Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-5nwft Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-01T17:30:20.466Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Hydropower

from Technologies for Decarbonising the Electricity Sector

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 October 2021

By
Jamie Pittock
Edited by
Kenneth G. H. Baldwin ,
Mark Howden ,
Michael H. Smith ,
Karen Hussey  and
Peter J. Dawson
Kenneth G. H. Baldwin
Affiliation:
Australian National University, Canberra
Mark Howden
Affiliation:
Australian National University, Canberra
Michael H. Smith
Affiliation:
Australian National University, Canberra
Karen Hussey
Affiliation:
University of Queensland
Peter J. Dawson
Affiliation:
P. J. Dawson & Associates
Get access

Summary

Hydropower is the largest source of renewable energy in the world; it is expected at least to double by 2050. This chapter reviews how benefits from hydropower can be maximised while reducing environmental and social impacts. The scope for expansion of hydropower is considerable, but adverse environmental and social impacts need to be managed. Climate change is impacting hydro generation through changed snow melts and river flows, greater evaporation and more frequent extreme events, such as flooding and droughts. Hydropower infrastructure needs to have margins to cope with extreme events and adapt to changing conditions. Relicensing at specified intervals can provide a framework for renovation, removal or changes to minimise impacts and maximise benefits of dams. Planning of dams needs to be undertaken on a whole-of-river-basin scale . The World Commission on Dams (2000) recommended priorities for more sustainable development. The Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol is one codification of better hydropower development practices. Hydropower is important in providing storage and firming capacity to complement intermittent generation from solar and wind generators.

