- Show all
- Asset Management
- Buoy
- Canal
- Climate Change
- Controls
- Dam Safety
- Environmental Impact
- Fish and Aquatic Resources
- Future Grid
- Generator
- Governor
- Hydraulic Forecasting
- Hydraulic Optimization
- Hydrokinetic
- Intake Gates
- Markets
- Penstock
- Regulatory Process
- Renewable Integration
- Sediment Transport
- Shoreline and Riparian Resources
- Spillgates
- Tidal
- Transmission Services
- Turbine
- Water Management
- Water Resources
- Water Systems
- Wave
- Conventional Hydro
Climate Influences on Capacity Expansion Planning with Application to the Western U.S.
Lead Companies
NREL
Lead Researcher (s)
- Stuart Cohen, stuart.cohen@nrel.gov
Electric power system planners utilize a variety of planning tools to inform decisions concerning generation and transmission additions to the electric grid, the need for operational changes, and to evaluate potential stressors on the system. Numerous factors contribute to the planning process including projected fuel and technology costs, policy and load profiles. There is also a growing recognition of the interdependency of the electric grid with other natural and engineered systems. Here we explore how future climate change and hydropower operability might influence decisions related to electricity capacity expansion planning and operations. To do so we assemble a multi-model framework. Specifically, water resource modeling is used to simulate climate impacts on future water supply for thermoelectric and hydropower generation. Separately, temperature impacts on electricity load are evaluated. Together, these climate factors spatially constrain a capacity expansion model that projects generation and transmission additions to the grid. The projected new capacity-builds are then evaluated on their operations, reliability, and cost under average and extreme climate conditions using production cost modeling. This coupled framework is demonstrated on the electric grid in the Western U.S., supporting capacity expansion planning by WECC, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) regional entity responsible for reliability.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Research Sub-Category
Climate Change
Status
complete
Completion Date
2021
- Conventional Hydro
Extreme Weather Events with High Renewable Energy Penetrations
Lead Companies
NREL
Lead Researcher (s)
- Josh Novacheck
As weather dependent renewable generation grows, it is important to understand the covariance of renewable resources and load. In a power grid with a high penetration of renewable energy, periods of high system risk no longer correspond only to peak hours. In particular, high renewable energy complicates the stress extreme weather events already place on the grid, and it shifts what types of weather conditions are most problematic. Accordingly, reliability assessments in long-term planning studies may change dramatically in the coming years. This may impact how utilities and grid operators assess reliability in long-term planning. Weather that stresses grid resilience typically does so by creating peak loads across a broad region, at the same time as placing constraints and increasing outage potential for transmission and generation. Two examples are cold snap event like the "Polar Vortex" of January 2014 and extreme heat events like that which the Southwest United States experienced in June 2017. The Extreme cold weather event saw record low temperatures extending from the northern tier states all the way to the Gulf coast, which led to extreme heating loads and the forced outage of conventional generators in states where generating plants were ill equipped to deal temperatures.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Research Sub-Category
Climate Change
Status
complete
Completion Date
2021
- Conventional Hydro
SECURE Water Act Section 9505 Assessment
Lead Companies
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
Lead Researcher (s)
- Shih-Chieh Kao (kaos@ornl.gov)
The U.S. Department of Energy was directed by Section 9505 of the SECURE Water Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-11) to submit a report to Congress on each effect of, and risk resulting from, global climate change with respect to: (1) water supplies used for hydroelectric power generation; and (2) power supplies marketed by each Federal Power Marketing Administration. To evaluate the potential effects on the 132 federal hydropower plants in the United States, ORNL designed a spatially consistent assessment approach to enable interregional comparisons. This approach uses a series of hyper-resolution meteorologic, hydrologic, and hydropower models to produce the most up-to-date understanding of long-term hydro-meteorological trends on future hydroelectric generation from federal facilities.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Climate Change
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Conventional Hydro
Streamflow Assessment Toolkit for Changing Conditions
Lead Companies
CEATI International
Lead Researcher (s)
- #0433
The overarching objective of the project is to develop numeric analysis tools, customized to the hydropower industry, to answer a variety of specific questions based on streamflow time series.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Climate Change
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
Expected 2021
- Conventional Hydro
TIP 304: Predicting the Hydrologic Response of the Columbia River System to Climate Change
Lead Companies
BPA/Univ. of Washington (UW) Oregon State University (OSU)
Lead Researcher (s)
- Erik Pytlak, BPA
This project updates and enhances the existing climate change streamflow hydrologic dataset that was developed for use by the Columbia River Basin Management Joint Operating Committee (RMJOC) in 2009-2011 to incorporate recent global and regional model output. These data sets have been delivered in a format that can be used by BPA and its partners as input to their hydroregulation models.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Climate Change
Status
complete
Completion Date
2016
Don’t see your waterpower research?
Have questions about WaRP?
Contact Marla Barnes at: marla@hydro.org