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Executive interview with Camille Calimlim Touton, Bureau of Reclamation

Executive interview with Camille Calimlim Touton, Bureau of Reclamation

Camille Calimlim Touton is commissioner of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation. In this role, Touton will help manage the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s $8.3 billion investments in drought and water resiliency, including funding for water efficiency and recycling programs, rural water projects, WaterSMART grants, and dam safety to ensure that irrigators, Tribes, and adjoining communities receive adequate assistance and support.

Reclamation is a contemporary water management agency and the largest wholesale provider of water in the U.S. It brings water to more than 31 million people and provides one out of five western farmers with irrigation water for farmland that produces much of the nation’s produce. Reclamation is also the second largest producer of hydroelectric power in the U.S., with 53 hydroelectric powerplants that have produced an average of 40 million MWh annually over the past decade.

Touton will speak during the opening keynote session at HYDROVISION International on Tuesday, July 12. In this interview, she discusses Reclamation’s important role as a water and power provider, ensuring the continued reliability of its generating facilities, encouraging new hydro through the Lease of Power Privilege process and more.

Camille Calimlim Touton Swearing In

<<2_CCT Ceremonial Swearing>>

Q: Please give our readers an overview of the Bureau of Reclamation, including your hydroelectric portfolio.

Touton: The Bureau of Reclamation serves as the water and power infrastructure of the American West. We are the largest water purveyor in the nation and the second largest producer of hydroelectric power in the U.S. We deliver water to nearly 31 million Americans across the West and to one out of five farmers, who grow 60% of our nation’s vegetables and 25% of our fruits and nuts.

Our hydropower fleet includes 77 facilities that generate about 40 million MWh of clean and renewable electricity each year. For context, each year Reclamation’s hydropower program displaces over 18 million tons of carbon dioxide, which may otherwise have been generated by traditional fossil fuel plants, and generates the equivalent demand of over 3.8 million U.S. households. We account for approximately 15% of hydropower capacity and generation in the U.S.

But our infrastructure is just concrete and rebar without the nearly 6,000 professionals who work to meet our mission in serving the American West and our commitment to partnership with states, tribes and stakeholders. I am proud to represent them and the work we do together.

Q: You’ve been leading Reclamation, as deputy commissioner and then commissioner, since January 2021. What is your future vision for this organization?

Touton: My future vision for this organization is to continue our 120-year track record of delivering water and producing hydropower in support of the American West for the next 120 years. Part of building this future is our key investments through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The $8.3 billion will improve federal stewardship of our critical infrastructure and significantly increase Reclamation’s efforts to support our partners, stakeholders, Tribal nations and communities. The law advances core Reclamation mission areas of drought resilience, water supply, expanded conservation, infrastructure modernization, dam safety, rural water and Tribal trust.

Q: Particularly in the western U.S., reliability of the water supply is a major issue. What are the challenges you are facing in this area?

Touton: We are seeing a similar fact pattern of variable hydrology, earlier snow melt and drier soils, translating into low runoff into our reservoirs across every major river basin where we and our partners manage Reclamation’s 189 projects. Some of our largest reservoirs are at their lowest levels since filling. But across the West we are leveraging our financial resources, utilizing our operational flexibilities, and implementing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help build a more resilient West.

Q: I know Reclamation has dual roles to provide water and hydropower in the western U.S. How do these roles mesh?

Touton: Water and power is what we do. Over the past century, hydropower generated at Reclamation projects has served project loads, enabling Reclamation to manage Western water supplies. Our Reclamation hydropower generation is marketed by U.S. Department of Energy Power Marketing Administrations, providing a steady stream of revenue for project repayment and investment. Reclamation’s clean energy spurred the development of the Western U.S., in providing low-cost, clean energy to our Tribal partners, municipalities, federal and state facilities, and not-for-profit rural electric customers.

Q: As the second largest producer of hydroelectric power in the U.S., how do you ensure the continued reliability of these critical facilities?

Touton: Reclamation also improves reliability and performance through operational and technological innovation. Over the past 40 years, Reclamation has invested in upgrading our generators to their maximum mechanical parameters to get the most out of each machine. Reclamation is also actively investing in innovative decision support tools to optimize hydropower operations, maintenance and asset management. For example, Reclamation’s hydropower optimization system, HydrOS, delivers both water conservation benefits and incremental hydropower generation by recommending optimal unit loading levels and commitment solutions to plant operators.

