Hydropower in the US could grow to 150GW by 2050 from about 101GW currently through technological advancements, new market mechanisms and a focus on sustainability, according to the Department of Energy (DOE).
In a new report – Hydropower Vision: A New Chapter for America’s First Renewable Electricity Source – DOE provides a roadmap that outlines a range of actions needed to realise the economic and social benefits of increased hydropower.
According to the roadmap, driving long-term cost reductions will require continued technology development and collaboration among industry experts, federal agencies and academia.
The report said that pumped-storage hydro can create an additional 36GW of capacity, more than doubling the current 21.6GW.
The hydropower sector could also contribute to economic development by supporting more than 195,000 jobs and result in $150bn in cumulative economic development by 2050, DOE said.
It also announced that $9.8m is being made available for up to 12 projects to develop innovative technologies that will reduce capital costs and deployment timelines for pumped-storage hydropower and non-powered dams.
The pumped-storage projects will study the feasibility of innovative concepts for closed-loop pumped-storage hydropower systems, DOE said.
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