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The United States Department of Energy (“DOE”) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy issued a February 27th Federal Register Notice containing a Request for Information (“RFI”) seeking information on:

. . . understanding, accessing, and utilizing the full potential of the hydropower fleet, including pumped storage, to contribute to electric grid resiliency and reliability.

See 83 Fed. Reg. 8465.

DOE’s RFI seeks information related to:

• Pumped storage and traditional hydropower
• New technology design
• Modeling and analysis assessing the range of value streams hydropower provides in the current and future power grid

Feedback is sought from:

• Electric utilities
• Reliability oversight entities
• Regulatory commissions
• Electricity market operators
• Electric storage developers
• Hydropower owners and operators
• Federal hydropower asset managers and marketers
• Hydropower facility regulators
• Public and private financing institutions
• Environmental and recreational non-profits
• Industry associations
• Academia
• Research laboratories
• Government agencies
• Other stakeholders on issues related to pump storage hydropower and existing hydroelectric facilities

Specific interest is expressed in understanding what are characterized as “critical gaps” in:

• Pump storage and hydropower evaluation data analysis
• Barriers to expanding pump storage and hydropower’s value proposition that could be overcome through research

A copy of the Federal Register Notice can be downloaded here.