Identification of Owan Catchment Run-of-River Hydropower Potential Sites in Benin Owena River Basin Nigeria Using GIS And RS Procedures

The need for electricity is rapidly increasing, especially in developing countries. There is vast hydropower potential existing globally that has not yet been explored. This could be the only solution to solve future global power shortage. Hydropower is a clean and renewable source of energy because it does not exploit the use of water. However, using the conventional approach to harness hydropower results in several challenges. It is difficult to identify suitable sites and assess site potential during the planning stage of hydropower projects. In this study, run-of-river hydropower potential for the Myitnge River Basin was estimated by intergrating a Geographic Information System (GIS) and Soil & Water Assessement Tool (SWAT) model. A GIS based tool was developed using Python to spot the potential locations of the hydropower plants. The hydrological model (SWAT) was designed in order to obtain the values of monthly discharge for all potential hydropwer sites. The flow duration curves at potential locations were developed and the design discharge for hydropower was identified. Forty-four run-of-river (ROR) type potential hydropower sites were identified by considering only the topographic factors. After simulation with SWAT model, twenty potential sites with a hydropower generation potential of 292 MW were identified. Currently, only one 790 MW Yeywa Hydropower Plant, which is the largest plant in Myanmar, exists in the Myitnge River Basin. The amount of estimated power generated from ROR may increase the existing power system of Myitnge Basin by 36%. This study will assist stakeholders in the energy sector to optimize the available resources to select appropiate sites for small hydropower plants with high power potential.

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In-stream turbines for sustainable hydropower development in the Amazon river basin

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-3781 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Suyog Chaudhari ◽

Erik Brown ◽

Raul Quispe-Abad ◽

Emilio Moran ◽

Norbert Mueller ◽

...

Keyword(s):

River Basin ◽

Large Scale ◽

Ecological Impacts ◽

Amazon River ◽

River Ecology ◽

Amazon River Basin ◽

Hydropower Development ◽

Continental Scale ◽

Large Dams ◽

Hydropower Potential

<p>Given the ongoing and planned hydropower development projects in the Amazon River basin, appalling losses in biodiversity, river ecology and river connectivity are inevitable. These hydropower projects are proposed to be built in exceptionally endemic sites, setting records in environmental losses by impeding fish movement, altering flood pulse, causing large-scale deforestation, and increasing greenhouse gas emissions. With the burgeoning energy demand combined with the aforementioned negative impacts of conventional hydropower technology, there is an imminent need to re-think the design of hydropower to avoid the potentially catastrophic consequences of large dams. It is certain that the Amazon will undergo some major hydrological changes in the near future because of the compounded effects of climate change and proposed dams, if built with the conventional hydropower technology. In this study, we present a transformative hydropower outlook that integrates low-head hydropower technology (e.g., in-stream turbines) and multiple environmental aspects, such as river ecology and protected areas. We employ a high resolution (~2km) continental scale hydrological model called LEAF-Hydro-Flood (LHF) to assess the in-stream hydropower potential in the Amazon River basin. We particularly focus on quantifying the potential and feasibility of employing instream turbines in the Amazon instead of building large dams. We show that a significant portion of the total energy planned to be generated from conventional hydropower in the Brazilian Amazon could be harnessed using in-stream turbines that utilize kinetic energy of water without requiring storage. Further, we also find that implementing in-stream turbines as an alternative to large storage-based dams could prove economically feasible, since most of the environmental and social costs associated with dams are eliminated. Our results open multiple pathways to achieve sustainable hydropower development in the Amazon to meet the ever-increasing energy demands while minimizing hydrological, social, and ecological impacts. It also provides important insight for sustainable hydropower development in other global regions. The results presented are based on a manuscript under revision for Nature Sustainability.</p>

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Assessment of hydropower potential using GIS and hydrological modeling technique in Kopili River basin in Assam (India)

Applied Energy ◽

10.1016/j.apenergy.2009.07.019 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 87 (1) ◽

pp. 298-309 ◽

Cited By ~ 83

Author(s):

B.C. Kusre ◽

D.C. Baruah ◽

P.K. Bordoloi ◽

S.C. Patra

Keyword(s):

River Basin ◽

Hydrological Modeling ◽

Modeling Technique ◽

Hydropower Potential

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Nepal’s Water Resources: Blessing or Curse ?

