Global water footprint assessment of hydropower |
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Affiliation: | 1. Faculty of Science and Biotechnology, Universiti Selangor, Bestari Jaya 45600, Malaysia;2. Department of Bioprocess Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, c/o Institute of Bioproduct Development, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, UTM, Skudai 81310, Malaysia;1. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Centro de Nanociencias y Nanotecnología, Ensenada, Baja California, C.P. 22860, Mexico;2. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico en Electroquímica, Tijuana, Baja California, C.P. 22444, Mexico;3. Facultad de Ingeniería Química, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Ciudad Universitaria, Morelia, Michoacán, 58060, Mexico;4. Institut de Recherches sur la Catalyse et l’Environnement de Lyon (IRCELYON), CNRS – Université Lyon I, Villeurbanne, France;1. School of Engineering, University of Portsmouth, UK;2. Fluid Structure Interaction Research Group, Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton, UK;1. Department of Electrical Engineering, M.I.T.S., Gwalior, India;2. Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Delhi, India |
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Abstract: | Hydropower is an important renewable energy source, but it can consume a lot of water due to evaporation from the reservoir surface, which may contribute to water scarcity. Previous studies mostly used a gross evaporation approach for water footprint assessment where all the evaporation is attributed to hydropower. They fail to consider both evapotranspiration before the dam construction, which should be deducted from the footprint, and the seasonal storage dynamics of water. These considerations are critical for assessing reservoir impacts on water scarcity using temporally explicit water stress indices. This study seeks to fill this gap: we calculate the water footprints of ~1500 hydropower plants which cover 43% of the global annual hydroelectricity generation. Apart from reduced water availability, alterations of the flow regime can also adversely affect ecosystems. Therefore, environmental flow requirements are also analysed.This novel approach for the water footprint assessment of hydropower indicates that previous studies mostly overrated the impacts of hydropower on water scarcity, often because reservoirs store water in periods of low scarcity and release water during months of high water scarcity. By contrast, flow alterations generally affect the environment more than water consumption. Since impacts vary broadly among plants, plant-specific evaluations are necessary. |
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Keywords: | Renewable energy Water scarcity Environmental flow requirements Life cycle assessment |
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