Keywords

climate changeelectricityenergyenvironmenthydropowerrenewableriverstandardwater
Type
Chapter
Information
Transitioning to a Prosperous, Resilient and Carbon-Free Economy
A Guide for Decision-Makers
 , pp. 125 - 138
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agostinho, C. S., Agostinho, A. A., Pelicice, F., Almeida, D. A. d. and Marques, E. E. (2007). Selectivity of fish ladders: A bottleneck in neotropical fish movement. Neotropical Ichthyology, 5, 205–213.Google Scholar
Arthur, R. I. and Friend, R. M. (2011). Inland capture fisheries in the Mekong and their place and potential within food-led regional development. Global Environmental Change, 21, 219–226.Google Scholar
Baran, E. and Myschowoda, C. (2009). Dams and fisheries in the Mekong basin. Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management, 12, 227–234.Google Scholar
Bates, B. C., Kundzewicz, Z. W., Wu, S. and. Palutikof, J. P., eds. (2008). Climate Change and Water: Technical Paper of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Geneva: IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Secretariat.Google Scholar
Béné, C., Barange, M., Subasinghe, R. et al. (2015). Feeding 9 billion by 2050: Putting fish back on the menu. Food Security, 7, 261–274.Google Scholar
Bermann, C. (2007). Impasses e controvérsias da hidreletricidade. Estudos Avançados, 21, 139–153.Google Scholar
Brink, P. T., ed. (2011). The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity in National and International Policy Making. Oxford: Earthscan.Google Scholar
CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) (2010). Decision X/28. Inland waters biodiversity. UNEP/CBD/COP/DEC/X/28. Montreal, Canada: Convention on Biological Diversity. Available at: www.cbd.int/decisions/cop/10/28/25.a.Google Scholar
CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) Executive Board (2009 ). Approved Consolidated Baseline and Monitoring Methodology ACM0002: Consolidated Baseline Methodology for Grid-Connected Electricity Generation from Renewable Sources. ACM0002/Version 10. Sectoral Scope: 01. EB 47. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Bonn: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.Google Scholar
Costanza, R., d’Arge, R., de Groot, R. et al. (1997). The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature, 387, 253–260.Google Scholar
Cowx, I. G. and Welcomme, R. L. (1998). Rehabilitation of Rivers for Fish. Oxford: FAO and Fishing News Books.Google Scholar
Daufresne, M. and Boet, P. (2007). Climate change impacts on structure and diversity of fish communities in rivers. Global Change Biology, 13, 2467–2478.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Díaz, S., Demissew, S., Carabias, J. et al. (2015). The IPBES Conceptual Framework: Connecting nature and people. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 14, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fearnside, P. M. (2004). Greenhouse gas emissions from hydroelectric dams: Controversies provide a springboard for rethinking a supposedly ‘clean’ energy source. An editorial comment. Climatic Change, 66, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foran, T. (2010). Making Hydropower More Sustainable? A Sustainability Measurement Approach Led by the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Forum. Chiang Mai: Mekong Program on Water, Environment and Resilience.Google Scholar
Garcia de Leaniz, C. (2008). Weir removal in salmonid streams: Implications, challenges and practicalities. Hydrobiologia, 609, 83–96.Google Scholar
Government of Brazil (2008). Executive Summary: National Plan on Climate Change, English version. Brasília: Interministerial Committee on Climate Change, Government of Brazil. Available at: www.mma.gov.br/estruturas/imprensa/_arquivos/96_11122008040728.pdf.Google Scholar
Government of China (2007). China’s National Climate Change Program, English version. Beijing: National Reform and Development Commission, Government of China. Available at: https://en.ndrc.gov.cn/newsrelease_8232/200706/P020191101481828642711.pdf.Google Scholar
Hallegatte, S. (2009). Strategies to adapt to an uncertain climate change. Global Environmental Change, 19, 240–247.Google Scholar
Hamududu, B. and Killingtveit, A. (2012). Assessing climate change impacts on global hydropower. Energies, 5, 305–322.Google Scholar
Harvey, L. D. D. (2006). The exchanges between Fearnside and Rosa concerning the greenhouse gas emissions from hydro-electric power dams. Climatic Change, 75, 87–90.Google Scholar
Howard, C. D. D. (2000). Operations, monitoring and decommissioning of dams. Contributing paper prepared as input to the World Commission on Dams Thematic Review IV.5: Operation, Monitoring and Decommissioning of Dams. Cape Town, South Africa: World Commission on Dams.Google Scholar
ICEM (International Centre for Environmental management) (2010). MRC Strategic Environmental Assessment of Hydropower on the Mekong Mainstream. Final report. Hanoi: International Centre for Environmental Management. Available at: www.mrcmekong.org/assets/Publications/Consultations/SEA-Hydropower/SEA-FR-summary-13oct.pdf.Google Scholar
IEA (International Energy Agency) (2012). Technology Roadmap: Hydropower. Technology report. Paris: International Energy Agency. Available at: www.iea.org/reports/technology-roadmap-hydropower.Google Scholar
IHA (International Hydropower Association) (2010a). Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol. London: International Hydropower Association.Google Scholar
IHA (2010b). Hydropower and the Clean Development Mechanism. Policy statement. London: International Hydropower Association.Google Scholar
IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) (2007). Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Edited by Parry, M. L., Canziani, O. F., Palutikof, J. P., van der Linden, P. J. and Hanson, C. E.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Krchnak, K., Richter, B. and Thomas, G. (2009). Integrating Environmental Flows into Hydropower Dam Planning, Design, and Operations. Washington, DC: World Bank Group.Google Scholar
Larnier, M. and Marmulla, G. (2004). Fish passes: Types, principles and geographical distribution – an overview. In Welcomme, R. and Petr, T., eds., Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on the Management of Large Rivers for Fisheries, Vol. II. Bangkok: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Available at: www.fao.org/3/ad526e/ad526e0g.htm#bm16.Google Scholar
Lukasiewicz, A., Finlayson, C. M. and Pittock, J. (2013). Identifying Low Risk Climate Change Adaptation in Catchment Management While Avoiding Unintended Consequences. Synthesis and integrative research final report. Gold Coast, Australia: National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility. Available at: https://nccarf.edu.au/identifying-low-risk-climate-change-adaptation-catchment-management-while-avoiding/.Google Scholar
