The Hydropower Environmental and Industry Research and Development (R&D) Summit, hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO), helps fulfill one of the commitments outlined in the office’s Multi-Year Program Plan to enable research, development, and testing of new technologies by facilitating discussions with representatives from environmental and industry organizations. These discussions outline the state-of-the-science and gather input on current R&D needs, which provide actionable insights into technological and scientific opportunities to advance sustainable hydropower in the United States.
This series started in 2017 with a Hydropower Executive Summit that brought together industry representatives, DOE, and the national laboratories to explore challenges, approaches, and ongoing work in the hydropower sector.
In 2018 WPTO and national labs took information gathered from the 2017 Executive Summit and met with environmental agencies and non-governmental organizations to discuss R&D needs and learn about ongoing initiatives. Then in 2019, the Hydropower Environmental Research Summit brought in a small group of industry representatives to share industry-led, WPTO supported work to advance sustainability and improve hydropower environmental performance.
The summit did not meet from 2020 through 2022 due to challenges from COVID-19 but did return in 2023 as the first joint Environmental and Industry R&D Summit. Through roundtable discussions and interactive activities, 2023 summit attendees identified nearly 100 new priorities and needs, which informed the three topic areas covered in the 2024 Summit Talks. These topic areas were greenhouse gas emissions and hydropower operations, river connectivity, and sedimentation and river flows.
Review the Hydropower Environmental & Industry R&D Summits: Summary of 2017-2023 Engagements for agendas and takeaways from the past events.
Stay in the know with WPTO and registration details by subscribing to the comprehensive monthly Water Wire, as well as the Hydro Headlines bimonthly newsletter.