The Hydropower Geotechnical Foundations Prize competition, administered by NREL with support from ORNL, offered multiple cash prizes to elicit and advance innovative concepts for low-head (up to 30 ft of hydraulic head) hydropower geotechnical foundation technologies. The competition incentivized transformative methods or technologies for geotechnical foundations of hydropower facilities that significantly reduce foundation development time, costs, and risk across three development phases (geotechnical site assessment, design, and construction), with a minimal environmental footprint. The Groundbreaking Hydro Prize Competition was preceded by a Hydropower Geotechnical Foundations Report prepared and published by ORNL, made available before the Prize release.
