Engineering topics

Mcmanamay, Ryan A.

Publications and source records attributed to Mcmanamay, Ryan A..

5 records

DOE OSTI2019

Instruction Manual: River Function Questionnaire

The River Function Questionnaire (Questionnaire) is a series of questions designed to help stakeholders determine the impacts of hydropower on a series of environmental indicators, i.e. river functions, that may need to be understood or addressed through additional field studies or environmental assessments. In order to provide a platform accessible to many users, the questionnaire was developed in Microsoft Excel with convenient macro-enabled interactive features. The Questionnaire was developed under the Department of Energy (DOE)-funded Environmental Metrics for Hydropower (EMH) project in FY 2018. This document provides an instruction manual that provides overall guidance and step-by-step instructions for use.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2019

A stream classification system for the conterminous United States

Stream classifications are important for understanding stream ecosystem diversity while also serving as tools for aquatic conservation and management. With current rates of land and riverscape modification within the United States (US), a comprehensive inventory and evaluation of naturally occurring stream habitats is needed, as this provides a physical template upon which stream biodiversity is organized and maintained. To adequately represent the heterogeneity of stream ecosystems, such a classification needs to be spatially extensive where multiple stream habitat components are represented at the highest resolution possible. Herein, we present a multi-layered empirically-driven stream classification system for the conterminous US, constructed from over 2.6 million stream reaches within the NHDPlus V2 stream network. The classification is based on emergent natural variation in six habitat layers meaningful at the stream-reach resolution: size, gradient, hydrology, temperature, network bifurcation, and valley confinement. To support flexibility of use, we provide multiple alternative approaches to developing classes and report uncertainty in classes assigned to stream reaches. The stream classification and underlying data provide valuable resources for stream conservation and research.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2018

Machine learning for energy-water nexus: challenges and opportunities

Modeling the interactions of water and energy systems is important to the enforcement of infrastructure security and system sustainability. To this end, recent technological advancement has allowed the production of large volumes of data associated with functioning of these sectors. We are beginning to see that statistical and machine learning techniques can help elucidate characteristic patterns across these systems from water availability, transport, and use to energy generation, fuel supply, and customer demand, and in the interdependencies among these systems that can leave these systems vulnerable to cascading impacts from single disruptions. In this paper, we discuss ways in which data and machine learning can be applied to the challenges facing the energy-water nexus along with the potential issues associated with the machine learning techniques themselves. We then survey machine learning techniques that have found application to date in energy-water nexus problems. We conclude by outlining future research directions and opportunities for collaboration among the energy-water nexus and machine learning communities that can lead to mutual synergistic advantage.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2016

Hydropower Vision A New Chapter for America's 1st Renewable Electricity Source

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Wind and Water Power Technologies Office has led a first-of-its- kind comprehensive analysis to evaluate future pathways for low-carbon, renewable hydropower (hydropower generation and pumped storage) in the United States, focused on continued technical evolution, increased energy market value, and environmental sustainability. Undertaken through a broad-based collaborative effort, the Hydropower Vision initiative had four principal objectives: characterize the current state of hydropower in the United States, including trends, opportunities, and challenges; identify ways for hydropower to maintain and expand its contributions to the electricity and water management needs of the nation from the present through 2030 and 2050; examine critical environmental and social factors to assess how existing hydropower operations and potential new projects can minimize adverse effects, reduce carbon emissions from electricity generation, and contribute to stewardship of waterways and watersheds; and develop a roadmap identifying stakeholder actions that could support responsible ongoing operations and potential expansion of hydropower facilities. The Hydropower Vision analysis finds that U.S. hydropower could grow from 101 gigawatts (GW) of capacity to nearly 150 GW by 2050. Growth under this modeled scenario would result from a combination of 13 GW of new hydropower generation capacity (upgrades to existing plants, adding power at existing dams and canals, and limited development of new stream-reaches), and 36 GW of new pumped storage capacity. If this level of growth is achieved, benefits such as a savings of $209 billion from avoided greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions could be realized, of which $185 billion would be attributable to operation of the existing hydropower fleet. Transformative technical innovations able to meet the co-objectives of environmental sustainability and low-carbon energy will be critical to enabling additional hydropower growth beyond these levels. The Hydropower Vision report specifically does not evaluate or recommend new policy actions but instead analyzes the feasibility and certain benefits and costs of various credible scenarios, all of which could inform policy decisions at the federal, state, tribal, and local levels.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2014

New Stream-reach Development: A Comprehensive Assessment of Hydropower Energy Potential in the United States

The rapid development of multiple national geospatial datasets related to topography, hydrology, and environmental characteristics in the past decade have provided new opportunities for the refinement of hydropower resource potential from undeveloped stream-reaches. Through 2011 to 2013, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) was tasked by the Department of Energy (DOE) Water Power Program to evaluate the new stream-reach development (NSD) resource potential for more than 3 million US streams. A methodology was designed that contains three main components: (1) identification of stream-reaches with high energy density, (2) topographical analysis of stream-reaches to estimate inundated surface area and reservoir storage, and (3) environmental attribution to spatially join information related to the natural ecological systems, social and cultural settings, policies, management, and legal constraints to stream-reaches of energy potential. An initial report on methodology (Hadjerioua et al., 2013) was later reviewed and revised based on the comments gathered from two peer review workshops.After implementing the assessment across the entire United States, major findings were summarized in this final report. The estimated NSD capacity and generation, including both higher-energy-density (>1 MW per reach) and lower-energy-density (<1 MW per reach) stream-reaches is 84.7 GW, around the same size as the existing US conventional hydropower nameplate capacity (79.5 GW; NHAAP, 2013). In terms of energy, the total undeveloped NSD generation is estimated to be 460 TWh/year, around 169% of average 2002–2011 net annual generation from existing conventional hydropower plants (272 TWh/year; EIA, 2013). Given the run-of-river assumption, NSD stream-reaches have higher capacity factors (53–71%), especially compared with conventional larger-storage peaking-operation projects that usually have capacity factors of around 30%. The highest potential is identified in the Pacific Northwest Region (32%), followed by Missouri Region (15%) and California Region (9%). In terms of states, the highest potential is found in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, the three states in the Pacific Northwest, followed by California, Alaska, Montana, and Colorado. In addition to the resource potential, abundant environmental attributes were also organized and attributed to the identified stream-reaches to support further hydropower market analysis. The prevalence of environmental variables and proportion of capacity from stream-reaches intersecting environmental variables varied according to hydrologic region. Detailed NSD findings are organized by hydrologic regions and presented in each chapter of this report.

Kao, Shih-Chieh↗