USA Energy Department Funds Hydropower Tech R&E

The USA Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded $13 million in funding for research and development (R&E) projects to enable existing dams to generate electricity and accelerate the deployment of pumped storage hydropower (PSH).

"The funding supports organizations to accelerate hydropower research and development for non-powered dam and PSH technologies to make them more affordable, environmentally responsible, and deployable", the DOE said in a recent press release.

Of over 90,000 dams in the USA less than three percent produce power, it noted. "These dams serve a range of purposes from flood control and irrigation to water storage and recreation and represent the potential to add thousands of megawatts of clean energy to the grid", the department said.

Meanwhile PSH, which currently accounts for 93 percent of the country's utility-scale energy storage, "will be a key tool to balance a grid with an increasing amount of variable resources such as wind and solar", it said.

"For more than a century, Americans have harnessed the power of water to electrify our communities, and it’s a critical renewable energy source that will help us reach our climate goals", Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm said in a statement.

"President Biden’s Investing in America agenda will help to expand the use of hydropower, increasing access to affordable, clean power and creating good-paying jobs".

The biggest share of the grant, at $4 million, has gone to RCAM Technologies for an offshore PSH technology, which would lessen "some of the siting and permitting challenges that have hindered the growth of PSH", the DOE said.

The grant "will advance RCAM Technologies’ Marine Pumped Hydroelectric Storage System toward commercialization by funding the device through design, fabrication, and deepwater ocean testing off the Port of Los Angeles", the department said. The solution being developed by Boulder, Colorado-based RCAM works by storing pressurized seawater on the seafloor which when released spins a turbine and generates power, according to the DOE.

Georgia Power Co. has been earmarked $2,880,191 for its work on "a utility-scale solution to retrofit traditional hydropower facilities to serve as PSH facilities". The solution is to be demonstrated at the Bartlett’s Ferry Hydropower Facility in Salem, Alabama.

The Electric Power Research Institute meanwhile will test two Amjet Turbine System models, for which it has received $2,306,949. To be tested at the run-of-the-river Keokuk Energy Center, a hydropower plant in Iowa, the system employs a turbine designed for non-powered dams, the DOE said.

Quidnet Energy Inc. has been allotted $2,084,165 to "demonstrate the feasibility of a novel PSH technology that stores pressurized water underground", the DOE said.

"This low-cost form of long-duration electricity storage uses existing wellbores, which offers an opportunity to repurpose legacy oil and gas assets".

Emrgy Inc. has been allocated $1,600,308 for the development of "a turbine to generate hydropower at non-powered dams where the water drop is less than 30 feet or in low-flow conduits, such as existing irrigation canals". The turbine will be demonstrated in the South Columbia Basin, according to the DOE.

Awarded $243,540, Drops for Watts aims to come up with a low-impact, modular system to enable power generation from existing irrigation infrastructure without requiring any additional excavation.

For a digital twin monitoring solution, Turbine Logic has bagged $199,435. The project is "a virtual representation of existing instrumentation, to better predict common maintenance needs in hydropower turbines".

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