The potential micro-hydropower projects in Nakhon Ratchasima province,Thailand

At present, fossil fuel energy is commonly used in developing countries, including Thailand. The tendency to use fossil fuel energy is continuously increasing, and the price of fossil fuels is rising. Thus, renewable energy is of interest. Hydropower is one of the oldest renewable energy forms known and one of the best solutions for providing electricity to rural communities. The present paper aims to determine the potential micro-hydropower sites that could provide more than 50 kW but not over 10 MW in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Thailand. Both reservoir and run-of-the-river schemes are considered for the assessment of potential micro-hydropower sites. For the reservoir scheme, the discharge in the reservoir is employed for generating micro-hydropower electricity. This installation can be carried out without major modifications to the dam. The run-of-the-river scheme diverts water flow from the river mainstream to the intake via a pressure pipe or an open canal, which is then conveyed to the turbine via a penstock to generate electricity. The results showed that there are 6 suitable projects for the reservoir scheme and 11 suitable projects for the run-of-the-river. The maximum power load was 6000 kW and 320 kW for the reservoir and the run-of-the-river schemes, respectively. Hydropower from the run-of-the-river scheme is more suitable than hydropower from the reservoir scheme because of the many mountains in this province. The designed head for the run-of-the-river scheme is thus generally higher than that for the reservoir scheme. Because stream flow during the dry season is very low, electricity can only be produced in the wet season. This research is a pilot study to determine the potential sites of micro-hydropower projects.     

中国企业投资开发尼泊尔电力市场的调研分析

尼泊尔水电蕴藏量丰富,具有较大的开发潜力,在“一带一路”背景下,中国能源企业面临着投资尼泊尔等南亚地区电力市场的机遇和挑战.本文分析尼泊尔电力系统现状与负荷预测,进行尼泊尔电力电量平衡,结合尼泊尔与印度电力贸易等情况,评估尼泊尔电力市场空间,分析尼泊尔电力投资环境,提出在投资开发尼泊尔电力市场方面的建议,可为中国企业进行尼泊尔水电项目投资决策及确定南亚水电市场开发的战略定位提供依据和借鉴.     

加速水电开发亟需推进减排温室气体的立法

水电是目前全世界唯一可大规模商业化开发的可再生能源,它是人类社会替代化石能源解决能源难题的主要方式。然而,水电的开发和利用又是迄今为止一种社会争议最大的能源开发。分析了水电被妖魔化的巧合因素,论述了我国水电被妖魔化的原因和恶果,提出我国必须要加速水电发展。尽管我国水电开发形势好转,但存在巨大隐忧。因此,"积极发展水电"的最有效、最重要的方法是,通过节能减排立法保障水电开发。     

Hydropower development priority using MCDM method

Hydropower is recognized as a renewable and clean energy sources and its potential should be realized in an environmentally sustainable and socially equitable manner. Traditionally, the decision criteria when analyzing hydropower projects, have been mostly a technical and economical analysis which focused on the production of electricity. However, environmental awareness and sensitivity to locally affected people should also be considered. Multi-criteria decision analysis has been applied to study the potential to develop hydropower projects with electric power greater than 100 kW in the Ping River Basin, Thailand, and to determine the advantages and disadvantages of the projects in five main criteria: electricity generation, engineering and economics, socio-economics, environment, and stakeholder involvement. There are 64 potential sites in the study area. Criteria weights have been discussed and assigned by expert groups for each main criteria and subcriteria. As a consequence of weight assignment, the environmental aspect is the most important aspect in the view of the experts. Two scenarios using expert weight and fair weight have been studied to determine the priority for development of each project. This study has been done to assist policy making for hydropower development in the Ping River Basin.     

关于水电项目经济评价的几点思考

水电项目具有投资大、建设期长以及不确定因素多等特点,经济评价是水电项目开发建设的重要环节.本文结合水电项目的实际,对水电项目经济评价提出了几点建议.     

