November 2023
Amidst ongoing discussions about hydropower removals, retirements, and reduced availability due to drought and other environmental considerations, it is important to understand the long-term effects of reduced hydropower resources on the U.S. electric grid. This analysis uses the Regional Energy Deployment System grid planning model to compare several representative scenarios of retiring hydropower and pumped storage hydropower capacity over time and explore the overall implications on the U.S. grid from 2023 through 2050.
Storage Effectiveness in Enabling Variable Generation and Avoiding Fossil Emissions
September 2023
This paper presents a methodology that investigates the role of storage in integrating variable renewable generation for 2-, 6-, and 10-hour storage at 134 model balancing areas in the contiguous United States. The scenario considered is the role of storage in transitioning to a low-carbon grid in the period spanning 2022–2036.
The Role of Hydropower Flexibility in Integrating Renewables in a Low Carbon Grid
September 2023
Power system flexibility makes the deployment of variable renewable energy (VRE) easier and more cost-effective to integrate into an existing grid. Dispatchable hydropower’s flexibility can help with this process, but its particular benefits to the power system have been difficult to quantify. In this work, we investigate the issue by taking a high-level yet quantitative look at the value that hydropower flexibility offers in terms of services that are helpful in integrating variable renewable energy, with a focus on firm capacity and operating reserves.
The Prospects for Pumped Storage Hydropower in Alaska
July 2023
The objectives of this study are to investigate the prospects and needs for PSH in Alaska, both in the integrated Railbelt system and in the isolated, remote communities, and to provide decision makers with actionable information about the viability of PSH in Alaska.
July 2023
This report summarizes research intended to provide insight into 1) the primary mechanisms through which hydropower resources provide value to power systems, i.e., value streams, and 2) the system- and plant-level factors and characteristics that impact the magnitude of this value, i.e., value drivers.
Reservoir Lining for Pumped Storage Hydropower
January 2023
This report summarizes the results of a scoping study performed to research the use of geomembrane lining systems for PSH reservoirs. When PSH reservoirs are excavated in or retained by earth or rockfill embankments, a seepage barrier is required to retain water within the reservoir. This report explores the challenges and opportunities associated with using geomembrane lining systems to fortify this seepage barrier.
Technoeconomic Studies for the Goldendale Energy Storage Project
December 2022
This report presents the results of the technoeconomic studies conducted for one of the two selected PSH projects, the Goldendale Energy Storage Project (GESP). It is a companion to the PSH Valuation Guidebook.
Technoeconomic Studies for the Banner Mountain Energy Storage Project
December 2022
This report presents the results of the technoeconomic studies conducted for one of the two selected PSH projects, the Banner Mountain Storage Project (BMSP). It is a companion to the PSH Valuation Guidebook (“the Guidebook”).
Designing Hydropower Flows to Balance Energy and Environmental Needs
December 2022
The analyses and tools described in this report are centered on links between energy and the environment in hydropower systems. This report aims to create building blocks for the future science and tools all parts of the hydropower community involved in regulatory proceedings will need to balance energy and environmental objectives through flow management.
Hydropower Modeling Gaps in Planning and Operational Studies
November 2022
In the evolving power system, where new renewable resources displace continually conventional generation and hydro becomes a single traditional resource that is fully controllable, it is timely to examine hydrogeneration’s role in the power system of the future and its representation in power system operation and planning reliability studies. This paper identifies some of the gaps in hydro-based generation representation in steady-state and dynamic models and provides recommendations for their mitigation.
Enhancing Local Grid Resilience with Small Hydropower Hybrids
September 2022
This report presents a field demonstration conducted with Idaho Falls Power that showed how small hydropower can black start the local grid when a transmission system is down. Readers will learn about technical details on the field demonstration setup, energy storage contribution to black start, detailed simulation steps of islanded distribution grid restoration, and field measurements to drive model refinements. Collectively, this report shines light on the opportunity for small hydropower to enhance resilience of local electric grids.
Compensation Mechanisms for Long-Duration Energy Storage
August 2022
Current regulatory, policy, and market-driven compensation and business models are not well suited for incentivizing development of new long-duration energy storage (LDES) assets. In this white paper, we use descriptive statistics characterizing extended periods of renewable energy unavailability as potential indicators for requirement of LDES. The report presents a review of emerging compensation and business models from around the world, drawing insights for the United States in terms of regulatory, policy, and market design implications.
