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Thermoelectric and Hydropower Drought Monitor and Outlook: Tools for more robust resource adequacy planning and management

The primary focus is on issues related to water for energy; specifically, how drought-impacted water supply limits the generation potential of hydropower and thermoelectric assets. Existing Challenge: Twenty-two droughts, each causing a billion dollars or more in damages have im...

Voisin, N., Tidwell, V., and Gerlich, J.

Maximizing American Energy Dominance with Forecasts of Energy Infrastructure Flood Exposure and AI Predictions of Consequences

This white paper focuses on water for energy. High frequency, reliable, and spatially explicit flood forecasts are necessary to forecast impacts to the energy system from hydrological hazards. While these tools are nearing operation at scale, they have not yet been systematicall...

Brelsford, C., Garcia, M., Robbins, Z., Schwenk, J., and Liu, Y.

Optimizing Hydropower Operations through Basin-Scale Coordination for Energy-Water Resilience

This white paper aligns with the Water for Energy focal area and advances energy-water resilience through basin-scale coordination of hydropower operations. It outlines a transition from top-down management approaches to bottom-up, stakeholder-driven approach to improve hydropower...

Davis, L., Corsair, H., Ossa, D., and Nachman, M.

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.

Advancing Energy-Water Resilience in California: A Framework for Integrated Water and Power Management Opportunities

This white paper identifies opportunities to advance energy-water resilience in California, using the Central Valley Project (CVP) and State Water Project (SWP) system. It addresses the critical intersection of both water for energy and energy for water management, emphasizing how...

Mork, E.

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.

Field-Validated, Grid-Interactive Irrigation for Energy-Water Resilience in Puerto Rico's Agricultural Experimental Stations

Puerto Rico's irrigation infrastructure depends primarily on electrically powered pumping and distribution systems, making agricultural water delivery highly vulnerable to grid instability and frequent outages. This white paper proposes the development and validation of grid-inter...

Plaza, J., and Andrade, F.

Standardized Siting and Risk Analysis Decision Support Mechanisms for Water-Intensive Industries

This paper focuses on water for cooling industrial energy generation loads and energy and water for cooling large process loads. A challenge is that siting any large facility with substantial water demands without understanding baseline conditions and assessing potential multi-sec...

Fuchs, H., Karki, U., Stokes-Draut, J., Rao, P., Varadharajan, C., Hodson, A., Ajami, N., and Shehabi, A.