Stimulus Boosts Hydropower Research, But Some Say It’s a Trickle

Hydropower is poised to get at least a small boost under the omnibus spending and stimulus law—but some energy analysts say the money for new research isn’t likely to advance the technology very far.

The law, which President Donald Trump signed on Dec. 27, earmarks $49 million for a new hydropower research and development program at the Energy Department focusing mainly on small hydropower projects and electrifying dams that don’t currently produce electricity.

Hydroelectricity generation in the U.S. has been on a gradual decline for decades as major dam-building projects ceased and some dams have been removed. But hydropower may ...