Dynamic planning,conversion, and management strategy of different renewable energy sources: A Sustainable Solution for Severe Energy Crises in Emerging Economies

Green hydrogen energy is a natural substitute for fuel-based energy and it increases a country's long-term energy safety. Pakistan has been a victim of a severe energy crisis for the past few decades. In this context, this research addresses green hydrogen generation and renewable energy supply (i.e., wind, solar, biomass, public waste, geothermal and small hydropower) as an alternate energy source in Pakistan. The assessment is carried out through a two-step framework (i.e., Fuzzy-AHP and non-parametric DEA). Results show that Pakistan has abundant renewable power capacity from wind, which the light-duty transport in the country can opt. Almost 4.89 billion gallons of fuel are consumed annually in Sindh, whereas Punjab uses up around 6.92 billion gallons of fuel annually, which need to be substituted with 1.63 billion kg and 2.31 billion kg of wind-produced hydrogen, respectively. It has been discovered that solar and wind energy attain the same criterion of weights (i.e., 0.070) in-line with the commercial potential criterion. Besides, wind-generated power is ideal for green hydrogen generation in Pakistan, and the subsequent choice for green hydrogen energy is small hydropower and solar, which are also good for green hydrogen generation in the country. Hence, this research offers a solid recommendation for the use of wind energy, which is ideal for the production of Green Hydrogen energy in the country.     

基于CFD和风洞实验对丘陵地形风资源分布的研究

随着新能源行业的深入发展,风电行业发展更为迅速,对于一个风电项目而言,研究其风资源分布特性尤为重要。中国内陆地形较为复杂,大部分为山地丘陵。受地形的影响,风资源分布特性较为复杂,评估较为困难。先建立余弦型的丘陵地形物理模型,分别采用CFD数值模拟、风洞实验2种方法对丘陵地形周围流场进行模拟仿真与实验测试,通过对丘陵迎风坡、背风坡特定参考点水平风速、垂直风速变化特征的分析,归纳总结了丘陵地形周围风资源分布特征,为丘陵地形下风能开发利用提供一定的参考。     

A renewable perspective for sustainable energy development in Turkey: The case of small hydropower plants

Renewable energy resources provide a large share of the total energy consumption of many developing countries. Turkey's renewable sources are the second largest source for energy production after coal. About two-thirds of the renewable energy produced is obtained from biomass, while the rest is mainly from hydroelectric energy. Hydropower is today the most important kind of renewable and sustainable energy. In Turkey, most of the important water power plants have been developed; hence, only a modest increase in the hydroelectric generating capability can be anticipated in the next two decades. Turkey has a gross annual hydro potential of 433,000 GWh, which is almost 1% of world total potential. Its share is about 16% of the total hydropower capacity in Europe. The total gross electricity production of Turkey has reached about 140,283 GWh in 2003, 75% of this is produced from thermal sources and the reminder 25% from hydropower. The main objective in doing the present study is to investigate the sustainable development of Turkey's small hydropower (SHP) plants. Development of SHP began in 1902 in Turkey. Total installed projects capacity of SHP plant is 2.45% and the total energy potential is about 2.96%, which have installed capacity less than 10 MW.     

Achieving global environmental benefits through local development of clean energy? The case of small hilly hydel in India

Energy and development are closely intertwined. Yet, increasing fossil fuel-based energy consumption contributes significantly to environmental problems both locally and globally. This article explores the interlinkages between local livelihood and environmental benefits from the provision of energy to remote rural households through small hydropower development. The analysis is based on research carried out around a large development project designed to assist the Government of India in the optimum utilization of small hydropower resources in the Himalayan and sub-Himalayan regions. There are about 100,000 villages in India that are not connected to electricity supply, many of them in the hilly regions with ample hydropower potential. The project aimed to demonstrate the utility of and options for providing electricity to such villages through clean mini-hydro. The article addresses the nature of the impacts of the demonstration small hydel schemes on the local communities, to what extent they translate into environmental benefits both locally and globally, and the perceptions and participation of the local communities in these small hydro schemes. The study explores the impacts of the schemes on financial capital, natural capital, social capital, physical capital, human capital, and gender equity in the local communities. It further provides a discussion on the links between local and global environmental benefits. Overall, it is found that the schemes’ impacts both on the local communities and the environment are mostly marginally positive or neutral, although achieving clearly demonstrable benefits would require major upscaling of the effort involving broader changes than possible under this project. Furthermore, it is argued that some of the assumptions behind the project design were faulty. Involvement of the local communities and direct livelihood benefits to them are essential for the long-term sustainability of the small hydro schemes. The discussion and conclusions are intended to provide guidance to programmes and projects that aim to promote environmentally sound energy in the rural areas of developing countries.     

