2020 Cost Analysis of Hydropower Options at Non-Powered Dams

An Assessment of Non-Powered Dam Hydropower Development Opportunities in the United States

“…Pre-feasibility cost estimates for the sites evaluated in this study were extracted from the results of a recent analysis of project costs for the 50,000+ sites included in the 2012 NPD Resource Assessment (Hadjerioua et al 2012). The cost analysis was performed using a reduced-form model of NPD hydropower costs (Oladosu 2022), which consisted of a set of parametric equations developed from detailed cost simulations for 20 reference sites by Oladosu et al (2021). The equations determine the design flow, head, plant capacity, and plant cost components for a given site.…”

“…Initial estimates of potential for undeveloped sites in the United States were produced by Idaho National Laboratory (Conner et al 1998). More recently, potential capacity was assessed specifically for NPDs based on the best-available public dam locations and flow information (Hadjerioua et al 2012) DOE also recently funded ORNL to conduct a cost analysis of hydropower options at NPDs (Oladosu et al 2021). That analysis followed a similar approach to the approach used herein; however, the objectives and scope of the two efforts vary.…”

“…• General retrofit assessment (n = 42): o 67% of the 42 recent retrofits became operational from 2010 to 2019 (Figure 2). o No predominant spillway type (evaluated in Oladosu et al (2021) was observed (Figure 3). o 50% of the 42 recent retrofits were classified as high-hazard dams 12 (Figure 4).…”

Needs and Opportunities for Testing of Hydropower Technology Innovations

“…• Advanced manufacturing nonconventional materials: As introduced in Section 2.1.2.4, the advent of alternative materials and advanced manufacturing techniques will likely benefit emerging technology across all five physical design categories of the hydropower landscape. A recent cost analysis conducted by ORNL found that near-term innovations might adopt non-steel materials for water conveyance and penstocks to reduce costs and improve flexibility for maintenance and retrofits (Oladosu, George, and Wells 2021). Fiberglass-reinforced plastic, centrifugally cast fiberglassreinforced polymer mortar (e.g., Hobas 31 ), and high-density polyethylene (e.g., Weholite 32 ) could be used for penstocks, draft tubes, and other pressurized conduits.…”

Non-Powered Dam Custom Analysis and Taxonomy (NPDamCAT) Framework

“…Compared with greenfield hydropower development, adding generation capabilities to NPDs generally assumes "that many of the costs and environmental impacts of dam construction have already been incurred at NPDs and may not be significantly increased by the incorporation of new energy production facilities" (Hadjerioua, Wei, and Kao 2012). ORNL conducted a recent cost analysis that found that adopting near-term technological innovations could reduce the baseline costs for hydropower retrofit projects at NPDs (Oladosu, George, and Wells 2021), reducing capital costs per kilowatt and slightly increasing the capacity factor, thus reducing the levelized cost of energy. Advantages of retrofitting NPDs include reduced capital costs (which already were incurred during dam construction and reservoir formation) and fewer new impacts from flow and ecosystem alteration.…”