Forty-year hydropower generation reanalysis for Conterminous United States

Area of Science:

• Hydrology
• Energy Systems
• Climate Science

Background:

• Existing industrial surveys provide limited monthly hydropower generation data, covering only ~10% of plants post-2003.
• The previous RectifHyd dataset offered hydrologically consistent monthly estimates for ~1,500 US hydropower plants.
• There is a need for more comprehensive and temporally resolved hydropower generation data, incorporating hydrological influences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present RectifHydPlus, an extended and enhanced dataset building upon RectifHyd.
• To provide updated historical monthly generation estimates for 590 US hydropower plants (>10 MW capacity) from 1980-2019.
• To introduce a hydrological control dataset and daily water release time series to analyze water availability impacts on generation.

Main Methods:

• Improved proxy information and temporal downscaling methodology compared to RectifHyd.
• Development of a hydrological control dataset to isolate water availability effects.
• Generation of forty-year, daily-resolution, spill-adjusted water release time series for each dam.

Main Results:

• RectifHydPlus provides updated monthly generation estimates for 590 hydropower plants (1980-2019).
• The dataset includes a new hydrological control dataset reflecting historical climate variability.
• Daily-resolution, spill-adjusted water release data is available for all included dams.

Conclusions:

• RectifHydPlus enhances the understanding of historical hydropower generation influenced by water availability.
• The dataset supports applications analyzing contemporary fleet capabilities under historical climate variability.
• Provides granular data for diverse temporal resolution aggregation needs in hydropower research.