National Laboratories Shine at World’s Largest Hydropower Event

Members of the Energy Department's national laboratories—Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and National Renewable Energy Laboratory—took home "Technical Paper of the Year" awards at the world’s largest hydropower event: HydroVision International, held in Portland Oregon, July 14–17, 2015. Given to the strongest papers presented during the conference, the technical papers committee at HydroVision International reviewed and awarded submissions across five categories:

• Market Trends and Strategies
• Water Management and Movement
• Environmental and Social
• Equipment and Technology
• Project Management and Operations.

Researchers were recognized amongst more than 3,800 attendees from 60 countries for leading research in multiple areas. The Department's National Laboratories won in the following categories:

Market Trends and Strategies

First place: Authors Vladimir Koritarov, Argonne National Laboratory, Ibrahim Krad, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Charlton Clark, U.S. Department of Energy, along with co-authors Tao Guo, Erik Ela, Bruno Trouille, and James Feltes, won with their paper entitled, "Operational Capabilities and Valuation of Benefits Provided by Advanced Pumped Storage Hydropower Technologies."

Second Place: Authors Scott DeNeale, Patrick O’Connor, Dol Raj Chalise, Emma Centurion, Abigail Maloof, and Nicole Samu, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, won with their paper titled, "Parametric Cost Modeling for National-Scale Hydropower Feasibility."

Water Management and Movement

First Place: Kyutae Lee, Mark Christian, and Brennan Smith, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, won with their paper titled, "Development and Application of a Standardized Flow Measurement Uncertainty Analysis Framework to Various Low-Head Short-Converging Intake Types Across the United States Federal Hydropower Fleet."

Third Place: Funded through the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Water Quality Modeling Improvements project, Amelia Shaw, Heather Smith Sawyer, and Dr. Eugene J. LeBoeuf from Vanderbilt University along with Dr. Mark McDonald from Lipscomb University, won with their paper titled, "High-Fidelity Reservoir Water Quality Model Emulation by Artificial Neural Network."

Environmental and Social

Third Place: Kevin Stewart, Adam Witt, Boualem Hadjerioua, Scott DeNeale, Abigail Maloof, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, along with co-authors Marcela Politano, Timothy Magee, and Merlynn Bender won with their paper titled, "Total Dissolved Gas (TDG) Prediction and Implementation within Optimization Scheduling Model for the Mid-Columbia River System."

Equipment and Technology

Second Place: Adam Witt, Boualem Hadjerioua, Rocio Uria-Martinez, Marisol Bonnet, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, along with co-author Norm Bishop won with their paper titled, "Economic Feasibility in the U.S. Markets for Modular Pumped Storage Hydro (m-PSH)—Case Study Preliminary Results."

Founded prior to World War II, the National Laboratories are the leading institutions for scientific innovation in the United States. To learn more about hydropower research and development, visit the Energy Department’s Water Program Research and Development page.