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Follow along on the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy’s (EERE’s) Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook channels for more #WaterWednesday content each week.
Upcoming Deadlines
Announcements & Opportunities
DOE Announces $16 M Towards Increasing Hydropower’s Role in Clean Energy: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced funding to advance the Water Innovation for a Resilient Electricity System (HydroWIRES) Initiative through nine new national-laboratory-directed projects.
Projects will build on foundational HydroWIRES research and improve hydropower’s contributions to a clean energy future.
WPTO Unveils Hydropower Licensing Report: DOE’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) released a comprehensive examination of the current hydropower licensing process. The report documents licensing timelines, causal factors, and their combined effect on risk, cost, and deployment of U.S. hydropower projects. Interested in learning more about the findings? Join our upcoming webinar on Nov. 18, 2021.
NREL Extended Deadline for Input on Hydropower Prize Strategy: The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) would like to hear from members of the hydropower community, including industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on the R&D areas that future hydropower prizes should focus on. Responses are due by December 17, 2021, by 5 p.m. MT
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Products & Publications
PNNL Assesses Hydropower’s Contribution to Grid Resilience: The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) released a report examining how hydropower positively affects grid resilience. The report outlines hydropower’s characteristics that enable grid reliability and identifies methods, tools, models, and data for analyzing hydropower’s impact on resilience.
GE Research Brings PSH Insight to HydroWIRES Initiative: A team led by GE Research studied the value and role of pumped storage hydropower (PSH) in a grid with a high percentage of variable renewable energy resources. The main takeaway from this report is that batteries and PSH facilities are not competing against each other for revenue in these scenarios, only amongst themselves (e.g., batteries competing with other batteries). Read the full report to learn more.
North to the Future: WPTO Helps Alaskan Partners Pursue a Renewable Future With Water Power: WPTO is helping Alaskans tap a massive renewable energy source rushing through their state: water. Throughout 2021, WPTO and partners invested in several marine energy and hydropower projects in Alaska, working closely with community members to learn how to best serve their energy needs while respecting their culture.
National STEM Day—WPTO Style: For this year’s National STEM Day on Nov. 8, WPTO celebrated by releasing an article calling on the next generation of the STEM workforce. Read the article now and learn about the many exciting opportunities that WPTO is providing to incentivize more people to dive into STEM-related careers.
Upcoming Webinars & Events
Inclusive Energy Innovation Prize is hosting a Phase One participant webinar on Wednesday, November 10 at 3 p.m. ET. The competition will award up to $2.5 million in cash prizes to groups and organizations that support entrepreneurship and innovation in communities historically underserved in climate and energy technology funding. Register here to learn details about the prize, ways to leverage the American-Made Network, and strategies for developing a successful submission package.
R&D Deep Dive Webinar: Highlights of the Hydropower Licensing Report
Nov. 18, 2021, 1–2 p.m. ET
Join the team behind the Examination of the Hydropower Licensing and Federal Authorization Process report to hear analyses of licensing and approval timelines, project attributes that may influence those timelines, and their combined effect on costs and risks to developers. Learn how this study will support policymakers, federal and state regulators, and industry stakeholders, informing discussions helpful to individual license proceedings and to policies affecting efficiencies within the larger process.
Register today.
WPTO SBIR/STTR Topics Webinar – Phase I, Release II
Dec. 7, 2021, 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. ET
Join WPTO to learn more about the water-focused topics in the Nov. 8, 2021, Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) programs release.
Submit questions prior to the webinar: WaterPowerTechnologiesOffice@ee.doe.gov.
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In Case You Missed It
PNNL Lab-on-a-Fish Receives R&D 100 Award: PNNL’s revolutionary biotelemetry sensor, Lab-on-a-Fish, is pushing the limits of industry fish tags. Building on the capabilities of current tags, which evaluate what fish experience as they pass through hydropower dams, the Lab-on-a-Fish sensor also records insightful health and behavioral data. The invention won an R&D 100 Award in the Information Technology/Electrical category.
WPTO Interview on Inclusive Energy Innovation Prize: WPTO’s innovation and market transformation advisor, Rukmani Vijayaraghavan, sat down with the Federal Drive podcast to discuss details of DOE’s newly launched Inclusive Energy Innovation Prize. Listen to the conversation or read the transcript.
WPTO in Hydro Leader Magazine: WPTO’s Hydropower Program Manager was featured in last month’s edition of Hydro Leader Magazine. His interview focuses on WPTO’s research, projects, the importance of hydropower technologies such as PSH, and more.
WPTO in the News
Hydro in the Headlines
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HydroPASSAGE: Advancing Hydropower for Fish and Industry, Hydro Review, 10/13/21
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Brazil’s Drought Pressures Power Grid, Boosting Case for Renewables—and Fossil Fuels, The Wall Street Journal, Paulo Trevisani and Jeffrey T. Lewis, 10/11/21
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Mexican Energy Bill Prioritizes State Hydropower, Minister Says, Bloomberg, Amy Stillman, 10/11/21
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Hydropower Decline Adds Strain to Power Grids in Drought, Bloomberg [via Associated Press], Michael Phillis, 10/10/21
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