Upcoming Deadlines
Announcements & Opportunities
Deadline Nearing to Apply for Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Funding for Hydropower Projects: WPTO is accepting applications for a $14.5 million funding opportunity to further the sustainable development of hydropower and pumped storage hydropower (PSH) technologies. Advancing these technologies will also enable increased deployments of other sources of renewable generation. Full applications are due by 5 p.m. ET on March 6, 2023, and are only being accepted from applicants who submitted a concept paper by the Dec. 1, 2022, deadline.
Apply Now for $4 Million Fish Passage Technology Funding Opportunity: WPTO is accepting applications for a funding opportunity to enhance innovative fish passage and protection technologies. Improvements in technology to help fish move safely through hydropower facilities reduces environmental impacts and helps to restore fish population levels. Full applications are due by 5 p.m. ET on March 27, 2023, and are only accepted from applicants who submitted a concept paper by the Dec. 5, 2022, deadline.
WPTO Advancing Hydropower Technologies through Technical Assistance Program: Apply now for technical assistance in advancing hydropower’s contributions to grid resilience. This opportunity is intended to provide PSH developers and other stakeholders with assistance from DOE national laboratories to address valuation hurdles in PSH project development. Technical assistance will also support the broader hydropower community on challenges they face related to the HydroWIRES mission. The deadline to apply for technical assistance is Feb. 24, 2023, and applications will only be accepted from applicants who submitted a statement of interest by the Dec. 16, 2022, deadline.
DOE Announces Final Winners of Hydropower Operations Optimization Prize: Yesterday, DOE announced winners of the third and final phase of the Hydropower Operations Optimization Prize. DOE selected three winning teams to receive a share of the $50,000 prize pool for their novel solutions to enhance hydropower’s contribution to the electric grid.
Closing Soon: TCF Laboratory Call: WPTO is partnering with DOE’s Office of Technology Transitions and eight other DOE program offices for this year’s TCF Base Annual Appropriations Laboratory call. TCF’s goal is to improve America’s energy competitiveness and security by accelerating commercialization and the shepherding of critical energy technologies from the lab to the market, where the private sector will continue to innovate. Potential topics for funding include Market Needs Assessment, Curation of Intellectual Property, Matchmaking, Technology Specific Partnerships, Streamlining Laboratory Processes, and Increasing External Partnerships. The deadline to submit concept papers for this opportunity is Jan. 25, 2023.
Registration Deadline Approaching for EnergyTech University Prize Business Plan Competition: DOE’s Office of Technology Transitions’ EnergyTech University Prize registration deadline is approaching soon! Through the EnergyTech University Prize, student teams will compete for $370,000 in cash prizes for successfully identifying a promising energy technology, assessing its market potential, and creating a business plan for commercialization. WPTO and seven other DOE program offices are each offering $25,000 bonus prizes. Interested parties can learn more about this competition during an informational webinar on Jan. 17, 2023. The deadline for team registration is Jan. 26, 2023.
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Products & Publications
Coming Soon: WPTO’s 2021–2022 Accomplishments Report: Each year, WPTO highlights notable achievements and successes from partners at DOE national laboratories, industry organizations, and academic institutions across the country. Read up on WPTO’s success stories in hydropower and marine energy from 2020–2021, and keep an eye out for the new report coming soon!
Prize Winners Continue to Advance PSH: Learn how winners of the Furthering Advancements to Shorten Time Commissioning for PSH Prize are advancing their work to improve PSH development by testing, completing further analysis, and identifying potential sites for their technologies. This 2019 competition challenged participants to reduce time, cost, and risk of commissioning PSH projects. Dive deeper into the three grand prize winners’ innovations, and learn how winners’ continued advancing their work following the prize’s conclusion.
Upcoming Events
EnergyTech University Prize Recruiting, Team Building, and Networking Event
Jan. 17, 2023, 3–4 p.m. ET, Virtual
The EnergyTech University Prize challenges students to successfully identify a promising energy technology, assess its market potential, and create a business plan for commercialization. Join this informational webinar to learn more about this opportunity.
WPTO R&D Deep Dive: Monitoring Water Quality in Real Time
Jan. 24, 2023, 1–2 p.m. ET, Virtual
Maintaining and improving water quality has been a longstanding challenge for many hydropower facilities. As new mitigation technologies are developed, researchers need to improve monitoring technologies to validate that water quality targets are being met. Join the team from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory tackling that challenge with a real-time, autonomous, modular water quality monitoring system. Learn how they’re enabling improved measurement in challenging locations and what this means for the future.
WPTO R&D Deep Dive: NPD HYDRO Tool Demonstration
Jan. 26, 2023, 1–2 p.m. ET, Virtual
Join researchers from Idaho National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for a demonstration of their new NPD HYDRO Tool. This tool allows users to identify and prioritize opportunities for adding power generation and energy storage to non-powered dams. Learn how it could benefit potential users, how to offer feedback on the tool, and what could come next in this work.
In Case You Missed It
Missed the Semiannual Stakeholder Webinar? Read the Recap Article: WPTO hosted its latest semiannual stakeholder webinar on Nov. 9, 2022, and shared details about the office’s latest funding opportunities, accomplishments, and projects. Speakers focused on a major theme throughout the webinar: the historic amount of funding available for water power projects as a result of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. The WPTO team also spotlighted new studies on hydropower’s potential in the United States, marine energy device deployments, recent prize competitions, and workforce development activities.
Social Spotlight
WPTO on LinkedIn, Dec. 18, 2022
Keep the projects flowing! Our Water Power Technologies Office announced more than $16 million in new hydropower and marine energy R&D projects at six national labs!
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WPTO/DOE in the News
Hydro in the Headlines
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The ‘Sleeping Giant Of Energy Storage’ Is Waking Up, Forbes, Jeff McMahon, Dec. 29, 2022
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Gridworks to Invest $50 Million In Virunga Power to Ramp Up Run-Of-River Hydro Projects Across Several African Countries, CleanTechnica, Remeredzai Joseph Kuhudzai, Dec. 20, 2022
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Canada to New York City Hydropower Pipeline Breaks Ground, NNY360, Joseph Ostapiuk, Dec. 10, 2022
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