A Look Back at Water Power in 2018

The Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) is reflecting on another big year for water power science and research. Here's a look back at what WPTO and the water power community achieved together in 2018:

1. WPTO has made waves in its efforts to drive new marine energy innovations to power distributed maritime markets across the Blue Economy where finding reliable sources of energy at sea is a major constraint. In April 2018, WPTO released a public Request for Information to gather data on a compelling set of 12 potential blue economy opportunities—activities in various ocean industries such as maritime transport or aquaculture—that could be powered by marine energy. These opportunities were introduced at WPTO's Marine Energy Technologies Distributed and Alternate Applications Forum in December of 2017. This portfolio of work complements and supports other WPTO activities focused on the development of low-cost and reliable marine energy systems to provide power to the U.S. electric grid.
2. WPTO is initiating new research efforts to characterize and drive utilization of the full potential of hydroelectricity contributions to the reliability and resiliency of the electric grid. Within that portfolio of work, WPTO just announced the selection of two projects for its Notice of Opportunity for Technical Assistance to perform techno-economic studies—including cost-benefit analyses, power market analyses, financial analyses, and a valuation analysis—to evaluate the long-term value of two proposed pumped-storage hydropower projects.
3. U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Rick Perry led a roundtable discussion at the White House in March on the use of federal prizes and challenges to drive innovation, particularly when it comes to critical water issues. He was joined by other government and industry leaders, including Alex Hagmueller of AquaHarmonics, the grand prize winner of WPTO's 2016 Wave Energy Prize. Following this roundtable, in October, DOE announced the launch of the Water Security Grand Challenge to advance transformational technology and innovation to meet the global need for safe, secure, and affordable water.
4. This year, WPTO continued to invest in early-stage research to accelerate the development of innovative water power technologies while ensuring improvements in long-term environmental sustainability. Funding included fish passage research and development, innovative marine energy technologies that reduce costs, environmentally-acceptable lubricants for hydropower applications, and design concepts and associated modeling and analysis for standard modular hydropower and pumped-storage hydropower (the application period for these last areas closed 11/30/2018—stay tuned for announcements on new projects!).
5. DOE announced its selections for up to $25 million in funding to support marine energy technologies that aim to reduce capital costs and project development timelines. DOE aims to support designs of new power take-off and control systems while also developing tools and methodologies that capture recent advances in the scientific understanding of any potential environmental impacts of marine energy and reduce regulatory uncertainty. Combined, these efforts will advance the development of technologies that can reduce costs for an emerging field.
6. In April, DOE released its 2017 Hydropower Market Report, which provides industry and other interested stakeholders with important data and information on the distribution, characteristics, and trends of the U.S. hydropower industry. Before 2015, when WPTO published the first Hydropower Market Report, a comprehensive resource on the current status and trends within the U.S. hydropower industry did not exist.
7. WPTO shared the value of hydropower to the grid at DOE's speaker series, Energy Talks. Office Director Alejandro Moreno presented on new hydropower technologies for the 21st century, including the existing fleet, international projects, hydropower attributes, pumped-storage hydropower, and evolving new hydropower opportunities.
8. Twelve U.S. marine energy facilities were featured in Ocean Energy Systems' (OES) Spotlight on Ocean Energy report, which provides detailed analysis and insights into 20 ocean energy projects and five policy-based initiatives across member countries. OES is an intergovernmental collaboration that operates under a framework established by the International Energy Agency. Additionally, WPTO contributed a U.S. chapter to the organization's Annual Report, which offers updates and overviews on marine energy research and development from more than a dozen countries, including China, Scotland, and the United Kingdom.
9. WPTO attended a number of industry events in 2018 to showcase research and development efforts and get feedback from hydropower and marine energy professionals. In April, Under Secretary of Energy Mark Menezes gave a keynote address about transforming America's energy infrastructure at the opening plenary session of the Water Power Week in Washington event. WPTO also attended HydroVision International and the Ocean Renewable Energy Conference, among other events.
10. Water power projects led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory were among 64 new projects funded by the Office of Technology Transitions' Technology Commercialization Fund. With additional matching funds from the private sector, these projects will advance promising commercial energy technologies developed at DOE national laboratories and strengthen partnerships with the private sector to bring these technologies to market.
11. With WPTO funding made available through the small-business-focused SBIR program, Telluride Energy of Telluride, Colorado, partnered with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to produce a new methodology for evaluating the potential of conduit-based hydropower in the United States. Retrofitting non-powered civil infrastructure such as tunnels, canals, and pipelines for hydropower is highly feasible due to the low development risks involved, the lack of significant new construction, minimal effects on the environment, and the proximity of many conduits to public utility grids.
12. The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's (EERE) Advanced Manufacturing Office organized a "Meet the Manufacturer" series to highlight a few of the many partners of EERE technology offices—including WPTO. One of WPTO's hydropower industry partners, Amjet, and a marine energy industry partner, Vigor, were featured for Manufacturing Day on October 5, 2018.