US announces $200m in funding to expand and improve efficiency of hydroelectric fleets

The Department of Energy (DoE) on Wednesday announced more than $200m for modernisation and expansion of the country’s hydroelectric plant which presently supplies about 6% of US electricity.

Hydropower in all its forms will increase availability of dependable energy, helping achieve Biden’s 2035 goal of a carbon-free electric grid.

“The President’s clean energy agenda is proving the investments necessary to further grow and improve exiting hydropower fleets while supporting the next way of waterpower technologies, ensuring a steady flow of cheap and reliable power to more Americans,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

DoE said less than 3% of 90,000 dams in the US now produce power. Placing generation equipment to these sites could add up to 12GW of new hydropower capacity to the national grid. On 1 January, total available installed hydro generating capacity was 101.2GW.

The agency has opened two solicitations and is now accepting applications for those hydroelectric initiatives.

The first will provide up to $125m in incentive payments to qualified hydroelectric facilities for power generated in calendar years 2021 and 2022.

The second will invest $75m to enable implementation of capital improvements to boost efficiency. Owners and operators of existing hydroelectric facilities, including pumped storage hydropower, may apply for funding if those upgrades can improve their efficiency by at least 3%.

The funding comes amid a prolonged drought in several western states that has forced large hydroelectric facilities such as Hoover Dam and Glen Canyon Dam to curb electricity generation.

DoE also announced a prize with up to $2.3m in awards to competitors investigating novel technologies for harnessing and converting the power of ocean waves into usable types of energy such as electricity.