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Media Contacts
![This newly manufactured fixed guide vane of a hydropower turbine system was printed at the DOE Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/2018-P00570_0.png?h=82f92a78&itok=9y4_5upC)
A new report published by ORNL assessed how advanced manufacturing and materials, such as 3D printing and novel component coatings, could offer solutions to modernize the existing fleet and design new approaches to hydropower.
![Technology to retrofit nonpowered dams such as the Lake Sequoyah Dam in North Carolina could be tested before deploying to ensure performance and reliability. Credit: Scott DeNeale/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-12/Sequoyah%20png.png?h=3873714b&itok=rYD7mUje)
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have identified a key need for future hydropower innovations – full-scale testing – to better inform developers and operators before making major investments.
![When an electron beam drills holes in heated graphene, single-atom vacancies, shown in purple, diffuse until they join with other vacancies to form stationary structures and chains, shown in blue. Credit: Ondrej Dyck/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-12/variation.jpg?h=bedff801&itok=9S6jmOVH)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers serendipitously discovered when they automated the beam of an electron microscope to precisely drill holes in the atomically thin lattice of graphene, the drilled holes closed up.
![Melton Hill Dam](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-08/Melton%20Hill%20Dam_Thumbnail.jpg?h=10d202d3&itok=2XzUkPIq)
To further the potential benefits of the nation’s hydropower resources, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed and maintain a comprehensive water energy digital platform called HydroSource.
![non-powered dam](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-07/hydropower-resized_0.jpg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=SQEPNh78)
Although more than 92,000 dams populate the country, the vast majority — about 89,000 — do not generate electricity through hydropower.
![A large generator is installed at the Meldahl hydropower plant in Kentucky. The energy sector anticipates longer lead times in procuring such large components for increasing construction and modernization of U.S. hydropower plants. Credit: American Municipal Power](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-04/Turbine.jpg?h=d6da01b6&itok=GxSyq_DK)
A new Department of Energy report produced by Oak Ridge National Laboratory identifies several supply chain must-haves in maintaining the pivotal role hydropower will play in decarbonizing the nation’s grid.
![Virginia-based battery technology company, BTRY, has licensed several electrolyte and thin-film coating technologies, developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, to make batteries with increased energy density, at lower cost, and with an improved safety profile in crashes. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-03/2021-P11907.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=dPCyvLmj)
Several electrolyte and thin-film coating technologies, developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, have been licensed by BTRY, a battery technology company based in Virginia, to make batteries with increased energy density, at lower cost, and with an improved safety profile in crashes.
![Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory demonstrated center-of-mass scanning transmission electron microscopy to observe lithium along with heavier elements in battery materials at atomic resolution. Credit: Chad Malone/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-03/X2200362_Ashley%20Huff_PressReleaseIllustration_CM-04_0.png?h=8ad5a422&itok=zNjz98cr)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers demonstrated an electron microscopy technique for imaging lithium in energy storage materials, such as lithium ion batteries, at the atomic scale.
![ORNL’s Brenda Pracheil, left, and Kristine Moody collect water samples at Melton Hill Lake using a sophisticated instrument that collects DNA in the water to determine fish species and number of fish in the water, which could prove useful for monitoring hydropower impacts. Credit: Carlos Jones, ORNL/U.S Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-01/2020-P17436_0.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=BXPhSslk)
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are using a novel approach in determining environmental impacts to aquatic species near hydropower facilities, potentially leading to smarter facility designs that can support electrical grid reliability.
![ORNL’s Eva Zarkadoula seeks piezoelectric materials for sensors that can withstand irradiation, which causes cascading collisions that displace atoms and produces defects. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-01/2021-P10023_0.jpg?h=8f9cfe54&itok=6mtG9JEk)
To advance sensor technologies, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers studied piezoelectric materials, which convert mechanical stress into electrical energy, to see how they could handle bombardment with energetic neutrons.