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Distributed Pumped Hydro for Sustainable Energy-Water Resilience with Vertical Agriculture

This white paper focuses on water for energy and energy for water and food security. Pumped Hydro energy storage systems have been utilized for over 100 years to offer many advantages to grid management including long life, high efficiency, low maintenance, dispatchable electrici...

Bibeault, M., Sevanto, S., Hanson, D., and Akil, A.

Synergistic Pathways for Water Security in Emerging Sectors: Data Centers and Modern Nuclear Facilities

Stand-alone data centers, nuclear-powered data centers, and novel nuclear facilities such as fusion plant and small modular reactors are water intensive sectors poised to rapidly expand, presenting a significant challenge to the water-for-energy nexus. The potential for large-scal...

Catalano, A., Duan, Z., Quimby, C., Wang, T., Chini, C., Premathilake, L., and Pope, J.

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.

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.

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.

High-Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) effects on Energy-Water resilience

Executive Order 13865 emphasizes the need to focus on critical infrastructure resilience to high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) effects, indicating that simulation of EMP effects on both energy and water systems need to be studied. The key technical challenges in assessing ...

Tabarez, J., Barnes, A., and Nelson, E.

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.