We are in the era of low-cost natural gas as well as emerging nonhydro renewable energy sources. Ive been with Reclamation for 32 years, having started with the agency during college as a supply clerk at a power facility. The power initiative focuses on identifying opportunities to curb or stabilize hydropower program costs and to achieve operational and administrative efficiencies. After the hydropower is produced, Reclamation provides it to the Western Power Marketing Administration, which owns and operates the transmission lines and is responsible for marketing the power to its customers.

For the first half of the 20th century, great swaths of rural America, particularly in the West, did not have ready access to electricity or water. While the Bureau of Reclamation is best known as a supplier of water for customers in the 17 western states, an equally important part of Reclamation's mission is the creation of electricity. Although PSH has been around for over 100 years, two new studies from the Water Power Technologies Office under its HydroWIRES Initiative demonstrate that much of its potential remains untapped. Bureau of Reclamation Small Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs Act (P.L. Many of our facilities have aging infrastructure, and most of our plants are well over 50 years old. In response, Reclamation has implemented a power initiative to ensure that its hydropower remains a long-term cost-competitive energy resource that will secure a committed customer base. The remaining 25 facilities are generally referred to as transferred works, since facility operations and maintenance responsibilities have been transferred to a nonfederal entity through a formal agreement. Their website provides information on individual dams and powerplants, and research and development. Hydro Leader: What role does Reclamations hydropower program play in the administrations domestic energy strategy and supporting initiatives? While nonhydro renewables are still in their infancy, their infrastructure costs have gradually become more affordable, allowing them to offer more competitive rates. HydrOS recommends an optimal way to operate units to maximize facility efficiency and generation, given water or power targets entered by the facility operator. The electric reliability standards necessary to ensure delivery of power and provide for competition among electricity market participants don't always recognize the variable and sometimes conflicting nature of decisions concerning hydroelectric supply. It is a constant effort. The Bureau of Reclamation this week responded to unusually high energy demands across the western United States, demonstrating hydropowers integral role as a renewable, reliable, abundant, carbon-free source of electricity that provides great value to the West and protects our nations energy security. Our rates are escalating or staying relatively flat at the very time that theirs are decreasing, causing rate pressures in certain locations. In some facilities, weve seen operational efficiencies of over 10 percent. It also includes, The landing page of the U.S. Department of Energys Water Power Technologies Office, which is part of the Office Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, has a map of their investments in water power research across the United States, information on how to partner with their labs, newsletters, their marine energy programs, and the basics of hydropower including a. During Waterpower Week, which took place April 57, 2022, in Washington, D.C., the Water Power Technologies Office launched two collegiate competitions, a new prize, and a request for information.

The Opportunities Reclamation Sees in the Future. After Hoover, I ran several smaller power plant facilities as a power plant supervisor and facility manager and eventually became a power manager in Reclamations Upper Colorado region. FERC, which issues licenses for new hydropower projects, has information on compliance, searching for and submitting licenses, and safety inspections. Find out how this CEO found her calling to reduce the environmental impact of hydropower while making it simpler and more cost-effectiveand why she doesnt demonize fossil fuels. If the original project feature was authorized for a nonpower purpose, nonfederal development would be permitted through the FERC licensing process; if the project feature was authorized for federal power development, nonfederal development would be permitted through the LOPP process.

U.S. Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20240. Emphasizing the links between energy and the environment, it serves as a useful background resource and facilitates decision-making regarding which renewable energy technology works best for different types of applications and regions. Surplus power is marketed by the U.S. Department of Energys Power Marketing Administrations at cost-based rates, with preference given to municipalities, public corporations, cooperatives, and other nonprofit organizations. <<045400359ECD9248A855C2E1CD01B217>]>> In fact, we characterize Reclamation as a water and power organization. For example, in accordance with the Grand Canyon Protection Act of 1992, the Glen Canyon Dam is now required to be operated to protect and improve the values for which Grand Canyon National Park and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area were established, in addition to the Dam's traditional authorized purposes. To do this we work closely with public entities that purchase power generated at Reclamation facilities to improve the quantity and quality of power. Reclamation's hydropower plants also play an important role in the reliability of the electrical power grid. It is important to take the time to collect and analyze data from our own systems to inform our future decisionmaking and our responses to outages or other operational issues. Our goals for the mission area are focused on increasing generating capability by an average of 10 MW per year for the duration of the strategic plan. I work with our customers to ensure that our facilities are maintained at operational and reliable levels and that they provide the value our customers expect and deserve. You can consult all the additional and detailed information about Data Protection. This money results from BPA's sale of hydropower produced at Reclamation and other facilities. Statement of Robert W. Johnson, Commissioner. Can they rely on us to continue identifying efficiencies and other innovations that will ensure we can offer them affordable and reliable services? Hydropower can rapidly change its output to match needs going from no power generation to maximum power generation in a short period of time. Reclamation is not new to the power generation business. While the volume of water stored is a function of the weather, the timing of the releases for electrical generation usually is not. , This book explores how the need for electricity at the turn of the century affected and shaped Banff National Park. The cornerstone of Reclamations mission was water supply, in the beginning primarily for agriculture, but today for municipal and industrial uses as well. Max Spiker: One example is a partnership we undertook with the Army Corps to develop a corporate hydropower optimization system called HydrOS, or the Hydropower Optimization System. The Bureau of Reclamation owns 78 hydroelectric power facilities that supply a capacity of over 15,500 megawatts (MW), of which it directly operates and maintains 53. This is a significant benefit to the Nation's economy. Weve also completed 24 generator uprates, delivering a little over 200 MW of incremental capacity over what was originally installed. . An electronic copy is freely available though HathiTrust. In response, Reclamation demonstrated hydropower's integral role as a crucial part of the interconnected electrical grid in the western United States and provide the unique ability to respond almost immediately to system emergencies and changes in demand. &`&522)547AU))+rr T Stewarding Conservation and Powering Our Future, Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs.

