Clean Currents provides an opportunity for DOE staff to connect with water power stakeholders and exchange ideas with leaders in the American water power industry
Hydropower and Hydrokinetic Office
September 17, 2026
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The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Hydropower and Hydrokinetic Office (H2O) will attend the National Hydropower Association’s Clean Currents 2026 conference from September 21–25, 2026, in Phoenix, Arizona.
Throughout the conference, H2O and National Laboratory staff will be available to discuss the latest updates in the hydropower and marine energy industries at DOE booth 1337, located on the main event floor. Conference attendees can engage in two different ways at the booth—through office hours and lightning presentations. Federal and National Laboratory staff will also participate in a variety of sessions throughout the conference as listed below.
Join members of the H2O team at booth 1337 to discuss specific topics, provide feedback, or just put a face to a name. Please see the table below for the full list of options (times listed in local Mountain Standard Time).
Date Time Topic Wednesday (9/23) 10:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m. Hydroelectric Incentives Program Wednesday (9/23) 2:30–3:30 p.m. Batteries and Hydro Hybrids Wednesday (9/23) 3:00–4:00 p.m. Director’s Office Hours with Nichole Fitzgerald Thursday (9/24) 10:30–11:30 a.m. Director’s Office Hours with Nichole Fitzgerald Thursday (9/24) 1:00–2:30 p.m. Hydroelectric Incentives Program Stop by H2O booth 1337 to hear National Laboratory staff give 30-minute presentations on a variety of topics. From toolkits to best practices to educational games, the booth will play host to a showcase of H2O-funded projects that can have immediate impact on the industry. Please see the table below for the full list of presentations (times listed in local Mountain Standard Time).
Date Time Topic Speaker (Affiliation) Wednesday (9/23) 9:45–10:15 a.m. Environmental Decision Support Toolkit & RAPID Toolkit for Hydropower Licensing Aaron Levine (National Laboratory of the Rockies – NLR) and Esther Parish (Oak Ridge National Laboratory – ORNL) Wednesday (9/23) 10:45–11:15 a.m. Non-Powered Dam (NPD) Toolkit Sarah Barrows (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory – PNNL) Wednesday (9/23) 11:15–11:45 a.m. Integrated Online Siting, Costing, and Impacts Assessment Tools for Pumped Storage Hydropower Stuart Cohen (NLR) Wednesday (9/23) 12:45–1:15 p.m. Flow Tradeoff Tool Brenda Pracheil (PNNL) Wednesday (9/23) 1:15–1:45 p.m. STEM to Workforce Resources Jennifer Daw (NLR) Wednesday (9/23) 1:45–2:15 p.m. Reservoir Sedimentation in Hydropower Systems Carly Hansen (ORNL) Wednesday (9/23) 2:15–2:45 p.m. Hydropower Market Game Cathy Milostan (Argonne National Laboratory – Argonne) Wednesday (9/23) 2:45–3:15 p.m. AI, Robotics, & the Future Hydro Workforce: What’s Changing and What's Next Meghan O’Reilly (NLR) Wednesday (9/23) 3:15–3:45 p.m. Hydropower Flexibility Valuation Tool Mucun Sun (Idaho National Laboratory – INL) Wednesday (9/23) 4:15–4:45 p.m. Pumped Storage Hydro Valuation Tool Patrick Balducci (Argonne) Thursday (9/24) 10:00–10:30 a.m. National Hydropower Fish Passage Database and Webmap Paul Matson (ORNL) Thursday (9/24) 11:00–11:30 a.m. A-LEAF: National-Scale Transmission Expansion Planning for the Evolving Grid Jonghwan Kwon (Argonne) Thursday (9/24) 11:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m. Enhance Hydropower Value with Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) Dan Boff (PNNL) Thursday (9/24) 1:00–1:30 p.m. HydroSource: A Step-by-Step Guide to Exploring U.S. Hydropower Data Debjani Singh (ORNL) Thursday (9/24) 1:30–2:00 p.m. STEM to Workforce: Human Relations Dialogue Series Arielle Cardinal (NLR) Thursday (9/24) 2:00–2:30 p.m. Hydropower eLibrary Brenda Pracheil (PNNL) H2O and National Laboratory staff will participate in panel discussions, presentations, and other sessions that take place during Clean Currents. From water management to modernizing infrastructure to supporting water power operations, DOE and National Laboratory staff will be ready to talk about the latest trends in those spaces. Please see the table below for the full list of presentations (all times listed in local Mountain Standard Time).
