A new study by researchers from IIASA and China investigated the impacts of different levels of global warming on hydropower potential and found that this type of electricity generation benefits more from a 1.5°C than a 2°C climate scenario.
A new study by researchers from IIASA and China investigated the impacts of different levels of global warming on hydropower potential and found that this type of electricity generation benefits more from a 1.5°C than a 2°C climate scenario.
In a sustainable and less carbon-intensive future, hydropower will play an increasingly crucial role as an important source of renewable and clean energy in the world’s overall energy supply. In fact, hydropower generation has doubled over the last three decades and is projected to double again from the present level by 2050. Global warming is however threatening the world’s water supplies, posing a significant threat to hydropower generation, which is a problem in light of the continuous increase in energy demand due to global population growth and socioeconomic development.
The study, undertaken by researchers from IIASA in collaboration with colleagues at several Chinese institutions and published in the journal Water Resources Research, employed a coupled hydrological and techno-economic model framework to identify optimal locations for hydropower plants under global warming levels of 1.5°C and 2°C, while also considering gross hydropower potential, power consumption, and economic factors. According to the authors, while determining the effects of different levels of global warming has become a hot topic in water resources research, there are still relatively few studies on the impacts of different global warming levels on hydropower potential.
The researchers specifically looked at the potential for hydropower production under the two different levels of warming in Sumatra, one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. Sumatra was chosen as it is vulnerable to global warming because of sea level rise, and the island’s environmental conditions make it an ideal location for developing and utilizing hydropower resources. They also modeled and visualized optimal locations of hydropower plants using the IIASA BeWhere model, and discussed hydropower production based on selected hydropower plants and the reduction in carbon emissions that would result from using hydropower instead of fossil fuels.
Read more at International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Photo Credit: saslonch via Pixabay
