Grid Integration With Hydropower
NREL's cutting-edge grid integration research addresses hydropower's role in grid
planning, operations modeling, reliability and resilience, and how hydropower connects
to other sectors.
NREL is the only national laboratory able to perform interconnectionwide modeling and analysis down to nodal resolution and millisecond timescales—an important capability
for understanding the full value of both hydropower and pumped storage hydropower.
This expertise is leveraged from our previous successes with wind and solar integration
research and applied to the hydropower industry.
At NREL, researchers leverage high-performance computing capabilities to run complex simulations of grid operations and renewable energy integration, providing critical insights for energy system decision makers. NREL’s latest supercomputer, Kestrel,
has a peak performance of 44 PetaFLOPS—meaning it can perform 44 quadrillion calculations per second—along with its combination of CPU (central processing units) and GPU (graphics processing units) resources, NREL can efficiently run large-scale,
data-intensive simulations. Examples of this work include:
National Transmission Planning Study
Eastern Renewable Generation Integration
These simulations support studies from the perspective of grid operators, plant developers, and investors, aiding in the understanding of how new hydropower technologies, like pumped storage, can enhance grid stability and reduce costs. Examples of our
stakeholder-engagement include:
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Pumped Storage Techno-Economic Studies
Pumped Storage Hydropower Valuation Guidance, which helps stakeholders assess the financial value of potential hydropower
projects
The Kestrel system also supports real-world validation of these models, working with industry partners like Absaroka Energy and FFP Project 101 LLC to evaluate the operational benefits of projects like Banner Mountain and Goldendale.
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NREL's grid planning researchers improve hydropower's representation and its ability to provide high-capacity, extended-duration storage in capacity expansion models—a capability that is increasingly important as renewable deployments increase.
We utilize two models:
Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS): NREL's flagship capacity planning model for the North American electricity system.
The Engage™ Energy Modeling Tool: NREL’s user-friendly capacity planning model suitable for flexible deployment to represent small systems in quick turnaround analysis.
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Like our work in capacity expansion planning, NREL works to improve hydropower's representation in grid operations modeling.
Framework for Linked Analysis of Streamflow and Hydropower
With support from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office, NREL researchers are developing the Framework for Linked Analysis of Streamflow and Hydropower (FLASH), a systems-engineering-based approach that will improve hydropower's representation in grid operations modeling.
FLASH combines NREL's grid integration expertise with the river-basin-scale modeling and water forecasting expertise of RTI International, a North Carolina-based nonprofit research organization and partner on this project.
North American Renewable Integration Study
NREL's research in this area spans multiple scales, from the North American Renewable Integration Study (NARIS) that looks at hydro's ability to enable ever-increasing amounts of clean energy to investigating how small, cascading hydro can be operated so that plants meet revenue objectives without significantly impacting a river's natural flows.
NARIS' hydropower research helps the water power industry understand the value of hydropower and pumped storage hydropower to an evolving, North American grid. The study will identify aspects of flexibility that will be valuable in the future grid so new technologies can be tailored to provide enhanced grid value.
Additional Research Projects
NREL researches the value of new pumped storage hydropower technologies and projects from the perspective of the developer, owner, and operator—helping each better understand the worth of their investments.
For our ternary project, we worked with the developer, Absaroka Energy, and its equipment provider, General Electric Renewable Energy, to investigate the value of ternary pumped storage to the Pacific Northwest and California markets.
In our Obermeyer Hydro project, we supported Obermeyer in its efforts to design and site an easy-to-install turbine that is expected to markedly reduce civil works costs.
We also worked closely with Natel Energy to develop a control strategy for operating a series of small, low-impact, cascading hydro plants so the plants would meet revenue objectives without significantly impacting a river's natural flows—addressing a critical environmental concern and providing the possibility of using small-scale hydropower for stream restoration.
Additionally, NREL is developing the next generation of grid operation simulation software. This research, which is part of DOE's Water Power Technology Office's HydroWIRES initiative and NREL's Scalable Integrated Infrastructure Planning (SIIP) Project, will:
- Integrate river-basin and reservoir operations water models into the SIIP grid operations framework
- Improve hydropower's representation in grid operations models
- Allow the near-term and seasonal value of water to be included in grid dispatch decisions.
We are leveraging techniques learned in our integrated energy system and ReEDS capacity expansion work to benefit hydropower.
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NREL supports the DOE Water Power Technologies Office's HydroWIRES (Water Innovation for a Resilient Electricity System) Initiative.
The HydroWIRES Initiative focuses
on understanding, enabling, and improving the full potential of hydropower and pumped storage hydropower to contribute to reliability, resilience, and integration in a rapidly evolving electric system.
NREL is also one of nine national
labs selected to champion its own lab-directed project and advance the HydroWIRES Initiative. The lab is leading an effort to evaluate novel hydropower controls—which govern how fast generators spin—in a low-risk, simulated environment
rather than a risky, expensive, and time-consuming field validation. The real-world simulation will validate how well new controls handle various grid conditions.
The HydroWIRES portfolio includes four research areas:
- Value Under Evolving System Conditions
- Capabilities and Constraints
- Operations and Planning
- Technology Innovation.
The first two areas establish a baseline understanding of what services may be most valuable for the grid and what services hydropower can contribute. The third research area defines how these findings can be operationalized (i.e., it illustrates
how the fleet can take advantage of opportunities in terms of operations and planning). The final research area integrates findings from the others to inform technology development and innovation that can expand hydropower and pumped storage technologies'
abilities to provide valuable grid services. NREL provides leadership in research areas 2 and 3.
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NREL researchers are investigating the environmental impacts of hydropower, working to optimize its integration into a low-carbon electricity grid while mitigating negative environmental impacts.
Renewable Energy Focus Study
NREL partnered with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to use a production cost model to understand the role of hydropower in a U.S. power grid with increasing levels of renewable energy. Results, published in December 2022 in the Renewable Energy Focus article, Hydropower Operation in Future Power Grid With Various Renewable Power Integration, point to future hydropower costs and use relying on water availability, which needs to be accurately understood to inform system operations.
Water Biology and Security Study
NREL collaborated with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to analyze how shifts in hydropower operations affect hydropower plants’ effects on aquatic environments. Using power cost modeling, researchers characterized how current and future seasonal patterns could impact hydropower’s contribution to the grid as well as local environments. Results, published August 2022 in Water Biology and Security under the title, Shifts in Hydropower Operation To Balance Wind and Solar Will Modify Effects on Aquatic Biota, note that the shift away from fossils fuels will increase the demand for flexible hydropower to stabilize wind and solar energy in the grid. Aquatic environments might be affected by changes in water flow to meet this rising demand, but mitigation options in this study point the industry toward potential solutions.
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Last Updated April 1, 2025