Hydro Nepal Journal of Water Energy and Environment ◽

10.3126/hn.v19i0.15342 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 19 ◽

pp. 11-15

Author(s):

Rabindra Bahadur Shrestha

Keyword(s):

Water Resources ◽

Social Life ◽

Ecological Impacts ◽

Medium Size ◽

Flood Hazards ◽

Hydroelectric Project ◽

Hydropower Potential ◽

Democratic Nation ◽

Economic Growth Rates ◽

Run Of River

For half a century, Nepal has been chanting the ‘Mantra’ of 83,000 MW hydropower potential. When Nepal was in its childhood as a young democratic nation in the 1950s, India, with its vast ‘experience’ under the British colonial rule (colonial mindset), extracted lop-sided agreements on the Koshi, Gandaki and Mahakali rivers.Whereas India irrigates 12,200,000 acres of land, flood mitigates flood hazards and benefits from other intangible benefits. Nepal gets a meager 160,000 acres irrigation facility (1.3 percent of total irrigation benefits) from these unequivocal biased agreements. The adverse social and ecological impacts in Nepal are unaccounted for.Such water resource agreements have resulted in the sad present-day plight of Nepal: social life and industries are in total disarray with dismally low economic growth rates (GDP) forcing millions of Nepalese to seek employment abroad.Before it gets out of hand, India’s direct/indirect domination over Nepal’s water resources and politics should end, so that Nepal can develop its economy and hydropower in peace.Nepal should first develop run-of-river projects as per the modality of 456 MW Upper Tamakoshi Hydroelectric Project (cost 1000 US$/kWh) and medium size storage hydropower projects (140 MW Tanahu). Muddling with large storage projects like 1200 MW Budhi Gandaki HEP will only further delay the execution of RoR projects. NEA’s technical capability should be improved to build and oversee hydropower projects and INPS.HYDRO Nepal JournalJournal of Water, Energy and EnvironmentIssue: 19Page: 11- 15

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Climate Change Effects on Hydropower Potential in the Alcantara River Basin in Sicily (Italy)

Earth Interactions ◽

10.1175/2012ei000508.1 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 17 (19) ◽

pp. 1-22 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

G. T. Aronica ◽

B. Bonaccorso

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

River Basin ◽

Coupled Model ◽

Daily Rainfall ◽

Hydrological Regime ◽

Future Climate Change ◽

Hydropower Generation ◽

Energy Potential ◽

Hydropower Potential ◽

The Impact

Abstract In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to hydropower generation, since it is a renewable, efficient, and reliable source of energy, as well as an effective tool to reduce the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases resulting from human activities. At the same time, however, hydropower is among the most vulnerable industries to global warming, because water resources are closely linked to climate changes. Indeed, the effects of climate change on water availability are expected to affect hydropower generation with special reference to southern countries, which are supposed to face dryer conditions in the next decades. The aim of this paper is to qualitatively assess the impact of future climate change on the hydrological regime of the Alcantara River basin, eastern Sicily (Italy), based on Monte Carlo simulations. Synthetic series of daily rainfall and temperature are generated, based on observed data, through a first-order Markov chain and an autoregressive moving average (ARMA) model, respectively, for the current scenario and two future scenarios at 2025. In particular, relative changes in the monthly mean and standard deviation values of daily rainfall and temperature at 2025, predicted by the Hadley Centre Coupled Model, version 3 (HadCM3) for A2 and B2 greenhouse gas emissions scenarios, are adopted to generate future values of precipitation and temperature. Synthetic series for the two climatic scenarios are then introduced as input into the Identification of Unit Hydrographs and Component Flows from Rainfall, Evapotranspiration and Streamflow Data (IHACRES) model to simulate the hydrological response of the basin. The effects of climate change are investigated by analyzing potential modification of the resulting flow duration curves and utilization curves, which allow a site's energy potential for the design of run-of-river hydropower plants to be estimated.

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Development of an erosion model for Langat River Basin, Malaysia, adapting GIS and RS in RUSLE

Applied Water Science ◽

10.1007/s13201-020-01185-4 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (7) ◽

Author(s):

Md. Rabiul Islam ◽

Wan Zurina Wan Jaafar ◽

Lai Sai Hin ◽

Normaniza Osman ◽

Md. Razaul Karim

Keyword(s):

River Basin ◽

Erosion Model ◽

Langat River ◽

Gis And Rs

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Unruly Mountains: Hydropower assemblages and geological surprises in the Indian Himalayas

Environment and Planning E Nature and Space ◽

10.1177/25148486211050780 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 251484862110507

Author(s):

Saumya Vaishnava ◽

Jennifer Baka

Keyword(s):

Boundary Object ◽

Project Development ◽

Institutional Response ◽

Hydropower Development ◽

Policy Documents ◽

Hydropower Potential ◽

Indian Himalayas ◽

Run Of River

Despite a decades long push to develop what is seen as the vast untapped hydropower potential of the Indian Himalayas, hydropower capacity addition has been delayed and become increasingly expensive in India. Policy documents cite “poor” geology as a major reason for these delays. As hydropower in the form of run-of-river projects expand into the Himalayas, their construction activities encounter poor geology more frequently. This paper analyses hydropower development as an assemblage and examines how risk, especially geological risk, is negotiated to allow hydropower development to continue in the Indian Himalayas. We show how the category of “geological surprises” emerges as an institutional response to the problems of run-of-river based hydropower development in a seismically vulnerable landscape. We further show how “geological surprises” act as a boundary object between hydropower policy, project development, infrastructural finance, and hydropower knowledge, allowing for cooperation and negotiation, to allow hydropower development to continue in the geologically complex Himalayas.

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