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An Energy-Water Nexus Foundation Model Ecosystem to Advance System Resiliency and Affordability

This white paper presents how an AI-driven foundation model ecosystem for hydropower and the electric grid, integrated with a large language model (LLM) agent can address the "Water for Energy" challenge and modernize coordinated planning and operations of the U.S. energy-water ne...

Kwon, J., Kim, K., Levin, T., and Botterud, A.

Forecast-Informed, Market-Responsive Conjunctive Operations for Multi-Reservoir Water-Energy Systems

The white paper, "Forecast-Informed, Market-Responsive Conjunctive Operations for Multi-Reservoir Water-Energy Systems" , addresses the water-for-energy and energy-for-water nexus by proposing a framework for co-optimizing hydropower and cascading reservoir operations alongside fl...

Pavicevic, M., Mork, E., Yu, A., Herman, J., Emmons, J., and Ploussard, Q.

Accounting for Water-Energy Co-Benefits of Floating Photovoltaics (FPV)

Floating photovoltaic projects, as well as those that span over waterways (i.e. canopy), present potential technological and economic advantages over ground-mounted systems that have fueled rapid global growth in installed capacity in recent years. Aside from expanding generation,...

Fluet-Chouinard, E., Jorgensen, J., Cotter, E., Niazi, H., Wild, T., Chalishazar, V., Pracheil, B., Griffiths, N., Hansen, C., and Chowdhury, K.

AI-Enhanced Hydropower Systems: Smart Dams for a Resilient Future

This paper focuses on water-energy, using AI for smart, holistic hydropower operations to enhance water for energy resilience. The existing challenges include (a) increasing demand for water and electricity, requiring a shift to flexible, real-time hydropower operations due to ch...

Varadharajan, C., Ajami, N., Brodie, E., Ciulla, F., Falco, N., Feldman, D., Newcomer, M., Dwivedi, D., Li, Y., Nakata, R., Nakata, N., Nico, P., Williams, K., Mahoney, M., Ramakrishnan, L., and Cholia, S.

Hybrid Bioenergy and Hydropower Systems: Leveraging Heterogeneous Biomass and Wastes from Watersheds

Sandia National Laboratories and Idaho National Laboratory (INL) explore the water-for-energy nexus in this white paper, focusing on the impact of heterogeneous watershed waste materials on hydropower facilities. They identify key challenges--such as pile burning, wildfires, and d...

Quiroz-Arita, C., and Paudel, R.

Unlocking Hydropower Potential from Environmental Flows for Energy-Water Resilience

This white paper examines how mandated environmental flow (E-flow) releases at hydropower dams can be leveraged to generate renewable energy while maintaining ecological integrity. Environmental flows sustain aquatic ecosystems but often bypass turbines, representing lost generati...

DeNeale, S., Connor, M., and McManamay, R.

Revolutionizing Water-Energy Infrastructure Resilience through Distributed Sensing and Digital Twins

This white paper addresses the intersection of Water for Energy and Energy for Water, proposing foundational technology to enhance the resilience and operational longevity of critical national assets, including hydropower facilities and marine energy systems. The core challenge i...

Luo, L.

Gaps Between Western U.S. Reservoir Inflows and Headwater Precipitation Timing, Amount, and Phase

Snowmelt from mountain headwater basins supplies approximately 80% of the runoff to reservoirs in the western United States (WUS), and is therefore a key component of western hydropower. Yet predicting runoff from hydrometeorological data in complex terrain (and its sensitivity to...

Rudisill, W., and Feldman, D.

Agentic Optimization for Resilience in Hydropower Reservoir Systems

The growing electricity demand in the U.S. requires a resilient energy strategy. Hydropower is a major component of that strategy but is subject to environmental and human stressors that impact its dependability. AI-driven reinforcement learning, called "Agentic" learning, presen...

Schwenk, J., Garcia-Cardona, C., Bennett, K., Singh, S., and Brelsford, C.

Adaptive 3D Printed Micro-Hydropower for Resilient Grids: Digital-to-Deployment Framework

We propose to enhance the resilience of the U.S. electricity grid by enabling the rapid, adaptive, and on-demand manufacturing of site-specific micro-to-small hydropower systems for low-head dams. This approach directly addresses the nation's untapped 85,000+ non-powered dams (NPD...

Kim, P., Chawla, K., Hassen, A., Roschli, A., Post, B., Saha, S., and Mueller, R.

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