Oak Ridge National Laboratory creates a centralized dataset that provides an overview of available resources at hydropower facilities and their energy storage potential.
Water Power Technologies Office
March 9, 2022
minute read time
HYDROPOWER PROGRAM
Grid Reliability, Resilience, & Integration (HydroWIRES)
Project Name: Hydropower Storage Capacity Dataset
Project Team: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Recipient Location: Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Project Summary: Oak Ridge National Laboratory creates a centralized dataset that provides an overview of available resources at hydropower facilities and their energy storage potential.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) created the Hydropower Energy Storage Capacity (HESC) dataset, which combines a variety of data sources to offer a complete view of available resources at existing hydropower facilities and their energy storage potential. This dataset addresses a challenge the hydropower community has long faced accessing the centralized, accurate information needed to assess available water and energy storage at hydropower facilities in the United States. This collection of datasets a foundation for understanding available resources that could increase grid reliability and provide support for intermittent energy sources. As the HESC dataset advances, ORNL will update the platform to incorporate additional details, and use modeling and case studies to explore opportunities and limitations for conventional hydropower facilities.
Grid Reliability, Resilience, & Integration (HydroWIRES) Projects
-
National laboratories develop report outlining ways to improve plant models to better represent hydropower’s capability to support the electric grid. -
Study reveals how cross-continental integration of large amounts of wind, solar, and hydropower could support a low-carbon future grid and quantifies system benefit of hydropower flexibility. -
National laboratories contribute to International Energy Agency report on the unique role hydropower plays in service to power systems around the world. -
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory partners with the International Forum on Pumped Storage Hydropower to develop a series of reports on pumped storage hydropower capabilities, costs, and innovations. -
National laboratories and local utility demonstrate how small hydropower and energy storage technologies can provide emergency power to communities during regional grid disruptions. -
WPTO partners with General Electric to learn how pumped storage hydropower can accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy while helping to reduce local electricity costs. -
National laboratory team details approaches and develops a tool for developers and other stakeholders to value a full range of pumped storage hydropower services and contributions to the grid. -
Researchers develop a report quantifying hydropower’s contributions to grid resilience and release an accompanying framework and toolkit to allow stakeholders to assess hydropower’s role under various extreme grid conditions.
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.