River hydrokinetic energy – where's the resource?

The emergence of hydrokinetic energy generating technologies presents new opportunities to generate electricity from the nation’s rivers and streams.  The nature and magnitude of any impacts on fishery resources will depend in part on the locations in which hydrokinetic technologies are deployed, the density with which the devices are deployed, and the particular hydrokinetic device chosen for the deployment.   We present results from an ongoing nation-wide project, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, to assess the magnitude and geographic distribution of the riverine hydrokinetic resource.  Secondarily, we will address the question of hydrokinetic device deployment density and the effect of that density on water level and velocity in the rivers.