Another investment (completed six years ago) was the installation of wide-head-range turbines at the Hoover Dam hydroelectric project. This work allowed us to realize lower lake level operating parameters and gain operational efficiencies at these lower levels due to drought. Reclamation also coordinates with customers and federal partners to exchange information, research solutions, leverage resources and adopt best practices.

Examples of these efforts include the Central Valley Project Power Initiative and Federal Hydropower Memorandum of Understanding. Additional program activities and planned investments are noted in Reclamation’s Hydropower Strategic Plan.

Q: Reclamation recently was allocated $1.66 billion annually through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. How will those funds support your hydropower and dams?

Touton: The law advances core Reclamation mission areas of: Drought resilience, water supply, expanded conservation, infrastructure modernization, dam safety, rural water and Tribal trust. A significant part of this investment is in our aging infrastructure. In May, Reclamation announced the selection of the first 46 projects from our first aging infrastructure/extraordinary maintenance application period, totaling a $240 million initial investment. Building back our infrastructure is key to our continued ability to meet our mission in the future.

Q: Your 6,809 MW Grand Coulee powerhouse, the largest hydroelectric project in the U.S., has undergone an overhaul. Can you update us on this work and why it was completed?

Touton: The Grand Coulee Power Office has been working steadily since 2012 on the G22-G24 overhaul of the Washington Powerplant, which is critical to continuing Reclamation’s mission of providing clean, renewable, carbon-free hydropower.

I’m happy to report its completion, with G22 being the final component to come back online as of September 30, 2021.

This overhaul will ensure reliability in the Columbia River System and for the Columbia Basin Project for years to come.

Q: Reclamation regularly offers awards programs for various challenges it faces, such as automated maintenance of protection systems. How do these awards support Reclamation’s hydropower and dam portfolio?

Touton: Reclamation uses prize competitions to spur innovations and find fresh starting points in research. These competitions provide a great opportunity to tap into thinking outside of our normal networks for solving issues or finding new ways to accomplish our mission. In the case of the Automated Maintenance of Protection Systems (AMPS) Challenge, Reclamation sought ideas to improve our methods and automate the maintenance testing of the protective relays and transformers that serve as protection systems at our hydropower facilities. Solving this challenge will increase hydropower plant generation reliability though continuous monitoring that can detect small changes in systems and reduce the need for the unit outages that are currently required to accomplish system testing. While these solutions are being requested for hydropower facilities, they may have other applications outside of hydropower.

Prize competitions can contribute to Reclamation’s ability to accomplish its mission more efficiently and effectively.

Q: Reclamation has a Lease of Power Privilege program (LOPP) to encourage hydro development at its non-powered dams. Can you update on the status of any development work ongoing or planned?

Touton: Our 14 LOPP facilities currently operate on Reclamation projects, comprising 53 MW of capacity. Ten of the 14 facilities were brought online since 2009. Currently, an additional five projects, comprising approximately 16 MW, are in active development exclusively through the LOPP process. These non-federal projects allow Reclamation and our stakeholders to derive additional value from existing Reclamation projects. Reclamation publishes a Hydropower Generation Summary, summarizing federal and non-federal development activity on Reclamation projects (including both LOPP and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission projects). The summary is updated quarterly and available on our website.

In terms of development trends, despite Reclamation efforts, non-federal development is entirely dependent upon an interested developer acting in favorable market conditions. Reclamation is committed to facilitating the development of non-federal hydropower on our existing federal projects. Non-federal hydropower development contributes to local economic development and clean energy and climate change initiatives pursued by the administration.

Q: You are speaking during the opening keynote session of HYDROVISION International 2022. Can you give us a sneak peek into a couple of the hot topics for Reclamation that you plan to cover?

Touton: Reclamation celebrates its 120th anniversary this year. The challenges that we and our partners face in operating our system are unlike anything we have seen before. But we are up to the challenge of continuing our mission into the future, using the best available science, deploying all of the tools at our disposal, and implementing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law on investments that build a more resilient future for the American West.