Price Formation in Zero-Carbon Electricity Markets: The Role of Hydropower
July 2022
A power system dominated by zero-fuel-cost generation resources may be characterized by frequent and extended periods of low or zero electricity prices. The changing resource mix creates a need to re-think how electricity markets operate. The goal of this paper is to set the stage for such a discussion by providing background information about relevant energy trends, current market paradigms, and possible design changes for future markets. In particular, the paper focuses on the evolving role of hydropower resources.
July 2022
This report discusses a computational framework that can assist PSH project operators in proposing an optimal transmission solution for participation in a transmission planning process. The framework addresses a pre-defined transmission upgrade need and offsets part of its investment cost with potential revenue from market participation outside of the transmission services obligation period. This tool could support coordination between separate market and transmission planning authorities in a scenario where an energy storage asset could support transmission while participating in markets.
Advanced Hydropower and PSH Capacity Expansion Modeling
July 2022
In this report, new model structures and data are demonstrated to observe their impact on model results and provide initial insights into what is most important for analysts, electricity system planners, and hydropower decision makers to consider when assessing future roles of hydropower and PSH.
Closed-Loop Pumped Storage Hydropower Resource Assessment for the United States
May 2022
This study seeks to better under understand the technical potential for PSH development in the United States by developing a national-scale resource assessment for closed-loop PSH. This study examined spatial locations and geometries of a large universe of potential reservoirs and measured an array of relevant attributes such as reservoir volume, dam volume, and elevation.
A Review of Technology Innovations for Pumped Storage Hydropower
April 2022
This study evaluates innovative PSH technologies to provide an objective third-party assessment of their key features, capabilities, and parameters. The project team assessed various advantages and disadvantages of 12 PSH technologies to inform future PSH projects. The goal was to provide an independent review of various proposed PSH technologies to assess the potential to reduce the cost and time required for the construction of new PSH projects in the United States. Based on the review performed in this study, several promising innovative PSH technologies have been identified, such as submersible pump-turbines, motor-generators, geomechanical PSH, open-pit mine PSH, and hybrid PSH technologies.
Enabling Principles for Dual Participation by Energy Storage as a Transmission and Market Asset
February 2022
This report details characteristics that allow energy storage assets, such as pumped storage hydropower (PSH), to provide two distinct services to the electric grid: regulated transmission and acting as a competitive energy market asset. Written in response to a 2017 policy statement by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission calling for dual-use deployments, this report explores technical barriers in transmission that prevent the realization of dual-use energy storage projects, describes guiding principles for future dual-use projects to satisfy functions, and identifies policy options that abide by those principles. Dual-use energy storage represents a potentially significant new market for PSH facilities due to the scale, cost structure, and construction timeframe. This report aims to inform future conversations on dual-use energy storage by framing the issue and identifying pathways forward.
HydroWIRES Initiative Research Roadmap
January 2022
In April 2019, WPTO launched the HydroWIRES Initiative to understand, enable, and improve hydropower and pumped storage hydropower’s (PSH) contributions to reliability, resilience, and integration in the rapidly evolving U.S. electricity system. The unique characteristics of hydropower, including PSH, make it well-suited to provide a range of storage, generation flexibility, and other grid services and support the cost-effective integration of variable renewable resources. This Research Roadmap explains the motivation for the HydroWIRES initiative and outlines its technical objectives and intended outcomes for the next five years and beyond.
Hydropower’s Contributions to Grid Resilience
October 2021
Hydropower facilities can provide important contributions to grid resilience—or the grid’s ability to respond to and recover from high-impact, low-probability events like hurricanes or cyberattacks. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office commissioned this report to create a framework to accurately assess hydropower’s contributions to grid resilience. The report outlines hydropower’s characteristics that enable grid resilience and identifies methods, tools, models, and data to analyze hydropower’s impact on resilience. The framework and accompanying toolkit allows system operators, regulators, and policy analysts to assess the role of hydropower under various extreme grid conditions, which will be integral for grid reliability and resilience. Insights from this report exemplify hydropower’s essential role in stabilizing the grid after sudden, large losses of energy generation and extreme weather impacts to net load. The report also highlights hydropower’s storage capabilities and flexibility as critical assets for ensuring grid reliability during extreme weather events.
