Abstract

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Virtual Hydropower Prospecting
Track: Water Resources
Author(s): Randy Lee

The U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory in conjunction with the U.S. Geological Survey has developed research tools and techniques that result in a comprehensive assessment of the power potential of all natural streams within a study area, the determination of which resources are feasible for development, and graphical display of resource sites for evaluation and development planning. These tools and techniques have been applied to assess the water energy resources in all of the 20 hydrologic regions covering the 50 states of the United States of America. The methods used to perform the basic resource assessment and subsequent feasibility assessment will be described, and summary assessment results will be presented. A GIS application available on the Internet that displays countrywide assessment results in the context of features such as populated areas, the power system, roads, and land use will be described and demonstrated on site.

Randy Lee
Idaho National Laboratory
Geospatial Science and Engineering
PO Box 1625
Idaho Falls , ID 83415-2213
US
Phone: 208.526.0120
E-mail: randy.lee@inl.gov