Designing Hydropower Education for a Reliable and Resilient Workforce

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Designing Hydropower Education for a Reliable and Resilient Workforce

DATE:

January 13, 2025

BY:

Joseph LoSasso, Director of Corporate Partnerships and Senior Manager of Industry Engagement, NHA

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Designing Hydropower Education for a Reliable and Resilient Workforce

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Editor’s Note: The next Hydropower System Principles Course starts on April 17, 2025, and the next Overview takes place on April 2, 2025. Additionally, there will be additional start dates for the Course in July and November, each meeting once a month for eight months. To learn more about what the Course entails, from meeting dates or responsibilities – reach out to academy@hydro.org

The National Hydropower Association (NHA) listens to the needs of the water power community, and one of the reoccurring concerns is hydropower’s knowledge gap. With a wave of retirements looming, ensuring generational knowledge is both preserved and transferred to new employees is vital for hydro’s long-term health.

Until now, the water power community has not had a uniform set of principles for any student of hydropower to learn at the fundamental level. This lack of access to educational tools runs the risk of missing the “big picture,” as an individual may know exactly what to do with tools and objectives, but not understand the “why” or the “how” without lived experience.

As the community onboards new hires or transfers from other industries, the importance of a developing a wider and deeper understanding of the hydro systems at play is paramount. In doing so, those individuals will take less time to understand the scope of work at hand while also opening the door to innovation.

NHA’s Hydropower System Principles training, brought to the community by the NHA Hydro Academy, exists as a means of facilitating the transfer of critical water power knowledge — helping keep the community strong and resilient.

WHO COULD BENEFIT FROM THE COURSE?

The Hydro Academy at NHA is working to make the knowledge transfer process easier by providing accessible and in-depth information about the most critical functions of the hydropower system.

Below are a few examples of how professionals from a broad range of backgrounds could benefit from taking the course:

For instance, a first year legal professional, who may be working at firm related to hydropower, would benefit from understanding the regulatory framework of hydro, as it expands and complements their knowledge of the industry. Additionally, the course provides the foundational base needed for the legal professional to contextualize their work, furthering their connection to the water power community and increasing the likelihood of their retainment.

An electrical engineer taking the course would gain valuable insight into the energy market and production planning principles behind ramping equipment up and down, as well as the related drivers behind thermal cycling. This foundational understanding will clarify the specifics of equipment operation. Additionally, the asset management module will provide a forward-looking perspective, equipping participants with the tools to plan and strategize for a short to long-term horizon.

Furthermore, NHA designed the training so that industry might consider the additional value of professionals who’ve taken part in the hydropower system principles course. By deepening the value of the course and expanding awareness of its benefits to the greater industry, then those individuals may find themselves more easily able to advance their careers because of the skills and insights they gained via the course. Check out this handy career map from the U.S. Department of Energy for more information about career advancement within hydropower.

THE HYDROPOWER SYSTEM PRINCIPLES

The Hydropower System Principles course has been divided into eight modules listed below:

• Water to Wires
• Production Planning and Water Management
• Dam Safety
• Equipment, Engineering and Technology
• Asset Management and Reliability
• Markets
• Environment
• FERC Licensing & Compliance

The subject matter experts who designed the content broke it into eight sections. More than 50 people in the industry have worked on the curriculum – see here for everyone who has contributed so far – and it was important to NHA that we included as many as possible in developing the material.

The content, activities, and graphics went through a peer-review process for each module, and NHA continues to work through accreditation bodies for those who use Professional Development Hours.

NHA consistently reviews our content so that it stays relevant and meets the needs of the industry, periodically refreshing as needed. NHA created faculty opportunities for those active industry experts, who provide guided experiences that go beyond top-down learning approaches and toward active learning models, which create more meaningful experiences and deeper understanding.

THE 8-HOUR OVERVIEW vs. 40-HOUR COURSE

8-Hour Overview: To meet the needs of the water power community, NHA wanted the program to be flexible. Some will need a cursory view of the system principles only; for example, those in government or at the institutional level who desire greater context for their work, but don’t need the depth and breadth offered in the 40-hour course. Senior leaders and professional development staff who work for organizations in hydropower would benefit from the 8-hour overview, too, when determining the right fit for staff to select for training.

40-Hour Course: NHA’s 40-hour course is intentionally designed to take place over eight months (i.e., learners go to class, virtually, one day a month for eight months) because we believe there is value in developing relationships over time, and we also know workers’ time is valuable too. While it might sound ideal to design a 40-hour experience at a nice resort somewhere over a week, not only would that hit training budgets harder, NHA learned it is unlikely many would be able to be away from work obligations that long.

Annual Usage License: Finally, utilities, or very large organizations, may already have training or a training matrix designed for new employees, but the Hydropower System Principles are adaptable and flexible enough to be brought in-house. This option could be as simple as a general-access license for all staff to use self-directed over a set period of time, or as complex as customizing the curriculum to your specific needs and particular faculty.

LEARN MORE

NHA’s main Academy informational page is linked here.

• The Hydropower System Principles Course has four sections this year. The first section  launched in January — learners in that class have formed a cohort that will meet, virtually, once a month for the next seven months.  Three other sections are available for enrollment – with “starts” in April, July, or November. To learn more about what the Course entails, from meeting dates or responsibilities – reach out to academy@hydro.org

• The Overview will take place multiple times throughout 2025, with the first taking place in-person in Washington, D.C., April 2 and 3 (co-located with NHA’s Water Power Week in Washington event). If you’re planning on attending Water Power Week, you can register here. Additional information about the overview will be communicated as it’s released.

To learn more about the Course’s faculty, click here. Also, NHA consistently reviews our content so that it stays relevant and meets the needs of the industry, periodically refreshing as necessary. NHA created faculty opportunities for those active industry experts, who provide guided experiences that go beyond top-down learning approaches and toward active learning models, which create more meaningful experiences and deeper understanding.

If you’d like information on an Annual Usage License, reach out via email at joseph@hydro.org.

National Hydropower Association