Hydropower Industry Says It Needs New Tools to Help President Biden Reach GHG Reduction Targets
Washington, D.C. (April 22, 2021) – The following is a statement from Malcolm Woolf, President and CEO of the National Hydropower Association on the release of President Joe Biden’s new target for the United States to achieve a 50 percent reduction from 2005 levels in net greenhouse gas pollution by 2030.
“Hydropower and marine energy are essential to achieving President Biden’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by the end of the decade. With the right policies in place, we can use existing dams and new pumped storage to expand hydropower by 50 GW to achieve a reduction in cumulative greenhouse gas emissions of 5.6 billion metric tons by 2050. And by accelerating the commercialization marine energy resources, the industry can reach its deployment target of 1 GW by 2035.
“Yet hydropower is largely overlooked in the Biden Administration’s infrastructure package to date. We need new and innovative solutions like tax incentives to spur investments in dam safety, environmental improvements, pumped storage and grid flexibility. We must secure long-term extensions of the production tax credit and investment tax credit to encourage new development at existing hydropower facilities, on existing non-powered dams, and for marine energy. We can also reenergize the existing federal hydropower fleet with a long overdue investment for efficiency upgrades.
“Hydropower and marine energy are essential to any climate solution yet we need the right tools to help the nation obtain a zero-carbon electricity grid and a cleaner environment.”
