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

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.

Advancing the representation of reservoir hydropower in energy systems modelling: The case of Zambesi River Basin

In state-of-the-art energy systems modelling, reservoir hydropower is represented as any other thermal power plant: energy production is constrained by the plant’s installed capacity and a capacity factor calibrated on the energy produced in previous years. Natural water resource variability across different temporal scales and the subsequent filtering effect of water storage mass balances are not accounted for, leading to biased optimal power dispatch strategies. In this work, we aim at introducing a novelty in the field by advancing the representation of reservoir hydropower generation in energy systems modelling by explicitly including the most relevant hydrological constraints, such as time-dependent water availability, hydraulic head, evaporation losses, and cascade releases. This advanced characterization is implemented in an open-source energy modelling framework. The improved model is then demonstrated on the Zambezi River Basin in the South Africa Power Pool. The basin has an estimated hydropower potential of 20,000 megawatts (MW) of which about 5,000 MW has been already developed. Results show a better alignment of electricity production with observed data, with a reduction of estimated hydropower production up to 35% with respect to the baseline Calliope implementation. These improvements are useful to support hydropower management and planning capacity expansion in countries richly endowed with water resource or that are already strongly relying on hydropower for electricity production.

Feasible location identification & potential assessment of micro-hydropower: Gilgel Beles River, Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia

Ethiopia is endowed with huge natural resources especially water resources that is why Ethiopia is the water tower of East Africa. But having the capability of generating a huge amount of electricity Ethiopia is under an energy crisis especially the rural peoples of Ethiopia. To overcome this problem utilization of renewable sources of energy like wind, solar and hydro are the best options. Hence, the objective of this study is to assess and identify the micro hydropower potential of the Gilgel-Beles river which is located in the Amhara and Benishangul Gumuz regions of Ethiopia. For data preparation and analysis, Arc GIS, HEC-GEOHMS, and HOMER software were used. Typical energy demand categories (lighting, radio, television, injera Mitad, stove, water pumps, schools, churches, and health centers) for Alefa Kacha Village were considered. The result showed that there is 88% excess energy from Hp site8 to supply other villages in addition to Alefa Kacha. Based on the estimated total technical ROR hydro potential of Gilgel-Beles River 660.01Kw technical power and 5608.222MWh annual energy was determined. The amount of coal or wood that can be saved per year as a result of the energy produced by the potential Micro Hydropower of Gilgel-Beles River is also determined. Finally, 9 sites were identified and a ranking of hydropower sites has been done for decision-makers to make a reasonable decision as to which sites should be given the top priority for future micro hydropower development.

Assessing climate change impact on the hydropower potential of the Bamboi catchment (Black Volta, West Africa)

This study evaluates the impact of future climate change (CC) on the hydropower generation potential of the Bamboi catchment (Black Volta) in West Africa using a conceptual rainfall-runoff model (HBV light) and regional climate models (RCMs)–global climate models (GCMs). Two climate simulation datasets MPI-ESM-REMO (CORDEX) and GFDL-ESM2M-WRF (WASCAL) under RCP4.5 were applied to the validated hydrological model to simulate the catchment runoff. Based on reference and future simulated discharges, a theoretical 1.3 MW run of river hydro power plant was designed to evaluate the hydropower generation. Hydrological and hydropower generation changes were expressed as the relative difference between two future periods (2020–2049 and 2070–2099) and a reference period (1983–2005). The climate models' ensemble projected a mean annual precipitation increase by 8.8 % and 7.3 % and discharge increase by 11.4 % and 9.735 % for the 2020–2049 and 2070–2099 periods respectively (for bias corrected data). On the contrary an overall decrease of hydropower generation by −9.1 % and −8.4% for the 2020–2049 and 2070–2099 periods was projected respectively. The results indicate that projected increases in discharge should not solely be considered as leading to an increase in hydropower potential when prospecting climate change impact on hydropower.

Impact of climate change on hydropower potential of the Lagdo dam, Benue River Basin, Northern Cameroon

Nowadays, special attention is paid to hydroelectric production because it is an efficient, reliable, and renewable source of energy, especially in developing countries like Cameroon, where hydropower potential is the main source of electricity production. It also represents a useful tool to reduce the atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations caused by human activities. However, it is the most sensitive industry to global warming, mainly because climate change will directly affect the quality, quantity of water resources (streamflow and runoff), which are the important drivers of hydropower potential. This study examined the response of hydropower potential to climate change on the Lagdo dam located in the Benue River Basin, Northern Cameroon. Hydropower potential was computed based on streamflow simulated using HBV-Light hydrological model with dynamically downscaled temperature and precipitation from the regional climate model REMO. These data were obtained using the boundary conditions of two general circulation models (GCMs): the Europe-wide Consortium Earth System Model (EC-Earth) and the Max Planck Institute-Earth System Model (MPI-ESM) under three Representative Concentrations Pathways (RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). The results suggest that, the combination of decreased precipitation and streamflow, increased PET will negatively impact the hydropower potential in the Lagdo dam under climate change scenarios, models and future periods.

Small Hydropower Plant for Sustainable Electricity from RES Mix

In the context of the need for an increasing share of renewables in electricity mixes, the paper presents the existing RES mix, PV and wind, for partially covering the electricity consumption of a research institute, ICSTM, and proposes a solution for completion with a third form of RES, a small hydropower plant. Moreover, it is envisaged to include the proposed small hydropower plant as a new real-scale laboratory attached to ICSTM. The method includes the presentation of an existing proposal for increasing installed capacity in new PV panels and propose to install an SHPP to a weir situated a few hundred meters from the institute. The hydropower potential for two possible arrangements is assessed and some types of turbines suitable for this location are presented. The main results demonstrate that building an SHPP is a better solution for completion of PV and wind as source of electricity for ICSTM. The main conclusion of the paper is that by installing new RES capacities, ICSTM can build a real-scale laboratory for new technologies, at the same time fully covering its own electricity consumption and even supplying a green electricity mix into the national power system.

Analysis of the Policy and Market Framework for Hydro Pumped Storage in Latin America and the Caribbean

In the next decades, the evolution of the power sector in the region will be based on a combination of large-scale and centralized power plants, distributed generation, and even isolated microgrids. Storage technologies will be crucial to enable the management of the intrinsic variability of some renewable generation (wind and solar), particularly in scenarios where there is a need to reduce fossil fuels used for base generation. Pumped Storage Hydropower (PSH) technologies are an attractive alternative, given the regions hydropower potential, existing installed capacity, and technical knowledge. This paper explores the policy and market framework in LAC for this technology.

SUSTAINABLE TRANSBOUNDARY HYDROPOWER SYSTEM ON DRINA RIVER AS SYNERGY OF WATER -FOOD-ENERGY-CLIMATE NEXUS

The Drina River has always been a source of drinking water and irrigation for food production, with all its tributaries and branching catchment area across the territories of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia. It has connected peoples and cultures for centuries with its bridges. At the same time, with its great head, the Drina has always represented a significant hydropower potential. Throughout history, numerous watermills have been built on it. Currently, there are several constructed hydro-technical facilities on the Drina and in its catchment area. Among them, the most important are dams, with roads over them, associated hydroelectric power plants and belonging structures for flood control, water intakes for drinking water or irrigation. Due to multiple possible, almost always conflicting purposes, as well as several states, entities and other stakeholders, the management of Drina River water resources from the angle of the water-food-energy and climate nexus is an extremely complex problem. In addition to the impact on hydropower, agriculture, forestry, transport, irrigation and drainage, tourism and socio-cultural events, the construction of such strategic structures has also an impact on the climate of the Western Balkans. The issue of optimization within the nexus of the water-food-energy-climate requires holistic research to find synergistic solutions. These solutions are certainly a compromise. But inevitably, they must meet the criteria of sustainable development and the requirements of reducing global warming, according to the set conditions of the adopted European Green Plan for the Western Balkans. This paper proposes a methodology for finding optimal/compromise hydropower solutions, which synergistically include all parameters of influence. Holistic research of sustainable hydropower systems on the Drina River, from the angle of the water-food-energyclimate nexus, is presented. Particularly detailed analyses of the course of the river between the towns of Foča and Goražde, as well as the downstream part between Zvornik and mouth, known as the Lower Drina. In these sections, the most pronounced conflict is whether water will be used for drinking and/or food production and/or energy production and what impact possible solutions have on the climate of the region.