MEA (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment) (2005). Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Wetlands and Water. Synthesis. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute. Available at: www.millenniumassessment.org/documents/document.358.aspx.pdf.Google Scholar
Milly, P. C. D., Betancourt, J., Falkenmark, M. et al. (2008). Stationarity is dead: Whither water management? Science, 319, 573–574.Google Scholar
Null, S. E., Ligare, S. T. and Viers, J. H. (2013). A method to consider whether dams mitigate climate change effects on stream temperatures. Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 49, 1456–1472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olden, J. D. and Naiman, R. J. (2009). Incorporating thermal regimes into environmental flows assessments: Modifying dam operations to restore freshwater ecosystem integrity. Freshwater Biology, 55, 86–107.Google Scholar
Opperman, J. J., Apse, C., Banks, J., Day, L. R. and Royte, J. (2011). The Penobscot River (Maine, USA): A basin-scale approach to balancing power generation and ecosystem restoration. Ecology and Society, 16, 7. Available at: www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol16/iss3/art7/.Google Scholar
Opperman, J. J., Galloway, G. E., Fargione, J., Mount, J. F., Richter, B. D. and Secchi, S. (2009). Sustainable floodplains through large-scale reconnection to rivers. Science, 326, 1487–1488.Google Scholar
Opperman, J. J., Hartmann, J. and Harrison, D. (2015). Hydropower within the climate, energy and water nexus. In Pittock, J., Hussey, K. and Dovers, S.., eds., Climate, Energy and Water: Managing Trade-offs, Seizing Opportunities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Orr, S., Pittock, J., Chapagain, A. and Dumaresq, D. (2012). Dams on the Mekong River: Lost fish protein and the implications for land and water resources. Global Environmental Change, 22, 925–932.Google Scholar
Pacca, S. (2007). Impacts from decommissioning of hydroelectric dams: A life cycle perspective. Climatic Change, 84, 281–294.Google Scholar
Palmer, M. A., Liermann, R., Nilsson, C. et al. (2008). Climate change and the world’s river basins: Anticipating management options. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 6, 81–89.Google Scholar
Pittock, J. (2010). Better management of hydropower in an era of climate change. Water Alternatives, 3, 444–452.Google Scholar
Pittock, J. (2019). Pumped-storage hydropower: Trading off environmental values? Australian Environment Review, 33, 195–200.Google Scholar
Pittock, J. and Finlayson, C. M. (2011). Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin: Freshwater ecosystem conservation options in an era of climate change. Marine and Freshwater Research, 62, 232–243.Google Scholar
Pittock, J. and Hartmann, J. (2011). Taking a second look: Climate change, periodic re-licensing and better management of old dams. Marine and Freshwater Research, 62, 312–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PMCCC (Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change) (2008). National Action Plan on Climate Change. New Delhi: Government of India.Google Scholar
Poff, N. L., Olden, J. D., Merritt, D. M. and Pepin, D. M. (2007). Homogenization of regional river dynamics by dams and global biodiversity implications. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104, 5732–5737.Google Scholar
Postel, S. and Richter, B. (2003). Rivers for Life: Managing Water for People and Nature. Washington, DC: Island Press.Google Scholar
Ramsar (Ramsar Convention) (2008). The Ramsar Strategic Plan 2009–2015. Gland: Ramsar Convention Secretariat. Available at: www.ramsar.org/document/the-ramsar-strategic-plan-2009-2015.Google Scholar
Richter, B. D., Postel, S., Revenga, C. et al. (2010). Lost in development’s shadow: The downstream human consequences of dams. Water Alternatives, 3, 14–42.Google Scholar
Rosa, L. P., dos Santos, M. A., Matvienko, B., dos Santos, E. O. and Sikar, E. (2006). Scientific errors in the Fearnside comments on greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from hydroelectric dams and response to his political claiming. Climatic Change, 75, 91–102.Google Scholar
Russo, T. N. (2000). US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Contributing paper prepared as input to the World Commission on Dams Thematic Review IV.5: Operation, Monitoring and Decommissioning of Dams. Cape Town, South Africa: World Commission on Dams.Google Scholar
US DoE (Department of Energy) (2015). Marine and Hydrokinetic Energy Projects: Fiscal Years 2008–2014. US Department of Energy Wind and Water Power Technologies Office Funding in the United States. Washington, DC: US Department of Energy. Available at: www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/04/f22/MHK-Project-Report-4-14-15.pdf.Google Scholar
Viers, J. H. (2011). Hydropower relicensing and climate change. Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 47, 655–661.Google Scholar
WCD (World Commission on Dams) (2000). Dams and Development: A New Framework for Decision-Making. The report of the World Commission on Dams. London: Earthscan. Available at: www.internationalrivers.org/resources/dams-and-development-a-new-framework-for-decision-making-3939.Google Scholar
Weisser, D. (2007). A guide to life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from electric supply technologies. Energy, 32, 1543–1559.Google Scholar
World Bank (2004). Water Resources Sector Strategy: Strategic Directions for World Bank Engagement. Washington, DC: World Bank. Available at: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/941051468765560268/Water-resources-sector-strategy-strategic-directions-for-World-Bank-engagement.Google Scholar
WWF (World Wildlife Fund) (2004). Repowering Hydroelectric Utility Plants as an Environmentally Sustainable Alternative to Increasing Energy Supply in Brazil. Brasília: WWF Brazil. Available at: http://assets.panda.org/downloads/brazilupgradinghydropowerreport.pdf.Google Scholar
WWF (2006). Free-Flowing Rivers: Economic Luxury or Ecological Necessity? Gland: WWF International. Available at: https://wwf.panda.org/?63020/Free-flowing-rivers-Economic-luxury-or-ecological-necessity.Google Scholar
WWF (2007). Climate Solutions: WWF’s Vision for 2050. Gland: WWF International. Available at: https://wwf.panda.org/?122201/Climate-Solutions-WWFs-Vision-for-2050.Google Scholar
Ziv, G., Baran, E., Nam, S., Rodríguez-Iturbe, I. and Levin, S. A. (2012). Trading-off fish biodiversity, food security, and hydropower in the Mekong River basin. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109, 5609–5614.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×