The new Hydropower eLibrary serves as a tool for industry stakeholders as they navigate the permitting and licensing process associated with new projects or upgrades at existing facilities.
Water Power Technologies Office
March 14, 2024
minute read time
Hydropower Program
Data Access, Analytics, and Workforce Development
Project Name: Hydropower eLibrary
Project Team: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Lead Recipient Location: Richland, Washington
To help hydropower stakeholders better navigate the licensing process and access information about hydropower projects, a team at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) created a software tool called the Hydropower eLibrary.
The Hydropower eLibrary creates a hydropower-specific complement to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) eLibrary, which contains licensing information on oil, natural gas, and hydropower energy projects in the United States. The Hydropower eLibrary allows stakeholders to search for the information they need but filters out information about other energy projects that can slow down search results. This streamlining of information makes it easier for users to find and access hydropower-specific documents and data. When designing the Hydropower eLibrary's search function, the team took inspiration from existing and commonly used search tools so stakeholders have less of an adjustment when using the software.
The Hydropower eLibrary serves as a tool for industry stakeholders while navigating the permitting and licensing process for new projects or existing facility upgrades.
In Fiscal Year 2023, the team created and launched the beta version of the tool. This version was shared with hydropower stakeholders for preliminary testing and feedback, which helped the team further refine and improve the Hydropower eLibrary. As a result, the team made improvements to the search engine user interface and data tagging and tied each project name to its project number.
The team continues to expand and improve the Hydropower eLibrary's data-tagging capabilities. This will allow for more robust and accurate item tagging to ensure all information associated with a project is linked to its name and number.
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The new Hydropower eLibrary serves as a tool for industry stakeholders as they navigate the permitting and licensing process associated with new projects or upgrades at existing facilities. -
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