PNWA supports two bills introduced on July 13 by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, to boost federal support for hydropower.
 
The Hydropower Improvement Act (HIA) of 2010, S.3570, is cosponsored by Senators Murray, Cantwell, Crapo and Risch.  The bill states, "It is the sense of Congress that the United States should increase substantially the capacity and generation of clean, renewable hydropower resources which will improve environmental quality in the United States and support hundreds of thousands of green energy jobs."
 
S.3570 directs the Secretary of Energy to make competitive grants to eligible entities that make efficiency improvements or capacity additions at an existing hydroelectric power generating facility; add hydropower generation to a nonpower dam; develop pumped storage facilities; address aging infrastructure at existing hydroelectric power generating facilities; and develop hydroelectric generation within existing conduits.
 
The bill authorizes $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 through 2015. Projects that produce power sold by Power Marketing Agencies, such as BPA, are not eligible.  PNWA and several of its members will seek to modify this section of the bill as it moves through Congress. We would like BPA to be eligible for federal funding for capacity improvements and the potential development of pumped storage capabilities.
 
The bill directs Bureau of Reclamation to conduct a study of barriers to non-Federal hydropower development at Bureau of Reclamation projects and directs United States Geological Survey to conduct a study of Federal land that is well-suited for pumped storage sites and is located near existing or potential sites of intermittent renewable resource development, such as wind farms.
 
The HIA also broadens the National Renewable Energy Development Program. The bill makes grants available to public and private utilities and coops for renewable energy projects including small hydro, ocean, solar, wind, biomass and other renewable energy sources.
 
Sen. Murkowski's second bill, the Hydropower Renewable Energy Development Act of 2010, S.3571, expands the definition of renewable energy to include hydropower.  It states, "...for purposes of any Federal program or standard, the term ''renewable energy'' shall include hydroelectric energy generated in the United States by a hydroelectric facility, including electric power produced by efficiency improvements and capacity additions, generation added to nonpower dams, conduits, pumped storage facilities, marine and hydrokinetic resources, and conventional hydropower.
 
Staff contact: Glenn Vanselow