| North America
Inflation Reduction Act, along with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act provides extra credit value for projects that meet domestic content requirements. In May 2024, modifications for hydropower and pumped storage projects tried to make it easier for them to easily qualify for the bonus credit.
However, while these measures reduce uncertainty
and strengthen incentives for reshoring, NLR says gaps remain. Hydropower-specific manufactured components such as turbines, generators, and governors still lack clearly defined cost percentages, leaving developers with partial ambiguity when seeking to qualify for the bonus. In the interim, hydropower operators are taking
adaptive measures, such as placing transformer orders earlier, sharing spare units, and phasing modernisation schedules. Yet these stopgaps cannot fully offset the risks posed by systemic bottlenecks. Building new manufacturing capacity, reestablishing domestic expertise in large transformer production, and strengthening supply resilience will require sustained effort and coordination across government, utilities, and private industry. Ultimately, NLR warns, securing the LPT supply chain
for hydropower rehabilitation is not merely a technical or economic challenge but a matter of national security.
Energy intensive industries An emerging trend, driving future growth across North
America, is the increasing demand from data centres and other energy intensive industries seeking reliable renewable power. As the IHA reports, hydropower is a natural fit for such digital industry off-takers and is poised to support this. The US accounts for the largest share of increased demand from data centres by a substantial margin, and by 2030 is set to surpass the combined consumption of all traditional energy- intensive manufacturing sectors. With technology firms seeking contract models to
secure reliable power for their data centres, such as long-term capacity and power offtake agreements, the IHA says, this presents an opportunity for hydropower. Establishing a first-of-its-kind Hydro Framework
Agreement in 2025, Brookfield Renewable in the US agreed to provide up to 3000MW of hydropower to Google. The initial contracts involve Brookfield’s Holtwood and Safe Harbor facilities in Pennsylvania, providing 670MW for a 20-year period through long term PPAs worth more than US$3 billion. Other smaller-scale projects include:
● Current Hydro in the Ohio River basin - supplying local data centre operator Digital Realty with 70MW of hydropower from three upgraded lock-and-dam projects.
● DPO, a developer of power dense data centres, and Consolidated Water Power Company in Wisconsin - developing a 20MW AI computing facility co- located with hydropower generation. Using existing transmission and distribution infrastructure will reduce deployment costs, accelerate timelines and generate incremental revenue for the utility without large-scale network expansion. Pumped storage is also expected to play a major role in meeting the demands of data centres, particularly in the western US where more than 24GW of coal, natural gas and nuclear capacity are scheduled to retire.
Unique opportunity Floating photovoltaics (FPV), when coupled with
existing reservoirs, presents a unique opportunity to use current infrastructure, such as dams, hydropower facilities, substations, and service roads, potentially removing barriers for development. However, FPV technology reportedly remains nascent in the US, primarily limited to small man-made water bodies and behind-the-meter applications. Significant questions remain regarding its utility-scale development and the mechanisms needed to make it cost effective. A new report from the Solar Energy Technologies Office and Water Power Technologies Office, provides a comprehensive analysis of the feasibility of FPV in federally regulated reservoirs within the continental United States (CONUS). Intended for stakeholders who may not be solar industry experts but are interested in exploring the potential for FPV in their reservoirs, it gives a methodology for capturing: true costs of deployment; potential environmental impacts; and regulatory pathways for open-loop hydropower reservoirs. The study’s main findings were that there is significant
potential for co-locating FPV with existing reservoirs, but the capital costs are not competitive with land-based solar. The affordability of FPV depends significantly on the location due to irradiance and electricity price sensitivities. The addition of floaters and moorings also pose an additional cost when compared to land-based schemes. More work is needed, the research team say, to identify the savings of FPV versus land costs. There is also a lot of site-specific research that needs
to be done to assess the environmental impacts of floating solar. However, estimates in this report indicate that co-location with hydropower could provide benefits on increasing dissolved oxygen levels in reservoirs. This can be a positive outcome for most aquatic species, helping to improve hydropower’s compliance with existing licences and stakeholders. Although the report underscores the significant potential for integrating FPV with reservoirs across the continental United States, it also notes that current capital costs are not yet competitive with traditional land-based solar installation. Future work should focus on validating environmental models through real-world FPV installations and considering broader factors such as recreation, historical preservation, and community water needs. Additionally, a more holistic investigation that includes the hybridisation of FPV with hydropower and batteries, along with the long-term environmental effects would be an interesting exercise. The development of more comprehensive CAPEX tools that include a wider range of vendors will also be crucial for accurately estimating costs and supporting stakeholders in making informed decisions about FPV investments, the authors added.
Exploratory work Exploratory work at Vallecito Dam on the Pine River
in Colorado is to help evaluate and guide future rehabilitation efforts to be completed under the Bureau of Reclamation’s Safety of Dams Programme. Beginning in July 2026, crews undertook exploratory drilling efforts to mark the first phase of field explorations to gather geotechnical data at the dam’s crest and spillway. Drilling will continue along the spillway into 2027. In 2018, Reclamation first identified changes in seepage underneath the spillway at Vallecito Dam and began a rigorous monitoring effort that included
www.waterpowermagazine.com | September 2026 | 21
Exploratory drilling at Vallecito Dam in Colorado. Images courtesy of USBR
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