The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO), seeks comments on the testing facilities and capabilities for use by technology developers, manufacturers, designers, construction contractors, owners, regulators, researchers, and other stakeholders to validate and advance emerging and future hydropower technology (including pumped-storage technology) innovations, improved technical procedures, and advanced best practices.
An appropriate definition of testing in this context is activities that validate the health and safety protections, quality, performance, reliability, resilience, or environmental interactions of technology, technical procedures, and best practices. The focus of this RFI is testing for the purpose of validating innovative hydropower technology, improved technical procedures, and advanced best practices—those that have yet to be put into widespread use or practice in the U.S. This includes design innovations, pre-commercial prototypes, initial production versions of innovative technology, and innovative fabrication, construction, operations, and maintenance procedures. However, if there are other needs for testing of commercialized technology in the U.S. that would enable hydropower growth or capability enhancements, WPTO welcomes responses that address those unmet needs.
Testing for other purposes—typical validation of conventional site-specific designs, routine assessment of functional degradation of commercialized and installed products after normal wear and tear or testing to assess loss of function after a catastrophic event— while important activities within hydropower asset operations and maintenance, are not the focus of this RFI.
WPTO seeks input in four specific topics and one general topic: (1) emerging and future hydropower technology innovations, improved technical procedures, advanced best practices, new operating scenarios that will need validation through testing; (2) the current and future availability of and access to testing facilities and capabilities to meet the needs of emerging and future technology validation; (3) the potential and challenges of federal water infrastructure being re-purposed or co-purposed as testing facilities for emerging and future technology; (4) the appropriate priorities, roles, and business models of federally-funded hydropower test facilities; and (5) general responses.
Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically to WPTORFI@ee.doe.gov no later than 5:00pm (ET) on November 1, 2021.