42 U.S.C. § 17213 — Hydropower research, development, and demonstration

submitted 6 years ago by Pub. L. 110-140 to r/title-42-THE-PUBLIC-HEALTH-AND-WELFARE · 651 words · no verdicts yet

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The Secretary must run a broad hydropower research program covering dams, pumped storage, and new technology to improve capacity, cost, reliability, and environmental impact. It includes developing new equipment and materials, improving grid integration and licensing, and researching effects on fish and waterways.

The Secretary must run a research, development, demonstration, and commercial-application program for technologies that improve hydropower systems' capacity, efficiency, resilience, security, reliability, affordability, and environmental impact. The Secretary must prioritize: (1) developing technology for non-powered dams (including aging and hazardous ones), pumped storage, constructed waterways, new stream-reach development, modular and small dams, more operational flexibility, and upgrades to existing facilities; (2) developing new strategies, analytical methods, and computing tools — and ways to validate them — to extend hydropower systems' operating life while improving environmental impact, help design and maintain systems, and cut costs and outages; (3) studying, with other relevant federal agencies, ways to improve the hydropower licensing process, including compiling best practices and assessing environmental and economic impacts; (4) finding chances for joint research between hydropower systems and other renewable, storage, or hybrid energy systems, or critical infrastructure and responsive-load technologies like smart buildings; (5) improving hydropower technologies' reliability, including during extreme weather; (6) developing methods to reduce environmental impact on wildlife, fisheries, aquatic life, navigation, and upstream and downstream conditions like sediment, water quality, and flow; (7) increasing power generation through better plant configurations, pump-back efficiency, multi-phase systems, advanced generators and turbines, standardized components, and advanced materials and manufacturing; (8) advancing new pumped storage technology, including adjustable-speed systems, modular systems, and alternative closed-loop systems like mines and quarries; (9) reducing construction costs and time for hydropower and pumped storage, including through data analysis of construction processes; (10) improving integration with the electric grid through better forecasting, aggregating small hydropower assets, and identifying barriers to grid-scale use; (11) improving computational fluid dynamic modeling methods; (12) improving flow measurement methods, including maintaining continuous flow measurement equipment; (13) finding the best ways to compile data on hydropower resources and assets, including capacity potential; and (14) finding ways to test and validate hydropower and pumped storage technology performance.

the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

The Secretary shall conduct a program of research, development, demonstration, and commercial application for technologies that improve the capacity, efficiency, resilience, security, reliability, affordability, and environmental impact, including potential cumulative environmental impacts, of hydropower systems. In carrying out such program, the Secretary shall prioritize activities designed to—

(1)

develop technology for—

(A)

non-powered dams, including aging and potentially hazardous dams;

(B)

pumped storage;

(C)

constructed waterways;

(D)

new stream-reach development;

(E)

modular and small dams;

(F)

increased operational flexibility; and

(G)

enhancement of relevant existing facilities;

(2)

develop new strategies and technologies, including analytical methods, physical and numerical tools, and advanced computing, as well as methods to validate such methods and tools, in order to—

(A)

extend the operational lifetime of hydropower systems and their physical structures, while improving environmental impact, including potential cumulative environmental impacts;

(B)

assist in device and system design, installation, operation, and maintenance; and

(C)

reduce costs, limit outages, and increase unit and plant efficiencies, including by examining the impact of changing water and electricity demand on hydropower generation, flexibility, and provision of grid services;

(3)

study, in conjunction with other relevant Federal agencies as appropriate, methods to improve the hydropower licensing process, including by compiling current and accepted best practices, public comments, and methodologies to assess the full range of potential environmental and economic impacts;

(4)

identify opportunities for joint research, development, and demonstration programs between hydropower systems, which may include—

(A)

pumped storage systems and other renewable energy systems;

(B)

small hydro facilities and other energy storage systems;

(C)

other hybrid energy systems;

(D)

small hydro facilities and critical infrastructure, including water infrastructure; and

(E)

hydro facilities and responsive load technologies, which may include smart buildings and city systems;

(5)

improve the reliability of hydropower technologies, including during extreme weather events;

(6)

develop methods and technologies to improve environmental impact, including potential cumulative environmental impacts, of hydropower and pumped storage technologies, including potential impacts on wildlife, such as—

(A)

fisheries;

(B)

aquatic life and resources;

(C)

navigation of waterways; and

(D)

upstream and downstream environmental conditions, including sediment movement, water quality, and flow volumes;

(7)

identify ways to increase power generation by—

(A)

diversifying plant configuration options;

(B)

improving pump-back efficiencies;

(C)

investigating multi-phase systems;

(D)

developing, testing, and monitoring advanced generators with faster cycling times, variable speeds, and improved efficiencies;

(E)

developing, testing, and monitoring advanced turbines capable of improving environmental impact, including potential cumulative environmental impacts, including small turbine designs;

(F)

developing standardized powertrain components;

(G)

developing components with advanced materials and manufacturing processes, including additive manufacturing; and

(H)

developing analytical tools that enable hydropower to provide grid services that, amongst other services, improve grid integration of other energy sources;

(8)

advance new pumped storage technologies, including—

(A)

systems with adjustable speed and other new pumping and generating equipment designs;

(B)

modular systems;

(C)

alternative closed-loop systems, including mines and quarries; and

(D)

other innovative equipment and materials as determined by the Secretary;

(9)

reduce civil works costs and construction times for hydropower and pumped storage systems, including comprehensive data and systems analysis of hydropower and pumped storage construction technologies and processes in order to identify areas for whole-system efficiency gains;

(10)

advance efficient and reliable integration of hydropower and pumped storage systems with the electric grid by—

(A)

improving methods for operational forecasting of renewable energy systems to identify opportunities for hydropower applications in pumped storage and hybrid energy systems, including forecasting of seasonal and annual energy storage;

(B)

considering aggregating small distributed hydropower assets; and

(C)

identifying barriers to grid scale implementation of hydropower and pumped storage technologies;

(11)

improve computational fluid dynamic modeling methods;

(12)

improve flow measurement methods, including maintenance of continuous flow measurement equipment;

(13)

identify best methods for compiling data on all hydropower resources and assets, including identifying potential for increased capacity; and

(14)

identify mechanisms to test and validate performance of hydropower and pumped storage technologies.

Source credit: (Pub. L. 110–140, title VI, § 634, as added Pub. L. 116–260, div. Z, title III, § 3001(a), Dec. 27, 2020, 134 Stat. 2480.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit

2020Enacted · Pub. L. 110-140 · 134 Stat. 2480

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 110-140 on 2020-12-27.

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