DOE Vows to Expand Hydropower in America

Hydroelectric Power (Dams & Pumped Storage)

Dr. Conca reports that last week, the Department of Energy, under President Obama, released a plan to expand hydropower by 50% through electrifying existing dams and emplacing pumped hydro storage at existing non-powered dams to facilitate more intermittent renewables like wind and solar onto the electric grid. According to the DOE Hydropower Vision, the U.S. could increase its hydropower electricity generation capacity from about 100 GW to 150 GW by 2050 by energizing existing dams (dams that presently have no ability to produce power), upgrading plants already producing power with more capacity, and constructing new pumped hydro storage facilities to support renewables. The biggest challenge to bringing non-hydro renewables onto the grid is to do so while gaining the maximum benefit for lowering carbon emissions, making sure they do not 1. displace other low-carbon sources like hydro and nuclear as they often do now, or 2. bring on more natural gas to buffer the renewable intermittency. Almost 90% of U.S. low-carbon energy sources come from hydropower (21%) and nuclear power (67%), which together avoid almost a billion tons of CO2 emissions each year. But both hydro and nuclear had the majority of their builds before 1990. The existing hydro fleet was constructed over the course of an entire century and constitute the longest-lived energy facilities in the world. Many will exceed 100 years of operation. If we are to achieve any of the low-carbon goals we have set out for 2030 and beyond, hydropower and other renewables must increase significantly and nuclear power has to maintain the share of power, and even increase by 2030. Hydropower has provided clean, affordable, and reliable electricity in the U.S. for more than a century, and pumped-storage complements the current rapidly growing variable technologies such as wind and solar (to provide base-load power), Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz.

The original URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2016/08/05/doe-vows-to-expand-hydropower-in-america/#770928ac6eec