Basin Scale Opportunity Assessment
Welcome to the Basin Scale Opportunity Assessment information portal.
Background
The Basin Scale Opportunity Assessment (BSOA) Initiative is one of seven action items in the March 24, 2010 MOU between US Department of Energy, US Bureau of Reclamation, and US Army Corp of Engineers. The goal of DOE’s Wind and Water Power Technology Office’s (WWPTO) (BSOA) initiative is to develop and implement an integrative approach to assess hydropower and environmental opportunities at the scale of a river basin. The project emphasizes sustainable, low-impact, or small hydropower, and related renewable energies, while simultaneously identifying opportunities for environmental improvements in a given basin. The first two years of the BSOA project (FY11 and FY12) included a pilot study in the Deschutes River basin. Based on this experience, a three-phased assessment approach was developed and Phase 1 assessments were initiated in FY13 for the Connecticut, Roanoke and Bighorn River basins. The phases are:
- Phase 1 Scoping Assessments – rapid (approx. 6 months), initial identification, screening and classification of hydropower and environmental opportunities.
- Phase 2 Stakeholder Engagement – stakeholder-driven opportunity identification, prioritization, and scenario building.
- Phase 3 Technical Analysis – detailed analysis of interactions and tradeoffs between hydropower and environmental opportunities in the context of other water uses.