House E&C CLEAN Future Act Recognizes Hydropower as Climate Solution

House E&C CLEAN Future Act Recognizes Hydropower as Climate Solution

Washington, D.C. (March 2, 2021) – The following is a statement from Malcolm Woolf, President and CEO of the National Hydropower Association the release of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee’s CLEAN Future Act:

“We applaud the Committee’s leadership in recognizing that hydropower is an essential part of realizing a decarbonized electricity grid and treating hydropower equitably with other carbon-free renewable electricity sources. While the development of new hydropower projects on existing, non-powered dams will help to accelerate the push to a carbon-free grid, the bill also acknowledges the importance of protecting the current U.S. hydropower and pumped storage fleet, which exceeds 100 GW of capacity, by offering solutions for modernizing the licensing process.

“Recent experiences in Texas and California highlight that a clean energy future means having the right carbon-free renewable resources in place that provide critical flexibility, reliability and resiliency to a decarbonized grid, which is at the core of hydropower’s strength.

“We commend the House Committee’s efforts to include hydropower as a climate solution, and we look forward to working with both sides of the aisle as this bill moves through legislative process”