Today, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) announced a Notice of Opportunity for Technical Assistance (NOTA) for Improving Hydropower’s Value Through Informed Decision-Making. Part of WPTO’s HydroWIRES (Water Innovation for a Resilient Electricity System) Initiative, this opportunity will provide hydropower decision makers—such as utilities and system operators—with National Lab expertise and capabilities to address current challenges and capture new opportunities for their systems.

Additionally, the work under this NOTA can help to validate National Lab-led modeling, analysis, and tools developed under the HydroWIRES Initiative for the benefit of the broader hydropower community, as well as further our collective understanding of possible roles for hydropower in an evolving grid.

"By working directly with industry and applying the world-class expertise and capabilities of our National Labs to real-world challenges, we’re able to demonstrate and validate decision-making tools and methodologies that will help the broader hydropower industry,” said Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Daniel R Simmons. “We’re excited to see firsthand how our work supports hydropower decision makers and translates to industry impacts."

Topic areas for technical assistance include: