scholarly journals How green can Amazon hydropower be? Net carbon emission from the largest hydropower plant in Amazonia

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (26) ◽  
pp. eabe1470
Author(s):  
Dailson J. Bertassoli ◽  
Henrique O. Sawakuchi ◽  
Kleiton R. de Araújo ◽  
Marcelo G. P. de Camargo ◽  
Victor A. T. Alem ◽  
...  

The current resurgence of hydropower expansion toward tropical areas has been largely based on run-of-the-river (ROR) dams, which are claimed to have lower environmental impacts due to their smaller reservoirs. The Belo Monte dam was built in Eastern Amazonia and holds the largest installed capacity among ROR power plants worldwide. Here, we show that postdamming greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the Belo Monte area are up to three times higher than preimpoundment fluxes and equivalent to about 15 to 55 kg CO2eq MWh−1. Since per-area emissions in Amazonian reservoirs are significantly higher than global averages, reducing flooded areas and prioritizing the power density of hydropower plants seem to effectively reduce their carbon footprints. Nevertheless, total GHG emissions are substantial even from this leading-edge ROR power plant. This argues in favor of avoiding hydropower expansion in Amazonia regardless of the reservoir type.

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 37-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neeraj Kumar Sah ◽  
Madhab Uprety ◽  
Sangharsha Bhandari ◽  
Prativa Kharel ◽  
Saurav Suman ◽  
...  

An Integrated Power System (IPS) should have electrical energy generating plants for base load (e.g., nuclear and thermal plants) and peak load (e.g., hydropower plants) so that they can work in coordination in such a way that the demand is met in time. In Nepal, the Integrated Nepal Power System (INPS) is a hydro-dominated system where the base and intermediate power demands are covered primarily by run-of-river hydropower plants and the peak demand by seasonal storage and several diesel power plants of lower capacity. The INPS should have sufficient natural storage and forced storage power plants to improve the system’s reliability. On top of that, daily peak electrical demand could also be adequately covered by demand-side management, using a pumped-storage hydropower plant that can employ a system’s surplus energy during low demand period for pumping. To rectify this extreme imbalance of installed capacity in Nepal, this paper explores the prospect of storage and pumped-storage power plants for enhancing INPS. A case study of Rupa-Begnas pumped-storage hydropower is highlighted for these purposes.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/hn.v15i0.11290HYDRO Nepal JournalJournal of Water, Energy and EnvironmentVolume: 15, 2014, JulyPage: 37-41 


Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 266
Author(s):  
Md Rakibuzzaman ◽  
Sang-Ho Suh ◽  
Hyoung-Ho Kim ◽  
Youngtae Ryu ◽  
Kyung Yup Kim

Discharge water from fish farms is a clean, renewable, and abundant energy source that has been used to obtain renewable energy via small hydropower plants. Small hydropower plants may be installed at offshore fish farms where suitable water is obtained throughout the year. It is necessary to meet the challenges of developing small hydropower systems, including sustainability and turbine efficiency. The main objective of this study was to investigate the possibility of constructing a small hydropower plant and develop 100 kW class propeller-type turbines in a fish farm with a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG). The turbine was optimized using a computer simulation, and an experiment was conducted to obtain performance data. Simulation results were then validated with experimental results. Results revealed that streamlining the designed shape of the guide vane reduced the flow separation and improved the efficiency of the turbine. Optimizing the shape of the runner vane decreased the flow rate, reducing the water power and increasing the efficiency by about 5.57%. Also, results revealed that tubular or cross-flow turbines could be suitable for use in fish farm power plants, and the generator used should be waterproofed to avoid exposure to seawater.


