Hydroelectric power may be in danger of fading away if federal regulations that haven’t kept pace with the technology aren’t fixed, industry proponents say.
The National Hydropower Association met in force this week to address what it considers a regulatory crisis, with strategists saying the industry will make passage of comprehensive legislation that addresses the problem its top priority this year.
Hydroelectric power is the only form of renewable energy that can provide uninterrupted electricity akin to coal and natural gas.
The action is slated to begin in the House, where Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., issued a draft bill last week, ahead of the trade association’s annual meeting in Washington.
The draft bill seeks several long-term fixes to shorten the licensing process and avoid duplicative environmental reviews that slow licensing approvals for new and existing facilities. Since the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is the lead agency in certifying and licensing hydropower facilities, the draft seeks to make the commission’s review process more efficient.
Many of the processes for conducting licensing reviews are nearly 100 years old and must be updated, according to the draft.
Hydropower is one of the largest renewable energy resources in the country and is the only form of clean energy that is considered “baseload,” meaning it can provide electricity around the clock without interruption. Wind turbines, solar cells and panels cannot do the same, say hydropower proponents.
Hydropower represents nearly 50 percent of all renewable electricity in the country and provides 6 percent of all U.S. electricity, according to Rodgers’ office.
The draft bill notes that “hydropower is the largest source of renewable electricity in the United States and expands the nation’s ability to rely on many other renewable energy resources by stabilizing intermittent resources such as solar and wind power.”
The problem facing the bill is the House Energy and Commerce Committee leadership will likely need some convincing, according to a top Democrat on the panel.
Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., warned hydropower association members on Monday of an uphill battle to convince the energy committee to pass any legislation that does not include fossil fuels.
Tonko, who has helped to shuttle through legislation to assist the hydroelectric industry in the past, said the energy committee had started off by embracing a bipartisan energy agenda. But that early approach by the GOP has devolved into a much more partisan push for legislation, he said. He equated the change in tack to “stall tactics” meant to delay clean energy bills in favor of fossil fuels.
“That is not leadership. That is not vision. They happen to be stall tactics … to hold back the tide of change that is already well underway,” the Democrat said in an address to the industry’s annual conference.
Nevertheless, a number of hydropower plants need to be relicensed, a process that will be slowed if a regulatory reform bill is not passed.
The Obama administration supports hydroelectric power, using the conference to release two reports providing the first survey of the nation’s hydro capacity. The reports shows 331 new hydropower projects in the development pipeline, with 250 existing plants slated for relicensing. The current fleet consists of more than 2,700 plants, with the most capacity in the Northwest.
Amid the push for licensing reform, drought conditions in California and the Southwest are forcing hydropower plants and dams there to ask the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for variances in their licenses to allow for lower-than-expected water levels.
The report released by the Energy Department shows that many companies are beginning to implement adaptation strategies to deal with the drought. Hoover Dam, for example, has installed more efficient turbines. The “new wide head range turbines at Hoover Dam … allow more efficient operation over a wider range of reservoir levels than the turbines used until now.”
The plants slated for relicensing total more than 11,000 megawatts of capacity, said National Hydropower Association Executive Director Linda Ciocci. She said she hopes the draft is crafted into a bill that will be passed by the end of the year.
Senate Energy Committee Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, plans to include hydropower legislation in a suite of bills she plans to begin introducing this week, a spokesman said.
“Yes, hydropower legislation is a priority. We plan on introducing a number of bills this week for consideration next month. I expect measures related to hydropower to be included,” the spokesman said.
Ciocci said the Energy Department reports help underscore the need for licensing reform. “Reducing uncertainties in the licensing process for projects, existing and new, shortening the time for obtaining approvals and shrinking regulatory costs will ensure that hydropower continues to play a growing role in our nation’s ‘all of the above’ energy strategy,” she said.