The Hydropower Potential Assessment Tool (HPAT): Evaluation of run-of-river resource potential for any global land area and application to Falls Creek,Oregon, USA

Small-scale hydropower systems are popular both in the United States and much of the developing world due to the emphasis on renewable energy and the general cost-competitiveness of hydroelectric power generation. We present a novel modeling package, referred to as the Hydropower Potential Assessment Tool (HPAT), to assess historic and projected future small-scale run-of-river hydropower resource potential at a single location or distributed over a study region. HPAT implements a fully-distributed streamflow model, which is coupled to a digital elevation model to assess hydropower resource potential. To demonstrate HPAT, we implement the models for a privately-owned run-of-river facility on Falls Creek outside of Sweet Home, Oregon, USA. We use an ensemble of Global Climate Models (GCMs) for two future climate scenarios to project a plausible range of future changes at this site. For the Falls Creek facility, HPAT projects that the timing of peak streamflow will shift from spring to winter and that mean annual hydropower potential will likely decrease slightly from average 1980–2010 historic conditions through the end of the 21st century. All inputs to HPAT are globally available, except for streamflow observations necessary for calibration.     

Hydropower–water and renewable energy in Turkey: Sources and policy

Turkey's energy consumption has been growing much faster than its production. It forces Turkey to make a rapid action to supply energy demand. From the viewpoint of primary energy sources (petroleum and natural gas), Turkey is not a rich country, but it has an abundant hydropower potential to be used for generation of electricity. Hydropower is the most important kind of renewable, sustainable energy and a proven technology for electricity generation. The aim of this paper is to discuss sources and policy of hydropower, water and renewable energy in Turkey and compares the hydropower application with Europe.     

Sustainability deterioration of electricity generation in Brazil

The power generation sector in Brazil is usually considered to have a high level of sustainability because of its large share of hydropower, about 70%. The annual growth rate of the Brazilian power sector is about 4%/year with a growing capacity addition of fossil fuels, which indicates a deterioration regarding sustainability. This work utilizes multi-criteria analysis coupled with composite indicators to infer the sustainability evolution of the power generation sector in Brazil from 2010 to 2016. Seven criteria were considered: emission of greenhouse gases, immobilized area, use of fuel resources, water use, morbidity, energy generation reliability and energy efficiency. The assessment evidenced wind power and nuclear power plants as the most sustainable options for capacity addition after hydropower. Co-generation and combined cycle technologies should be encouraged in natural gas and biomass projects in order to reduce impacts on sustainability. The assessment is interdisciplinary and admits tradeoffs amongst different impacts and benefits, for instance, environmental impacts versus energy generation reliability. It is proposed that sustainability assessments be incorporated to the formal process of decision making in order to reduce opposition and facilitate obtaining consensus among different stakeholders.     

Determinants of household energy consumption in India

Improving access to affordable modern energy is critical to improving living standards in the developing world. Rural households in India, in particular, are almost entirely reliant on traditional biomass for their basic cooking energy needs. This has adverse effects on their health and productivity, and also causes environmental degradation. This study presents a new generic modelling approach, with a focus on cooking fuel choices, and explores response strategies for energy poverty eradication in India. The modelling approach analyzes the determinants of fuel consumption choices for heterogeneous household groups, incorporating the effect of income distributions and traditionally more intangible factors such as preferences and private discount rates. The methodology is used to develop alternate future scenarios that explore how different policy mechanisms such as fuel subsidies and micro-financing can enhance the diffusion of modern, more efficient, energy sources in India.     

