Notice of Intent to Issue DE-FOA-0001836: “Innovative Design Concepts for Standard Modular Hydropower and Pumped Storage Hydropower”

Complete information, including the full Notice of Intent, can be found on the EERE Exchange website: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/ The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends to issue, on behalf of the Water Power Technologies Office, a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled “Innovative Design Concepts for Standard Modular Hydropower and Pumped Storage Hydropower.” DOE’s Hydropower Vision report [1] identified 1.7 GW of hydropower potential in undeveloped sites and waterways, with an additional 15 GW enabled by the emergence of innovative—even transformational—technologies and designs to reduce costs and meet environmental performance objectives. To facilitate development of new stream-reach resources, innovation in standardization, modularity, and environmental compatibility is required. In addition, 43 pumped storage hydropower (PSH) plants provide over 95% of utility-scale electrical energy storage in the United States. To expand the value and contribution of PSH in the future electricity system, research into storage technology designs, optimization, and modeling tools is needed. To address these gaps, this FOA solicits new design concepts and associated modeling and analysis for standard modular hydropower and PSH. The FOA may include the following topic areas: Topic Area 1: Facility Designs for Standard Modular Hydropower Development Topic Area 2: New Use Cases for Pumped Storage Hydropower • Sub-topic 2.1: Innovative conceptual designs for pumped storage systems • Sub-topic 2.2: Modeling and analyzing the role of pumped storage in asset and system optimization This is a Notice of Intent (NOI) only. EERE may issue a FOA as described herein, may issue a FOA that is significantly different then the FOA described herein, or EERE may not issue a FOA at all. This Notice is issued so that interested parties are aware of the EERE’s intention to issue this FOA in the near term. All of the information contained in this Notice is subject to change. EERE will not respond to questions concerning this Notice. Once the FOA has been released, EERE will provide an avenue for potential Applicants to submit questions. [1] “2017 Hydropower Market Report Highlights,” U.S. Department of Energy. April, 2018. https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/downloads/2017-hydropower-market-report