Date Time Topic Speaker (Affiliation) Location Wednesday (9/23) 8:45–9:45 a.m. Plenary Session Andrew Freigang (DOE) 301 B/C Ballroom Wednesday (9/23) 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. Water Management: Grid Flexibility/Drought/Market Dynamics/Data Centers Ao Yu (Argonne) Panel Discussions Room Wednesday (9/23) 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. Pumped Storage – Poster Presentations Rocío Uría-Martínez (ORNL) Learning Center Wednesday (9/23) 1:00–2:00 p.m. Modernizing an Existing Pumped Storage Plant to Meet Today’s Market Demands Patrick Balducci (Argonne) Intelligence Theater Wednesday (9/23) 2:30–3:30 p.m. Generators, Invasive Mussels, Historic Preservation Tyler Gipson (H2O) Intelligence Theater Thursday (9/24) 11:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m. Improving Hydropower Technologies Through Scott DeNeale (ORNL) Learning Center Thursday (9/24) 1:30–2:30 p.m. Hybridizing Non-Powered Dams: Boosting Techno-Economic Viability with Batteries and Solar Photovoltaics Wanying Wu (INL) Learning Center Thursday (9/24) 3:45–4:45 p.m. Data Use Pradeep Ramuhalli (ORNL), Quentin Ploussard (Argonne), and Slaven Kincic (PNNL) Classroom Presentations Room On Tuesday, Sept. 22, H2O and National Laboratory staff will join in several workshops and seminars that showcase some of the work they have led over the past year and talk through some of the common industry challenges their work addresses. Topics run the gamut, from fish passage to small hydropower to federal hydropower tax credits. Please see the table below for the full list of sessions (times listed in local Mountain Standard Time).
Time Topic Speaker (Affiliation) Location 8:00 a.m.–12:15 p.m. Fish Passage Seminar – From Guidance to Ground: Designing and Delivering Successful Fish Passage Solutions Daniel Deng (PNNL) and Brenda Pracheil (PNNL) Room 106B 10:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m. Small Hydro Seminar Bo Saulsbury (INL), Scott DeNeale (ORNL), and Trevor Atkinson (INL) Room 106A 10:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m. Transformers Seminar – Challenging Lead Times, Rising Capital Costs, and What to Do About It Kyle DeSomber (PNNL) and Margaux Seward (NLR) Room 104A 10:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m. Workforce Exchange – From Pipeline to Powerhouse: Strengthening the Hydropower Talent Strategy Jennifer Daw (NLR) and Arielle Cardinal (NLR) Room 102C 1:30–5:45 p.m. Workshop – Print, Validate, Generate: Additive Manufacturing Opportunities and Considerations Corey Vezina (H2O) Room 106A 1:30–5:45 p.m. Discussion – Dam It, Take the Credit!: Federal Hydropower Tax Credit/Direct Pay Education Margaux Seward (NLR) Room 105A 3:45–5:45 p.m. Basin-Scale Planning Workshop Dana McCoskey (H2O), Maxine Hillman (H2O), Corinne Gorda (H2O), Sam Cuneo (NLR), Elise DeGeorge (NLR), Brittany Enos (NLR), and Amanda Morton (NLR) Room 102A Throughout the conference H2O and National Lab staff will be presenting their work at the Innovation Power House (IPH). The IPH is the interactive center of the exhibit floor and has been framed around the focus areas of the reimagined Hydropower Vision. Each station is dedicated to a specific area of effort. Work and progress in each of these areas is underway throughout the hydro community, with an end goal of achieving flexible operations, safe dams, and sustainable approaches by 2050. Please see the table below for the full list of when the activity stations will be active (times listed in local Mountain Standard Time).
Date Time Activity Station Name Speaker (Affiliation) Title of Session Wednesday (9/23) 10:45 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Enhanced Collaboration, Education, and Outreach Arielle Cardinal (NLR) and Betsy Stratton (NLR) Expand the Hydropower Workforce Wednesday (9/23) 10:45 a.m. –12:30 p.m. Sustainable Development and Operations Cameron Brackon (PNNL) and Vince Tidwell (PNNL) HydroForecast in Action: Navigate Real Hydropower Challenges with machine-Learning Forecasts and a Real-Time Evaluation Framework Wednesday (9/23) 2:00– 3:45 p.m. Advanced Technology Kyle DeSomber (PNNL) Self-Lubricating Wicket Gate Bushings Thursday (9/24) 11:00 a.m.–12:45 p.m. Advanced Technology Israel Silber (PNNL), Scott Warnick (PNNL), and Micah Moody (PNNL) Digital Twin Dash: Operate the Turbine, Outsmart the Failures Thursday (9/24) 11:00 a.m.–12:45 p.m. Enhanced Collaboration, Education, and Outreach Haijing Liu (NLR), Arielle Cardinal (NLR), and Megahn O’Reilly (NLR) AI, Robotics, and the Future Hydropower Workforce: What’s Changing and What’s Next Thursday (9/24) 11:00 a.m.–12:45 p.m. Optimized Regulatory Processes Megan Johnson (ORNL) and Rocio Uria-Martinez (ORNL) Hydropower Market Bingo! Thursday (9/24) 3:15–5:00 p.m. Improved Valuation Quentin Ploussard (Argonne) and Patrick Balducci (Argonne) Technical Assistance Tools for Pumped Storage Success Thursday (9/24) 3:15–5:00 p.m. Optimized Regulatory Processes Hill Balliet (INL) and Tyler Phillips (INL) Regulatory Reality Check: Costs and Delays for Battery Additions Thursday (9/24) 3:15–5:00 p.m. Sustainable Development and Operations Theora Rice (PNNL) and Micah Moody (PNNL) Analyze Data like a Cyber-Savvy Operator