Full Title: Hydropower Supply Chain Gap Analysis
Author(s): Vicky Putsche, Tessa Greco, Elise DeGeorge, and Michael Ingram
Publisher(s): U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date: August 17, 2024
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
In response to Executive Order 14017 on America’s Supply Chains, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) conducted supply chain “deep dives” for renewable energy technologies, including hydropower and large power transformers, a critical part of a hydropower installation. Since the deep dives were published, the Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) has focused on improving our understanding of the hydropower supply chain and developing strategies for addressing supply chain challenges. Because the challenges outlined in the deep dives are most acute for large (greater than 100 megawatts [MW]) hydropower systems, this report focuses on large systems, but it is expected that the recommendations will improve the supply chain for all hydropower systems. Finally, since the federal government owns almost 50% of the nameplate capacity for conventional hydropower systems with 40% (18 gigawatts) of these units being at least 100 MW, the federal fleet is used to prime the development of the supply chain for the rest of industry.
In 2023, DOE’s Secretary of Energy asked WPTO to engage the hydropower community for input on strategies to secure and encourage domestic manufacturing. WPTO has established three focus areas:
• Define the market for rehabilitations and new construction of the hydropower fleet.
• Provide insights for policies, incentives, loan programs, and technology investments to encourage domestic content.
• Define the existing and required domestic hydropower manufacturing capabilities and workforce.
This report summarizes WPTO’s efforts in the listed focus areas and complements the earlier work by further exploring the identified challenges and conducting a detailed gap analysis of the domestic hydropower supply chain. Specific, actionable recommendations are made to address gaps.