Hydropower Systems and Hydropower Potential in the European Union Countries

Hydropower is today the most important kind of renewable and sustainable energy. Resources of hydropower are widely spread around the world. Hydro energy is the most reliable and cost effective renewable energy source. It is obvious that among all the renewable energies, hydropower occupies the place in the world, and it will keep this place for many years to come. Hydroelectric energy is responsible worldwide for some 2600 TWh of electricity output per year, which means about 20% of the world's entire electricity demand, making it one of the most reliable and cost effective renewable energy sources. In 2001, the largest hydropower generating countries were Canada (333.0 TWh), the United States (201.2 TWh) and Norway (120.4 TWh). Hydroelectric power consumption in the EU grew by nearly 27% between 1991 and 2001. In 2001, hydro accounted for approximately 5% of total EU power consumption. France is the EU's largest producer of hydroelectricity. In 2001, generation capacity of hydropower was about 25,000 MW in France.     

云南水电市场化运作的构想

文章分析了云南水电在电网中的作用,论述了可调节水电容量作为电网运行资源的价值,讨论了云南水电中长期发展的方向,提出了云南电力市场化运作的方案。     

Hydropower's future,the environment,and global electricity systems

Hydropower is a well established electricity system on the global scene. Global electricity needs by far exceed the amount of electricity that hydrosystems can provide to meet global electricity needs. Much of the world's hydropower remains to be brought into production. Improved technology, better calibrated environmental parameters for large projects have become the norm in the past 15 years. How and why does hydropower retain a prominent role in electricity production? How and why does hydropower find social acceptance in diverse social systems? How does hydropower project planning address issues beyond electricity generation? How does the systems approach to hydropower installations further analysis of comparative energy sources powering electricity systems? Attention to the environmental impact of hydropower facilities forms an integral part of systems analysis. Similarly, the technical, political and economic variables call for balanced analysis to identify the viability status of hydro projects. Economic competition among energy systems requires in context assessments as these shape decision making in planning of hydropower systems. Moreover, technological change has to be given a time frame during which the sector advances in productivity and share in expanding electricity generation. The low production costs per kWh assure hydropower at this juncture, 2009, a very viable future.     

Seasonal storage of hydrogen in stationary systems with liquid organic hydrides

A comparison of energy storage media for carbon free systems was made on a cost and weight basis for application with renewable energy sources such as hydropower. On a seasonal timescale (summer to winter), storage of hydrogen in liquid organic hydrides was equivalent to other carbon free alternatives and superior to zero emission systems like batteries.Seasonal energy storage is illustrated by the methylcyclohexane-toluene-hydrogen (MTH) system. Low cost summer electricity is used for water electrolysis to yield hydrogen for hydrogenation of toluene. Dehydrogenation in winter gives hydrogen for heat and power generation by fuel cells with an estimated overall electrical efficiency of 41%. Recent laboratory results using commercial, dehydrogenation catalysts in fixed bed reactors show how catalyst efficiency was increased (low by-products) to reduce the carbon emissions to 0.01 kgC/kWh_e. Hydrogen separation membranes and new molecular reactions are being investigated to further increase efficiencies. Economic analyses show that the seasonal storage of hydroelectric power with hydrogen by the MTH system is economically competitive with new hydropower projects.     

基于模糊物元的水利水电工程绿色施工评价

为客观有效地评价水利水电工程绿色施工情况,建立了包含31个指标项的水利水电工程绿色施工评价指标体系,划分了相应的评价等级标准,采用综合集成赋权法确定指标权重,基于模糊物元理论,建立了水利水电工程绿色施工评价模型,并利用该模型对白鹤滩水电站项目的绿色施工水平进行综合评价。结果表明,白鹤滩水电站项目的绿色施工水平为合格等级,其中第三方机构评价、景观恢复、燃油节约率是影响白鹤滩水电站绿色施工水平的主要因素,较真实地反映了白鹤滩水电站开展绿色施工的情况。     

Present situation and future prospect of hydropower in China

Hydropower is a clean and renewable energy source. Considering the economic, technical and environmental benefits of hydropower, most countries give priority to its development. China has the richest hydro resources on the planet with a total theoretical hydropower potential of 694 GW. Developing hydropower is of great importance to alleviate the energy crisis and environmental pollution resulting from the rapid economic growth of China in the 21st century. This paper provides a survey of hydropower development in China. Over the last five decades, China’s hydropower has developed quickly. The installed capacity of hydropower is 145.26 GW presently. Some large hydropower plants have been in operation and many are still under construction, including the Three Gorges Project (TGP) and pumped-storage power stations. Small hydropower development accelerates rural electrification of this country.