Valuing Flexibility in Evolving Energy Markets: Current Status and Future Outlook for Hydropower
June 2021
The International Energy Agency Technology Collaboration Programme on Hydropower (also known as IEA Hydro) released its latest report—with lead authors from Argonne, Oak Ridge, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratories—under the working group Annex IX: Valuing Hydropower Services. Using a range of international case studies, the report presents a system-level review of how flexibility services are defined, procured, and valued in selected electricity markets, with a particular focus on the status and outlook for hydropower in evolving power grids. This report is the second publication in a series by the IEA Hydro Annex IX to encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing, raise awareness of the important role of hydropower in contemporary electricity system integration, and explore issues and solutions to fully realize the value of its contributions to electricity systems.
March 2021
As an energy storage technology, pumped storage hydropower (PSH) supports various aspects of power system operations. However, determining the value of PSH plants and their many services and contributions to the system has been a challenge. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) commissioned this project to advance the state of the art in assessing the value of PSH plants and their contributions to the power system. The objective was to develop detailed step-by-step valuation guidance that PSH developers, plant owners or operators, and other stakeholders can use to assess the value of existing or potential new PSH plants. WPTO is currently funding the development of an online PSH Valuation Tool that will help the users of the PSH Valuation Guidebook navigate through PSH valuation process.
Hydropower Value Study: Current Status and Future Opportunities
January 2021
To reveal the current landscape and prospective role and influence of hydropower operations on the nation’s electric grid, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) commissioned the Hydropower Value Study (HVS): Current Status and Future Opportunities. HVS explores current hydropower operations and resulting value in examples across the country. HVS shows that hydropower operations are changing in some regions, but hydropower continues to be a strong contributor to grid reliability and resilience. Hydropower also varies significantly across the country in terms of its technical capabilities and the purposes and roles it must fulfill. And while declining energy prices may challenge traditional value propositions for hydropower, new compensation mechanisms are emerging that better account for flexibility and other values hydropower provides.
Improving Hydropower Representation in Power System Models
November 2020
This report is a summary of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and National Renewable Energy Laboratory Technical Workshop held March 6-7, 2019 in Salt Lake City, UT. The workshop brought together 40 diverse experts from 25 organizations to address critical challenges associated with modeling hydropower systems in the power grid. Leading international experts in power grid modeling, hydropower modeling, reservoir operations, as well as representatives of hydropower system operators, grid managers, national laboratories, US DOE, and other federal agencies discussed how hydropower modeling could be improved to better represent its dynamic role in a changing grid.
Pumped Storage Hydropower FAST Commissioning Technical Analysis
July 2020
This report was developed in tandem with the Furthering Advancements to Shorten Time (FAST) to Commissioning PSH Challenge and represents the underlying technical analysis that informed the competition. Lead by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the report is designed to address barriers and solutions to PSH development by establishing baseline project development knowledge, defining key aspects of project development, and identifying opportunities to reduce project timelines, costs, and risks. The document’s scope includes post-licensing activities and excludes factors related to permitting or licensing.
A Comparison of the Environmental Effects of Open-Loop and Closed-Loop Pumped Storage Hydropower
April 2020
This report, prepared by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, compares the potential environmental effects of open-loop PSH projects with those of closed-loop PSH projects; describes how existing projects in other countries are avoiding, minimizing, or mitigating these effects and how proposed U.S. projects will address them; and discusses the relative significance of the environmental issues.
Flexible hydropower providing value to renewable energy integration
October 2019
This white paper, published by the International Energy Agency with contributions from the HydroWIRES team, provides a global perspective on the need for flexibility to enable renewable integration and hydropower’s capabilities to provide this flexibility across a range of time scales. The white paper also highlights future research needs, such as ways to improve hydropower’s capabilities for flexible operation.
Energy Storage Technology and Cost Characterization Report
July 2019
This report defines and evaluates cost and performance parameters of six battery energy storage technologies (BESS) and four non-BESS storage technologies. Data for combustion turbines are also presented. Cost information was procured for the most recent year for which data were available based on an extensive literature review, conversations with vendors and stakeholders, and summaries of actual costs provided from specific projects at sites across the United States. Detailed cost and performance estimates were presented for 2018 and projected out to 2025.
Hydropower Plants as Black Start Resources
May 2019
This report identifies the advantages of using hydroelectric power for black start and compares hydropower with other types of power plants for providing this valuable service to ensure the resiliency of the power grid. The report provides an overview of the critical role of black start capability to ensure timely restoration of grid operation after a major power grid outage.