Realizing ecosystem-safe hydropower from dams.

ABSTRACT: For clean hydropower generation while sustaining ecosystems, minimizing harmful impacts and balancing multiple water needs is an integral component. One particularly harmful effect not managed explicitly by hydropower operations is thermal destabilization of downstream waters. To demonstrate that the thermal destabilization by hydropower dams can be managed while maximizing energy production, we modelled thermal change in downstream waters as a function of decision variables for hydropower operation (reservoir level, powered/spillway release, storage), forecast reservoir inflow and air temperature for a dam site with in situ thermal measurements. For data-limited regions, remote sensing-based temperature estimation algorithm was established using thermal infrared band of Landsat ETM+ over

SUBMITTER: Ahmad SK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7325499 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature