pwr_july-2024 - 30

HYDROPOWER
2. The Grand Coulee Dam is the largest hydroelectric
facility and largest power plant of
any kind in the U.S., with more than 6.8 GW
of generation capacity. The dam is located on
the Columbia River, about 90 miles west of
Spokane, Washington. Source: U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation
changing climate may also imply that the
wet seasons could become wetter, and
the dry seasons could become drier. This
could potentially destabilize power prices
and the overall system makeup in the
long term. Dueling proposals and divided
allegiances among market participants
on the future of a West-wide regional
transmission organization could further
complicate matters, " he said.
Pretyman continued: " For instance,
Bonneville Power Administration, which
markets wholesale electrical power from
many of the large federal hydro facilities
in the Northwest [including the Grand
Coulee Dam, the largest hydro dam in the
U.S. with more than 6.8 GW of generation
capacity, Figure 2], supports a day-ahead
market proposal from Southwest Power
Pool. Meanwhile, California and several
surrounding utilities have signed on in
support of a proposal to extend California's
market arrangements more broadly
to the West. The ultimate framework will
have significant implications for how hydropower
is valued on the grid. "
Adding New Hydropower Capacity
Can Be Difficult
Pretyman also referenced the market
dynamics of the U.S. Northeast, telling
POWER, " The reality is that the
U.S. has largely exhausted its available
hydropower resources, with new dam
proposals often facing opposition from
environmental groups. This opposition
is partly driving investor dollars toward
transmission
solutions.
For
instance,
in the Northeast, the Champlain Hudson
Power Express HVDC [high-voltage
direct-current] transmission line is set
to deliver hydropower from Quebec to
serve the New York City load center with
substantial amounts of clean energy.
This project has been in development
for over 20 years. However, another pro30
posed
line, intended to bring hydropower
to the New England area, was recently
canceled despite receiving federal backing.
The challenge lies in finding a way
to access clean, firm power where solar
and wind alone are insufficient. "
The largest hydro project currently
planned in the U.S. is the Leslie D.
Thatcher pumped storage facility, according
to Global Data. The Thatcher
PSH project, which would be located in
Michigan, is being designed with a total
capacity of almost 3.5 GW. Hydropower
Highway is the project developer.
Erpenbeck told POWER, " In the U.S.,
the new hydropower market is going to
be focused on pumped storage hydropower.
In the energy transition, the value
of electricity storage, and particularly
long-duration storage, is dominated by
pumped storage, where over 90% of the
U.S. electricity storage capacity is currently
in the existing pumped storage fleet.
But it will need to increase and potentially
even double to support all the new
solar and wind projects. Pumped storage
is very dispatchable, but unlike batteries,
which are DC power with inverters, these
are large synchronous machines that have
large amounts of inertia and add stability
and reliability to the grid when compared
to inverter-based resources. Pumped
storage can also run as a synchronous
condenser as required by the grid. "
The DOE in a March report wrote:
" Hydropower's longstanding reputation
as a reliable source of energy and storage
may ironically be one of the reasons
people often assume it is 'tapped out'
of investment opportunities, but this is
not the case. Far from being tapped out,
hydropower, including pumped storage
hydropower, still has enormous potential
for growth, particularly for small- and
medium-sized projects [or those that
produce up to 30 MW of power]. "
The DOE noted that less than 3% of
the more than 90,000 dams in the U.S.
produce power, and said that there are
" thousands of non-powered dams offering
excellent opportunities for investment.
In addition, dams that do currently
produce power can often be updated to
increase capacity. There are also millions
of miles of waterways, including both
rivers and canals, that can be utilized for
in-stream hydropower. "
" The U.S. should definitely be investing
more into new, renewable hydropower
development, as well as the existing
fleet, " said Erpenbeck. " On the existing
plants, the larger plants have been
getting investment because they're so
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valuable. But the smaller projects have
been struggling. Many of these are
very old projects-more than 80 years
old-that were part of an industrial complex,
like a pulp and paper mill, where
the megawatts aren't all that large out
of the facility. However, the facility itself
and the dams provide recreational
lakes and flood control, and the power
basically pays for all those public benefits.
These are the projects that have
been sorely neglected and struggling to
find the proper funds to put back into
the projects. In terms of new projects,
the fact is that many of the best conventional
hydro project sites have been
built. However, there are many dams in
the U.S. that still do not have hydropower
on them, over 80,000, and some of
these could be developed if we can find
sites where there are minimal impacts
to powering the dams, " he said.
" I've worked in the hydropower industry
my entire career and one of the
things that I tell people is that every
hydropower project is a local tourist
attraction, a recreational area, a boating
and fishing haven, as well as a tool
for flood control, navigation, or water
supply-all of that in addition to being
a renewable power project, " said Erpenbeck.
" Many of the projects have
visitors' centers and museums. I can't
name any other power project that has
these things, and they are common on
many hydropower projects. We used to
say these projects are designed for 100
years, but the reality is that these projects
are 'forever assets' as one of my
clients refers to them. "
Erpenbeck continued: " In addition to
long life and local tourist benefits, many
of these projects are over 90% efficient.
And when designed correctly they can be
an environmentally positive force in the
community. Yes, hydropower is an older
proven technology-but was also the
first renewable resource developed in the
U.S. The technology has been upgraded
over the years, so much so that the new
projects are very different than the old
historic projects. But, yet, they are taken
for granted because they are a legacy asset.
We need to look at the future and
include what works. We as a power industry
need to get back to thinking about
multiple bottom-line decision-making and
have a longer-term vision than the next
five years. Instead, think about the next
50 years, and in the case of hydropower,
the next 100-plus years. " ■
-Darrell Proctor is a senior
associate editor for POWER.
POWER | July 2024
http://www.powermag.com
pwr_july-2024

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