Conventional Hydropower Technology Development
Researchers developed a small sensor fish device to understand the physical stresses fish experience as they pass through a dam.
The Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program works to increase the nation's incremental hydroelectric generation, to quantify and maximize conventional hydropower's ancillary benefits to the U.S. electric grid, and to improve the environmental performance of the U.S. hydroelectric infrastructure. Increases in incremental generation can be achieved through efficiency and capacity gains at existing power stations, as well as the placement of power stations at existing non-powered dams and in constructed waterways.
View projects in this area.
Advanced Turbine Development and Deployment
The program supports the development of more efficient and environmentally friendly hydropower turbines that can compete with traditional designs. This project will produce sufficient engineering data for a new turbine to be designed and constructed for one or more demonstration sites.
Basic and Materials Research
The program funds research and development to identify and test new materials and manufacturing techniques that improve performance and lower costs of conventional hydropower, such as materials or coatings that reduce life-cycle cost of turbine runners, draft tubes, and penstocks, and identification and testing of ways to improve generator efficiency and prevent failures.
Sensors and Controls
The program works to develop, demonstrate, and test new sensors and controls that can improve energy efficiency and environmental performance of conventional hydropower. These activities support industry by reducing capital and operations and maintenance costs, increasing unit availability and plant capacity factors, mitigating risk through enhanced system reliability, and improving the quality (environmental performance attributes as well as ancillary power benefits) and quantity of the energy produced. Areas of focus include water-use optimization, the application of advanced materials and manufacturing methods, and modeling and prediction of water power grid services.