HydroSource, an online platform developed by ORNL to house hydropower data, makes significant improvements and implements new datasets, tools, and other resources for hydropower researchers and decision makers.
Water Power Technologies Office
March 9, 2022
minute read time
HYDROPOWER PROGRAM
Data Access, Analytics, and Workforce Development
Project Name: HydroSource
Project Team: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Lead Recipient Location: Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) made significant enhancements to the HydroSource data-housing application over the past year, implementing 20 new datasets and tools to help stakeholders better understand hydropower data. Researchers published the HydroSource Data Explorer, which simplifies exploration and visualization of datasets housed in the application. ORNL also hosted a successful workshop to collect feedback on the HydroSource Data Story and published interactive visualizations on basin-scale relicensing. The HydroSource team also collaborated with the Internet of Water, a nonprofit focused on expanding access to water data, to add HydroSource to its existing archive of data hubs.
Recent enhancements to HydroSource allow various hydropower stakeholders—including researchers, developers, government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, academia, and policymakers—to make more informed decisions.
The HydroSource project is a comprehensive digital platform housing all publicly available hydropower-related data sets. This graphic offers a high-level overview of HydroSource features and benefits. Image courtesy of Oak Ridge National Laboratory
The HydroSource project, spearheaded by ORNL, is a comprehensive digital platform housing all publicly available hydropower-related datasets. The hydropower industry and decision makers can use HydroSource in a variety of ways, such as to inform policy decisions, increase transparency about hydropower projects, support analysis of hydropower operations, enable research, assess the potential for new project development, develop new tools for data-driven environmental assessment, and inform environmental permitting and mitigation.
Data Access, Analytics, and Workforce Development Projects
-
New tool provides environmental and energy stakeholders with a systematic and transparent method for identifying the potential environmental impacts of a hydropower project. -
Newly compiled “data stories” from river basins across the United States highlight the importance of accessible and usable water data to inform decision-making processes. -
New report evaluates and quantifies factors that affect the time, costs, risks, and uncertainties to license or relicense hydropower projects. -
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory and several educational nonprofits develop new hydropower curricula and teacher training to help cultivate the next generation of the hydropower workforce.
WPTO's Hydropower e-newsletter features news on R&D and applied science to advance sustainable hydropower and pumped-storage technologies.
The WPTO e-newsletter brings funding opportunities, events, publications, hydropower, and marine energy updates directly to your inbox.