RectifHyd: Estimated Monthly U.S. Hydroelectric Power Generation, 2001-2020

RectifHyd provides estimated monthly hydroelectric power generation for approximately 1,500 power plants in the conterminous United States from 2001 through 2020. Sean Turner of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory created the estimates by disaggregating annual generation using reservoir operations and downstream streamflow data. This dataset offers an alternative to EIA-923 imputed monthly generation for U.S. hydropower plants.

Use Cases

• Modeling seasonal and interannual variability in hydropower generation based on monthly time-series data.
• Analyzing the impact of reservoir operations and streamflow on power plant output.
• Benchmarking or validating other hydropower generation datasets, such as EIA-923.
• Forecasting renewable energy supply for grid management based on historical generation patterns.

Strengths

• Covers approximately 1,500 power plants across the conterminous United States.
• Provides a 20-year time series from 2001 to 2020.
• Methodology incorporates reservoir operations and downstream streamflow data for disaggregation.
• Version 1.0.1 includes a correction to ensure estimates do not exceed nameplate capacity.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Collection Method

Estimates created by disaggregating each plant's annual generation using reservoir operations and downstream streamflow data.

Time Range

2001 through 2020

Geography

Conterminous United States