Existing Hydropower Assets (EHA) Plant Database 9505 Extension

This dataset is an extension of the Existing Hydropower Assets (EHA) Plant Database, 2021, released by Oak Ridge National Laboratory through HydroSource. The extension enhanced EHA to support modeling performed under the Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office's SECURE Water Act Section 9505 Third Assessment (9505). Enhancements to the dataset include:

Updating facility spatial locations to explicitly represent the location of the powerhouse

Revising and filling in missing values for a facility's Balancing Authority

Adding additional attributes describing a facility's source of water

Adding additional attributes to link a facility's source of water to the corresponding river reach in the National Hydrography Dataset Plus Version 2 using the COMID identifier

A companion dataset was developed that identifies the spatial locations of the sources of water for each hydropower facility.

Users are referred to HydroSource for descriptions of fields included in the original dataset. Descriptions for fields added to the dataset are provided below:

Short Name
Unit
Is Unique?
Description
Source

Rclass
Acronym 
No
High-level classification of water source
manual mapping, web searches

Nclass
Acronym 
No
Detailed classification of water source
manual mapping, web searches

COMID
N/A
No
NHDPlusV2 COMID for source of water
manual mapping

COMID2
N/A
No
Secondary NHDPlusV2 COMID for source of water (where applicable)
manual mapping

FC_Proj
N/A
No
FERC license project name
FERC

Both Rclass and Nclass use abbreviations for classification. Rclass includes:

Abbreviation
Meaning
Description

DB
direct basin
water originates from a stream or reservoir, is conveyed through the powerplant and returned to the same stream within close proximity to the source

IB
indirect basin
water originates from a stream or reservoir and conveyed a distance either on the supply or return side to or from a powerplant but still returns to the same hydrologic basin. Also includes water passing through other networks including for municipal supply, municipal waste, irrigation supply, aquaculture, and shipping (navigation)

TB
transbasin
water is conveyed from a stream or reservoir into another hydrologic basin or removed from the natural hydrologic system with hydropower generated along the conveyance facilities

Nclass includes:

Abbreviation
Meaning
Description

AQ
Aquaculture
Receives water through aquaculture facility water supply

CD
Conduit
Receives water through a conduit (indirect basin)

CN
Canal
Receives water through a canal (indirect basin)

DV
Development
Hydropower facility is under development; not yet in operation

IC
Irrigation
Receives water through irrigation water supply

IS
Industrial supply
Receives water through industrial water supply

MS
Municipal supply
Receives water through municipal water supply

MW
Municipal waste
Receives water through municipal waste

NR
Not resolved
Information unavailable

OS
Off-stream
Water supply is off-stream storage

PPS
Partial pumped storage
Hydropower facility is partially pumped storage

PS
Pumped Storage
Hydropower facility is pumped storage

RM
Removed
Hydropower facility has been removed

SP
Spring
Receives water through spring

The classification system was developed to support the needs of the 9505 project. Every attempt was made to ensure accuracy, however errors may exist. Please note that this dataset was created from the 2021 version of EHA. EHA is updated annually and newer versions may contain more reliable information depending on need.