since 2000 because of drought and increasing demands on water resources.

According to written testimony from Calimlim Touton, the Bureau of Reclamation is taking steps to adapt these and other Western hydroelectric facilities to lower water levels. The agency has replaced 35 turbines and upgraded six generators since 2009. At the Hoover Dam, Reclamation has upgraded to wide-head turbines, allowing for more efficient use at lower reservoir levels.

Digital operation system upgrades have also been deployed across Bureau of Reclamation power plants. Touton stated that “computer-based unit dispatch optimization systems which allow plants to maximize generation per acre foot of water by operating more efficiently…[allow] for over 100,000 megawatt-hours in incremental generation, annually—with additional generation benefits expected in future years.”

Conclusion

During the hearing, Senate Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Chair Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) said the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act “made a historic investment in new and existing incentives for new hydropower production, efficiency upgrades and infrastructure, and environmental improvements.” But continued bipartisan cooperation is necessary for overcoming the remaining challenges. Fortunately, Senator Manchin and ENR ranking member Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) expressed agreement throughout the hearing both on the state of hydropower and the actions needed to expand capacity, highlighting the bipartisan potential of addressing the challenges facing hydropower.

Authors: Amber Todoroff and S. Grace Parker