Impacts and Risks of Hydropower

Treeck, Ruben van; Geist, Juergen; Pander, Joachim; Tuhtan, Jeffrey A.; Wolter, Christian

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-99138-8_4

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 134 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Still, riverine fish continuously face growing threats from various stressors (Ahmed et al, 2022; Dudgeon et al, 2006; Reid et al, 2019), including climate change, excessive water pollution, and further development of hydropower as part of expanding renewable energies (e.g., EU Renewable Energy Directive 2018/2001; Quaranta et al, 2022). Even though hydropower is widely regarded as being ‘green’, sustainable, and environmentally friendly (Alfredsen et al, 2022; IHA, 2022; Singh & Singal, 2017), this renewable energy source constitutes a key stressor to fish populations (Parasiewicz et al, 1998; Schmutz et al, 2015, 2023; van Treeck et al, 2022). Nevertheless, hydropower, particularly storage hydropower, serves as a load‐balancing power source, able to stabilize the power grid in response to wind and solar fluctuations (Harby et al, 2015; Jager et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in hydropeaking‐induced stranding of Barbus barbus L. and Chondrostoma nasus L. larvae: Assessing the impact of daytime and down‐ramping rates

Führer,

Auer,

Coudrais‐Duhamel

et al. 2024

Ecohydrology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Unnatural changes in river flow patterns resulting from peak‐operating hydropower plants adversely impact freshwater ecosystems. In particular, the rapid dewatering of shoreline habitats during artificial flow down‐ramping puts early fish life stages at a high risk of becoming stranded if they fail to follow receding water levels in time. While extensive research has been conducted on the effects of hydropeaking on salmonid species, there is limited knowledge on the diverse cyprinid family, particularly on vulnerable early life stages. Hence, this study aims to compare the larval stranding of two cyprinid species, the common barbel (Barbus barbus L.) and common nase (Chondrostoma nasus L.), in response to bank dewatering. We conducted larvae experiments in near‐natural mesocosms, simulating single flow down‐ramping events with varying down‐ramping rates (0.3–1.8 cm·min−1) during the day and at night to quantify stranding rates, also including water temperature and fish development. Our results reveal distinct diurnal patterns for both species, with higher stranding rates during the night than during the day in all experimental scenarios. The data also show higher stranding rates at faster down‐ramping, with interaction effects between down‐ramping rates and time of day. The stranding rates between the two species are similar across most of the scenarios. Scenarios with colder water temperatures show that nase larvae tend to strand more frequently than with warmer temperatures. In conclusion, the study results contribute to the ongoing discourse on hydropeaking mitigation by providing new perspectives on flow‐reduction effects on early cyprinid life stages. Mitigation measures should prioritize the periods during early larval development and factor in prevailing water temperatures. Lowering down‐ramping rates, especially during nighttime, will help minimizing negative impacts on aquatic ecosystems, particularly when combining flow rules and habitat restoration measures.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in hydropeaking‐induced stranding of Barbus barbus L. and Chondrostoma nasus L. larvae: Assessing the impact of daytime and down‐ramping rates

Führer,

Auer,

Coudrais‐Duhamel

et al. 2024

Ecohydrology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…

Hydropower is a clean and renewable energy source that is strongly linked to the brisk development of society and the economy as well as the ongoing raising of people's standards of living. Although hydropower projects have significant positive social and economic effects, they can alter the characteristics of natural rivers and cause associated ecological issues (Van Treeck et al, 2022;Zarfl et al, 2019). For instance, a hydropower dam's discharge could result in total dissolved gas (TDG) supersaturation, which is detrimental for aquatic life.

…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Generation and Release Mechanism and Abatement Measures for Gas Supersaturation Downstream of Hydropower Dams: A Review

Zhang,

Fu,

et al. 2023

Water Resources Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite the considerable social and economic benefits of hydropower dams, they can cause total dissolved gas (TDG) supersaturation downstream of hydropower dams, which can harm fish through gas bubble trauma (GBT) and cause issues with aquatic ecology. This paper systematically reviewed the generation and release mechanism of TDG supersaturation, including three stages of TDG generation and release, to broaden the research ideas of TDG supersaturation and encourage the construction of environmentally friendly dams and other hydropower projects. The factors affecting the generation and release were summarized from the three stages of TDG generation and release, including temperature, momentum difference at the water‐air interface, and effective depth of bubble arrival. The research methods were introduced from four aspects: theoretical methods, field observations, experiments, and numerical simulations. The advantages, disadvantages, and application scopes of different research methods were outlined. Finally, the abatement measures in the three stages of TDG generation and release were introduced from the engineering and non‐engineering perspectives, and the future research directions were pointed out from the four aspects of TDG supersaturation generation and release mechanism, research methods, abatement measures, and management methods, including in‐depth study of whether gas‐liquid transfer through bubble surfaces or free surfaces dominates, consideration of bubble coalescence and rupture to improve the accuracy of numerical methods in TDG supersaturation prediction, the combination of engineering and non‐engineering measures to optimize TDG supersaturation abatement measures and consideration of artificial intelligence technology to improve hydropower project management methods.

show abstract

Dam impacts on plant communities based on sediment delivery ratio (InVEST-SDR): Wadi Ma’awil catchment of Oman

Al Ruheili,

Al Ismaily,

Al Wardy

et al. 2024

Arab J Geosci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Impacts and Risks of Hydropower

Cited by 5 publications

References 134 publications

Variation in hydropeaking‐induced stranding of Barbus barbus L. and Chondrostoma nasus L. larvae: Assessing the impact of daytime and down‐ramping rates

Variation in hydropeaking‐induced stranding of Barbus barbus L. and Chondrostoma nasus L. larvae: Assessing the impact of daytime and down‐ramping rates

Generation and Release Mechanism and Abatement Measures for Gas Supersaturation Downstream of Hydropower Dams: A Review

Dam impacts on plant communities based on sediment delivery ratio (InVEST-SDR): Wadi Ma’awil catchment of Oman

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About