This Company Believes Fish and Hydropower Dams Can Coexist With a Little Innovation

Photo by soukmano | Pixabay

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Photo by soukmano | Pixabay

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Dams in the U.S. have become a hot topic and the source of controversy in some geographic locales. With most built for irrigation and flood control, a very small percentage of dams in the U.S. are equipped with hydroelectricity generators.  

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, non-powered dams in the United States had a total of 12,000 megawatts (MW) of potential hydropower capacity. But what happens to fish that pass through these dams is a concern for many. One company believes that hydropower and fish can coexist with a bit of innovation.

Seattle-based Whooshh Innovations focuses on using technology data to not only restore waterways but protect fisheries. Its Whooshh Passage Portal™ is its latest project to both provide more energy output while helping endangered fish populations at the same time.

Hydropower is already a significant source of power globally and is reportedly the fastest-growing and most prominent source of renewable electricity. It supplies more electricity worldwide than any other low-carbon energy source — 8 times more than solar power and 1.5 times more than nuclear power. According to the International Energy Agency, hydropower grew more between 2008 and 2018 than any other source of renewable electricity other than wind power.

"If you look at some of the most dramatic proposals for a pathway to the zero-carbon electricity system, they all need to incorporate a significant buildout of hydropower," said John Parson, an energy economist with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research. 

But with the desire to build out more dam hydropower comes the concern over what happens to the fish population as a result. As an example, Whooshh entered the fight over what to do with the lower Snake River dams in Washington and developed an alternative plan that could help endangered salmon and steelhead.

Controversy over the 4 lower Snake River Dams began in the 1990s with organizations wanting to remove the dams allowing anadromous fish to reach the lower Snake River tributaries. Federal agencies last year finalized a plan that keeps the Snake River Dams in place but did not eliminate the controversy.

Wild salmon advocates, tribal representatives and renewable energy advocates, who supported removing the four Lower Snake River dams in southeastern Washington, say the decision hurts salmon.

Whooshh’s plan is meant to replace the fish ladders on all 4 lower Snake River dams with its Passage Portal, a move stated to be significantly less expensive than those solutions proposed on the federal level. The Portals would be used in place of fish ladders at the 4 dams and hydropower owners would use the water that usually flows through the ladders to generate power instead. Whooshh says that the added power generation would more than pay for the purchase price in 10 years and could be in operation by 2023.                                                             

"We have to be willing to admit that what we've done for years, and what we keep repeating, is not going to produce a different result. Because of climate change, results will indeed be different but much worse for native fish,” Whooshh CEO Vince Bryan said. 

Whooshh has also employed its technology and innovation in British Columbia, where the Canadian government enlisted the company’s help to work at a remote site where a rockslide formed a natural dam across the entire Fraser River.  That rockslide blocked the salmon passage at a point called Big Bar near the town of Lillooet. As a result of its work, Whooshh was awarded the 2021 Outstanding Stewards of America’s Waters by the National Hydropower Association. 

Whoosh says its innovation and future plans are being fueled by individual investors willing to help the company deploy unique products designed and developed to improve fish welfare, fish passage and spawning success. To become a part of the company’s sustainable goals, visit www.startengine.com/Whooshh. 

For more information on Whooshh Innovations, go to www.Whooshh.com. 

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This post contains sponsored advertising content. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.