2010 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mila Pavlovic ◽  
Rajko Golic ◽  
Dejan Sabic

The territory of the municipality of Mali Zvornik is, from the aspect of morphology and spatial-functional structure, a heterogeneous area. It is located in the valley of the Drina River and in hilly-mountainous part of Podrinjske mountains. The area of the municipality is 184 km?, with 14076 inhabitants (2002). The importance of water resources for the development of the municipality, particularly of the hydropower plant (HPP) ?Zvornik?, is analyzed in this paper. Inadequate use of hydro-energetic potential, possibilities for construction of new hydropower plants and economic reasons for their construction are also emphasized. The priorities of the development of hydraulic engineering are defined in relation to morphological and hydrological conditions. They refer to increase of power of the HPP ?Zvornik? and construction of small-scale hydropower plants in hilly-mountainous part of municipality. Considering depopulation processes in the villages of Mali Zvornik, hydraulic engineering, together with agriculture, forestry, exploitation of mineral goods and tourism, can be one of the factors of demographic and economic revitalization of this area.


2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weddy Bernadi Sudirman ◽  
Sarwono Hardjomuljadi

The development of hydroelectric power plant is one of the efforts in utilising water resources for people’s welfare by generating the energy for electricity purpose. Nowadays, the installed capacity of hydro electric power plants is 3,529 MW from the total installed capacity 24,846 MW from various power plants owned by PT PLN (Persero) and the hydropower potential 75,000 MW all over Indonesia. Hydroelectric power plant has complex structures and involves large amounts of capital with a long-running construction period. This situation imposes uncertainty factors with considerably high risks. The construction phase is identified as a critical phase in hydropower projects where many unforeseen factors occur. Failure to manage project risks leads to significant problems for the client such as completion time delays and cost overruns. In order to prevent time delays and cost overruns in hydropower construction in PT PLN (Persero), the study on project risk management in the construction stage of hydropower plant projects had been conducted. The purpose of this study was to identify and measure the importance of construction risks and to determine the level of agreement or disagreement between the client, consultants and contractors on the ranking of construction risk in hydropower projects. The author selected the respondents from the clients, consultants and contractors’ personnel who had work experience in hydropower construction projects in PT PLN (Persero). JEL Classification: L74—Construction


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-148
Author(s):  
A. M. Shiddiq Yunus ◽  
Musrady Mulyadi ◽  
Apollo Apollo

Mitigation of catastrophic impacts of exhausted pollutants from conventional based power plants could be done by extensively used of renewable energy-based power plants. One of the promising renewable-based power plants that already have technology maturity is hydropower. However, large scale hydropower is based on an appropriate site and not economically effective for isolated and remote small communities. As anticipation, to fulfill the power requirements of these communities, micro-hydropower plants (MHPPs) are applied due to its inexpensive capital and low maintenance cost. Normally, MHPPs projects are finalized from civil construction to powerhouse. A simple trash filter is usually located before the intake of the penstock. This simple trash filter usually causes a problem related to trash collection that blocks the water debit into the penstock intake. The low debit, might cause the turbine's rotation will be reduced which in turn downgrade the voltage and frequency. Low voltage and frequency might harm consumers. In this paper, a new control mechanism based on Arduino Mega of automatic trash removed is introduced.


2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Abid ◽  
Kh. S. Karimov ◽  
M. W. Al-Grafi ◽  
S. I. Islomov ◽  
N. H. Karimova

ABSTRACT:  In this paper economics of a micro-hydropower plant installed in the village named Pashmi-Kuhna of Tajikistan and of a battery-based micro-hydropower plant on catamaran for free water flow operation designed, fabricated and tested in GIK Institute of Pakistan are discussed. For the economic evaluation of these power plants, the life-cycle costing approach is used.  Finally the costs of the produced energy by the micro-hydropower plants are calculated. ABSTRAK: Menerusi kertas kerja ini, bidang ekonomi loji hidrokuasa mikro yang dibina di perkampungan  Pashmi-Kuhna, Tajikistan diperbincangkan. Loji hidrokuasa mikro di atas katamaran yang membolehkan gerakan air bebas berasaskan bateri direka, dicipta dan diuji di Institut Pakistan GIK. Untuk penilaian ekonomi loji ini, pendekatan pengekosan kitar hidup telah digunakan. Akhirnya, kos dihitung berdasarkan kuasa yang dihasilkan oleh loji hidrokuasa mikro.


