Issue Date: 7/26/2016
Total Award Money: $9,800,000
FOA Objective: Further the development of NPD and PSH resources by reducing capital costs and deployment timelines.
Description: This FOA supports the Water Power Program's HydroNEXT initiative to lower costs, improve performance, and promote environmental stewardship across two resource classes: existing non-powered dams and closed-loop pumped-storage hydropower. Only 3% of nation's dams currently generate electricity. The non-powered dam technology projects will help tap this resource by supporting the development of low-head, modular designs that can reduce infrastructure and construction costs and operate flexibly over a range of flow conditions at existing dams. The pumped-storage projects will study the feasibility of innovative concepts for closed-loop pumped-storage hydropower systems.
Specific areas of interest include:
- Efficient Low‐Head Hydropower Turbine/Generator Technologies with Capability to Reduce Civil Works
- Concept Feasibility of Innovative Technologies for Closed‐Loop Pumped Storage Hydropower Systems
EERE Selections: Energy Department Awards up to $9.8 Million for Next-Generation Hydropower Technologies
Funding Awardee:
Innovative Technologies that Reduce Pumped Storage Hydropower Capital Costs and Deployment Timelines:
- Shell Energy North America of Houston, Texas
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory of Golden, Colorado
- Obermeyer Hydro Accessories Inc. of Wellington, Colorado
Innovative Technologies to Add Power to Non Powered Dams:
- Natel Energy, Inc. of Alameda, California
- Canyon Hydro of Deming, Washington
- Rickly Hydrological Company of Columbus, Ohio
Awardee CID | Date | DOE Award | Cost Share | Project Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
EE0008011 | $1,725,000 | $550,000 | Efficient, Modular Low-Head Linear Pelton Turbine with Simple, Low-Cost Civil Works Natel Energy is designing and engineering of a small- and intermediate-scale Linear Pelton (LP) hydroEngine machine, the first-ever implementation of a linear-free jet, single-stage impulse turbine that works without cavitation and without need for submergence, enabling powerhouses to be built almost entirely above the water. | |
EE0008013 | 2016 | $1,250,000 | $1,032,000 | Hydro Battery Systems Catalog Development Shell Energy North America (SENA) is developing a standard design catalogue for fast-deploying, small, modular pumped storage hydropower (PSH) configurations featuring floating membrane technology options that would serve as a storage reservoir for closed-loop configurations. |
EE0008014 | 2016 | $424,600 | Cost-Effective, Small-Scale Pumped-Storage Configuration Obermeyer Hydro, Inc. is designing a cost-effective, small-scale, adjustable speed PSH by installing reversible pump turbines with submersible permanent magnet motor generators, optimized for the energy storage requirements in the United States. |