Advanced Hydro Turbine Project
The hydro industry, with a jumpstart from the Hydro Research Foundation, joined with the Department of Energy and other federal agencies in an accelerated research and development program to create a new generation of hydro turbines. The goal is to minimize environmental impacts to aquatic life in our rivers and, at the same time, provide a more economical energy supply for consumers by increasing plant efficiency.
Development of advanced hydro turbine systems will place the industry in the forefront of our nation’s energy future. This research will address the environmental impact in a way that minimizes the need for mitigation efforts. Specific program objectives include:
- Minimize environmental impact to aquatic life
- Increase hydropower plant efficiency, creating savings for the consumer
- Reduce regulatory burdens, operation and mitigation costs and delays in the licensing process
- Make funds available for other public benefits including recreation, drinking water, navigation, irrigation and flood control
- Provide a competitive edge for the nation’s technology exports
- Encourage cooperation over conflict among industry, government and environmental entities.
The hydropower industry has demonstrated its commitment to a viable and economically/environmentally sound future for hydropower generation through its willingness to contribute funds and resources to programs such as the Advanced Hydro Turbine Project. In addition to the obvious environmental benefits of an advanced turbine program, the foundation’s action set a precedent by using a cooperative/collaborate approach in addressing common challenges. Their commitment has made them a leader in opening doors for research opportunities and finding effective solutions for challenges facing the hydropower resource.
Click here for a complete program description
Malad River Trout Modeling Project
The Idaho Power Company (IPC) developed a model with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to assess the flow-related impacts of IPC's Malad River Hydroelectric Project on rainbow trout. As a non-profit, charitable foundation, the Hydro Research Foundation was able to serve as the mechanism to fund this environmental research.
The Malad River contains one of the few self-sustaining, tributary populations of rainbow trout remaining in the middle Snake River, located in Idaho. Hydroelectric development in the Malad River involves the diversion of water away from the river through power plants, dividing the river into three one-mile reaches separated by two diversion dams and a natural waterfall.
ORNL is developing an individual-based model to link hydropower operations to trout resources. The model will represent all the stages in the rainbow trout life cycle in the Malad River, including movement patterns among diverted reaches and the main stem of the Snake River. The model-building process will be used for other purposes besides impact assessment, including design and synthesis of field data collection and as a means of communication with state and federal fish management agencies.
The modeling results of this project will be incorporated into a new license application, due to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on July 31, 2002.
The population modeling approach used here is based on research originally supported under EPRI's Compensatory Mechanisms in Fish Populations (CompMech) Program and expanded for site-specific application to the Malad. The conceptual phase of the project was supported with EPRI Tailored Collaboration funding. Current funding is being managed through the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho Operations Office, which oversees hydropower-related research and development at ORNL.
For more information on this project, contact Steve Brink, Idaho Power Company srb2224@idahopower.com or Michael J. Sale, Oak Ridge National Laboratory jon@ornl.gov.
Hydro Power Contest
The Hydro Power Contest is an educational opportunity where students work with instructors, other interested people and hydropower industry professionals to demonstrate their ideas for turning water into power. The first competition was held in 1991. The competition is coordinated and administered by Hands-On! Projects. Financial contributions to support the contest are administered through the HRF. The contest has received broad hydropower industry and engineering support. More than 35 colleges and universities and hundreds of students participate in this contest and use the experience as a practical part of their engineering education. For more information on the contest, including rules, entry requirements and participation opportunities, click here.
R & D Forum
Research and development efforts are important not only to sustain, but continuously improve the world's leading source of renewable electricity—hydropower. Although the roots of hydropower—and hydro R&D—extend back more than a century, hydro needs continual infusions of new ideas and technology. These infusions help to ensure that hydropower maintains and enhances its contributions to electricity supply and that hydro facilities operate in harmony with the environment. Two R&D Forums have been held to address these goals—the first in 1992 and the most recent in July of 2001. The HRF provided support for the July 2001 Forum where a group of hydro industry professionals from throughout the world gathered together to consider and develop an agenda for future hydro industry research and development activities. Forum objectives include:
- Review ongoing and planned indusry research efforts.
- Identify and suggest specific research issues/topics to address.
- Identify organizations that can support or undertake new research.
- Prepare/disseminate a report to document/communicate Forum information/recommendations.
For additional information, click here.
Project NEED
Today’s students are tomorrow’s consumers, voters, educators, and leaders. They NEED to understand energy issues. The NEED (National Energy Education Development) Project ensures that they will.
HRF is pleased to provide an annual contribution to NEED. In addition, an HRF representative has been a member of the NEED Board of Directors for the last eight years. With NEED staff, HRF helps assure that hydropower is part of the energy resource mix that students study nationally. The ability to provide balanced and informative information is critically important to both organizations.
The NEED Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit education association established to educate America’s students about energy issues. Since its inception in 1980, the NEED Project has become the nation’s authoritative source for comprehensive energy education materials and teach training programs, More than 6,000 schools in 35 states use the NEED program in their classrooms.
Each year, NEED conducts hundreds of workshops for teachers and education professionals that provide training and materials necessary to implement the NEED curriculum and introduce effective energy education programs in their districts. Using NEED materials provided through local NEED affiliates or via the Internet, teachers are able to transform their classrooms into cooperative laboratories where students learn by engaging in each aspect of the energy process.
The NEED Program provides an innovative K-12 curriculum. All NEED materials are correlated to the National Science Education Content Standards and to many state standards. NEED offers hand-on science kits that explore all forms of energy, energy transformations, electricity, and energy management for schools.
For more information:
The NEED Project
P.O. Box 10101
Manassas, VA 20108
(1) 800-875-5029
www.NEED.org
Project Aware/Renewable Energy Debate
In 1997, "renewable energy" was the national debate topic for competitive high school debate during the 1997-1998 school year. The HRF seized the unique opportunity to catalogue and provide information to students, teachers and coaches involved in high school debate. Project Aware, originally a National Hydropower Association program designed to develop educational materials about hydropower and funded by member company contributions, provided the catalyst for the Renewable Energy Debate project. Project Aware and its financial base were transferred to the foundation to support educational projects and more specifically, to put the HRF in a leadership role in supporting and promoting the Renewable Energy Debate project.
A tremendous volume of information was reviewed, referenced and cataloged. Only accurate, credible information considered helpful to the project was made part of a vast library of reference material. Debate teams were identified and packages of information about hydropower were sent to thousands of high school debaters, their teachers and coaches. The material was divided into packets of information meant to assist the debater, coach and/or teacher. Ultimately, more than 10,000 students were directly aided by the dissemination of the material and perhaps as many as 50,000 students were made aware of the benefits of hydropower having participated in the debates.
This effort – an exciting way to help inform the next generation of leaders and decision-makers – was undertaken in cooperation with HCI Publications, publisher of Hydro Review magazine and the organization responsible for gathering, organizing and distributing the information.
Coloring Contest
In the spring of 1998, the HRF sponsored an art contest for children 12 years of age and younger. The contestants were asked to color in a drawing and write a short statement describing the importance of water to them. The tremendous response indicates that today’s young people understand the important role water plays to our survival—including the role of using water to generate clean and renewable power!
Thanks to all the moms, dads, brothers, sisters, teachers and, of course, the kids who made this contest possible.
Winners received the NHA "Go Wild For Hydro" Zoo T-shirt, featuring original artwork by Zoe Pantelides.
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