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The U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) today released its 2021–2022 Accomplishments Report.

WPTO today announced over $16 million in new projects to further hydropower and marine energy research and development. These awards encompass $5.6 million for hydropower and $10.5 million for marine energy projects across six national laboratories.

Since winning the Furthering Advancements to Shorten Time Commissioning for Pumped Storage Hydropower Prize in 2019, three teams continued testing, completed further analysis, and identified potential sites for their technologies.

On Dec. 1, 2022, WPTO will host a webinar to explore the water power topics in Phase One of the Fiscal Year 2023 Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Program. Speakers will discuss these topics and answer questions.

$4 million funding opportunity aims to reduce the environmental impacts of hydropower with research to advance innovative fish passage and protection technologies.

At age 17, Claire Gonzales took her first deep ocean dive. Now, as a 2022 fellow in the Marine Energy Graduate Student Research Program, she works on co-locating marine energy with fisheries to help the world protect the ocean one ripple at a time.

Since winning the Fish Protection Prize, three teams have further developed their innovative concepts, which have the potential to help modernize hydropower facilities and protect fish from water diversion pipes and dam intakes across the country.