Madam Chairwoman and Members of the Subcommittee, I am Robert Johnson, Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation. A few years later, I became the manager of the power resources office, and in 2016, I was named senior advisor for hydropower, which is the position I hold today. Are we taking steps to overcome those and remain the partner of strength that we have always been?

A federal law promoting small hydroelectric power projects and conduit hydropower projects, by exempting some licensing requirements. Including examples, real-world case studies, and lessons learned, each chapter contains exercise questions, references, and ample photographs and technical drawings from actual micro hydropower plants. The worlds first hydropower plant began to generate electrical energy in 1882 in Appleton, Wisconsin.1 By 1896, there were 300 hydroelectric power plants in operation in the United States.2, Today about 7% of U.S. power comes from hydroelectric sources.3 Dams (also known as impoundment), diversion, and pumped storage hydropower (pumped into a reservoir during low demand and released during high demand) are sources of hydroelectricity, although only a small percentage of existing dams are used for power. Its focused on aggregating and standardizing hydropower operational data from across the industry and using those data to do predictive analytics to understand and learn from how a given fleet is performing. Further, Reclamation's facilities help to avoid the production of approximately 51 million pounds of carbon dioxide that would have been produced by fossil fuel power plants. I am pleased to provide the Department of the Interior's views on Reclamation's hydropower resources and the public benefits they provide. In the past century, a number of innovations have enabled hydropower to become an integral part of the renewable energy mix in the United States. Another difficulty is posed by the fact that at certain points of any day, you can buy an energy mix that has an overall lower cost than what our contract is priced at. FERC ensures licensed dams are in compliance with environmental standards, and oversees their safety and security.7. This money has funded state of the art programs that are making a real difference in efforts to reestablish and maintain self-sustaining populations of endangered fish. Most fossil and nuclear-fueled generating plants cannot restart themselves in the event of a total loss of power. Their oversight starts at granting licenses, which are issued for 30 to 50 years. .

. In addition, future conflicts between competing resource needs may be more pronounced in the face of still unknown, basin-level impacts from environmental factors such as global climate change. HydrOS is a flexible, standalone computer package featuring modern hardware and algorithms configurable to all Reclamation hydropower plants. Some content is for members-only. Hydro Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position. WPTO selected small business-led projects that can help spur water power-focused innovation across the United States. After that, I became an analyst for the operations and maintenance program in the power program office in Reclamations Denver office. kT UJ3@ )3 Hydroelectric generators, since they can be started without an external power source, have traditionally been relied upon to restart the electric power system in the event of a blackout. %%EOF Responses are now due Monday, Aug. 8, 2022, by 5 p.m. The first chapter covers this history of water power; subsequent chapters focus on hydrology, construction, and engineering of hydroelectric power plants. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. We are extremely proud of our hydropower program.

It involved uprating the turbines to a more efficient design with greater horsepower, which also allowed the generators to be uprated to take advantage of the enhanced turbine horsepower, leading to increased energy output. endstream endobj 73 0 obj<>stream Water Power Technologies Office. $$$$))),,, 8 " Q q2 ? Hydropower.

xb```f``"= fa`.a%9a$v|ZOaPH3 Phase Two is now open for submissions! This concludes my written statement; I am pleased to answer any questions the Subcommittee may have. Reclamation is working closely with other federal entities involved in hydroelectric power to identify ways to reduce costs and improve reliability. endstream endobj 3 0 obj<>stream Reclamation has developed many innovative means of stretching existing resources to meet the increasing demands or improve efficiency. We refer to the 53 facilities directly operated and maintained by Reclamation staff as reserved works. ET. For this we need you to check the following box to grant your consent. Both of these used direct current technology. Since the 1980s, weve done a lot to upgrade our facilities, which, as I mentioned, are generally decades old. An imbalance in the demand for electricity and the amount of power available can cause generation units to shut down, resulting in power outages. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is part of the U.S. Department of Energy. In these capacities, he coordinates the implementation of corporate partnership efforts involving Reclamations power functions and serves as the liaison on intergovernmental initiatives associated with hydropower delivery. With the introduction of electricity came hydroelectric power, or the ability to generate electricity using the movement of water to turn turbines that power a generator. Their website includes a blog, fact sheets about hydropower, and reports. Max Spiker: There are two avenues to develop nonfederal power plants on Reclamation projects. Traditionally, operation of the power plants allowed for water releases to be timed such that generation coincided with the higher daytime electricity demand. Also, pressures to improve the quality and safety of the existing electric resources have added a new dimension to Reclamation's decisions. IHA is a non-profit association with members in over 120 countries, and includes hydropower owners and operators, develops, designers, suppliers, and consultants. WPTO extended the deadline for comments from the nonfederal hydropower community on climate change data and research needs to inform hydropower operation and resource planning. Max Spiker: Reclamations hydropower programs support a number of the administrations initiatives, such as Executive Order 13783 on Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth.

0000000978 00000 n The last two chapter cover economic and managerial topics.