Hydroelectricity - Energy Policy Analysis: A Conceptual Framework - page 154

of the economically viable hydro sites in the United States were developed long ago and already
play a role in providing our electrical power (USDOI et al. 2007).
Hydroelectric power in 2003 was generated at more than 2,000 facilities in fifty states and
Puerto Rico, contributing approximately 80,000 megawatts of generating capacity, representing
about 10 percent of total U.S. electrical generating capability. In the Pacific Northwest alone,
hydropower provides about two-thirds of the region's electricity supply (USEPA 2011). Accord-
ing to an assessment conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the estimated average
available hydropower at undeveloped sites in the United States is 170,000 MWe, not counting
areas excluded from development by federal statutes and policies. The Alaska Region contains
the largest available potential with slightly less than 45,000 MWe. The Pacific Northwest Region
has the second highest amount of available potential with almost 40,000 MWe. Together these
two regions contain about half of the estimated undeveloped U.S. hydropower potential (USDOE
2003, 15).
Run-of-the-river resources with less than 1 MWe of power make up about 50,000 MWe of
the total available potential. These resources could be captured using technologies not requir-
ing the use of dams, thus avoiding many environmental impacts. Development of about 30
percent of these resources would require unconventional systems or micro hydro technologies.
Partial use of the remaining available potential of approximately 120,000 MWe of resources
greater than or equal to 1 MWe represents an additional source of power potential that could be
captured using conventional turbine technology in configurations offering the same low impact
environmental benefits (USDOE 2003, 15). Beyond these undeveloped resources, the National
Hydropower Association estimates that more than 4,300 MWe of additional or “incremental”
hydropower capacity could be brought on line by upgrading or augmenting existing facilities
(USDOE 2003, 2-3).
A more recent multi-agency study of the potential for increasing electric power production at
federally owned or operated water regulation, storage, and conveyance facilities examined 871
existing federal facilities, with and without hydroelectric generating capability, assessing their
physical capacity for generation or generation expansion and their economic viability based
on comparisons with regional electric power rates. Based on economic conditions in 2006, the
report found a total of sixty-four potentially viable sites at federal facilities managed by the
Bureau of Reclamation and Army Corps of Engineers that could demonstrate both physical and
economic conditions sufficient to warrant further exploration for additional hydropower devel-
opment. The total additional capacity at these sites was estimated at 1,230 MWe. Additional
opportunities for refurbishment of some facilities with existing hydropower could result in the
addition of approximately 1,283 MWe of generating capacity. These are not large numbers. It
is unlikely hydropower will ever contribute a larger portion of national energy supply than it
does today, and the portion will probably shrink as energy demand increases with population
growth in future.
National Security Costs of Utilizing Hydropower
Rainfall, changes in elevation, and steel and limestone, from which concrete is made, are common
in the United States. Thus, production of hydroelectric energy depends upon domestic resources,
and no country or group of countries is able to control supplies or determine price.
Outside the tropics, hydroelectric reservoirs produce almost no carbon emissions or green-
house gases. Consequently, utilizing hydroelectric power technologies will not contribute much
to climate change or sea level rise. Hydro technologies do not produce substantial amounts of