RBRH ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 570-575 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo de Oliveira Bueno ◽  
Carlos Rogério de Mello ◽  
Geovane Junqueira Alves

ABSTRACT In recent years, a relevant debate has been raised by a question related to if the hydropower plants indeed represent a non-consumptive use of water resources. In this context, this work was developed at the Camargos Hydropower Plant reservoir, Grande river basin, southern Minas Gerais state, aiming to estimate evaporation rates, which allow the characterization of the Water Footprint in this facility, between the years of 2010 and 2014. Evaporation rates were estimated based on Linacre, Penman and Penman-Monteith methods. Regarding the distribution of evaporation throughout the year, all methods showed the same seasonal pattern, consistent with the meteorological elements behavior that influence this physical process. Although an annual average evaporation considered normal for the studied region (1329 mm) and a small reservoir area (64 km2), this hydropower plant has presented low electric energy production as it is an old facility (more than 50 years) and has low installed capacity. Therefore, Camargos Hydropower Plant has presented, by all methods, a high Water Footprint (130 m3.GJ–1 on average) compared to estimates for other hydropower plants in Brazil and worldwide.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 2419
Author(s):  
Vidosava Vilotijević ◽  
Uroš Karadžić ◽  
Radoje Vujadinović ◽  
Vuko Kovijanić ◽  
Ivan Božić

Designing a small hydropower plant (SHPP) necessitates fulfillment of energy and ecological constraints, so a well-defined design flow is of the utmost significance. The main parameters of each SHPP are determined by appropriate techno-economic studies, whereas an improved approach to defining more precise SHPP installed parameter is presented in this paper. The SHPP installed parameter is the ratio of the design flow and averaged perennial flow obtained from the flow duration curve at the planned water intake location. Previous experiences in the design of SHPPs have shown that the SHPP installed parameter has a value in a wide range without the existence of an unambiguous equation for its determination. Therefore, with this aim, the thirty-eight (38) small watercources in the territory of Montenegro, denominated for the construction of SHPPs, have been investigated. SHPPs are divided into two groups depending on the installed capacity and the method of calculating the purchase price of electricity. For both groups, the range of SHPP installed parameter is determined according to the technical and economic criteria: the highest electricity production, the highest income, net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), and payback period (PB).


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 2082
Author(s):  
Doğan Gezer ◽  
Yiğit Taşcıoğlu ◽  
Kutay Çelebioğlu

With the growth in the share of variable renewable energy sources, fluctuations in the power generation caused by these types of power plants can diminish the stability and flexibility of the grid. These two can be enhanced by applying frequency containment using hydropower plants as an operational reserve. The frequency containment in hydropower plants is automatically controlled by speed governors within seconds. Disturbances such as fluctuations in the net head and aging may diminish the performance of the controllers of the speed governors. In this study, model reference adaptive control approaches based on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) rule and Lyapunov method were exploited in order to improve the performance of the speed governor for frequency containment control. The active power control with frequency control was enhanced by the aforementioned adaptive control methods. A mathematical model of a hydropower plant with a surge tank and medium penstock was constructed and validated through site measurements of a plant. It was shown that, as they are applicable in real life, both methods perform significantly better compared to conventional proportional-integrator control. Even in first five deviations, the performance of the conventional controller improved by 58.8% using the MIT rule and by 65.9% using the Lyapunov method. When the two adaptive control approaches were compared with each other, the MIT rule outputted better results than the Lyapunov method when the disturbance frequency was higher; however, the latter was more functional for rare disturbances.


2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-120
Author(s):  
Sandeep Joshi ◽  
Rajendra Shrestha

Every power plant undergoes repair and maintenance which reduces the performance of the power plants as their condition undergoes periodic deterioration. To rectify the situation of aging and deterioration, timely evaluation of existing power plants is a must. Such that the evaluation will enable the decision maker to make decision regarding the present operation and maintenance practice: the need for modification of the practice or need to undergo rehabilitation in order to operate existing plants in a more efficient and effective way. Performance evaluation of a hydropower plant is performed .on the basis of various performance indicators.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jie.v10i1.10886Journal of the Institute of Engineering, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2014 pp. 104–120


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