Toward Climate-Resilient Hydropower in South Asia

Using the WWF Water Risk Filter to Screen Existing and Projected Hydropower Projects for Climate and Biodiversity Risks

“…Just over a quarter of all dams (1648; 27%) are in regions that have medium to very high biodiversity risk and are projected to also have medium to extreme risk for water scarcity in 2050 (Figure 15). The countries with the greatest number of dams in areas of medium to very high levels for both risks are Turkey (233 dams), Nepal (210), India (161), Spain (110), Albania (73), Bulgaria (60), Portugal (51), Argentina (40), USA-California (39), and Pakistan (37). In addition, individual large dams with medium to high levels of both risks include High Aswan (Egypt), Akosombo (Ghana), Ataturk (Turkey), Grand Ethiopian Renaissance (Ethiopia), Hoover (USA-Nevada), Sobradinho (Brazil-Bahia), Keban (Turkey), Kapchagay (Kazakhstan), Glen Canyon (USA-Arizona), and Mingechaur (Azerbaijan) (Figure 16).…”

“…Further, we note that by performing this screening we are not suggesting that hydropower dams do not currently incorporate hydrological risk in their planning, design, operations, or other management. The sector can draw on abundant guidance on how to incorporate climate change and shifting risks into planning, design, and operations [34][35][36][37][38][39][40] to improve the ability of dams and reservoirs to adapt to change.…”

Editors introduction to the Handbook of Behavioral Economics and Climate Change

“…Another European team based in the Netherlands with expertise on the world hydroelectric energy sector provides an analysis of the potential impact of climate change on hydroelectric power generation in the world. The analysis is based on an engineering approach on the one hand where sub-modules are built bottom-up to explain the hydroelectric sector and a stress test on the other (Grijsen 2014;Karki et al 2016). The sub-modules include a hydrology model, a weather generator, a water resource system model, a climate module, and an economic performance module (Budyko 1958;McMahon et al 2011).…”

“…The melting of icecaps and glaciers in the Himalayan mountains, which increases water runoff in upstream and downstream rivers in Asia, has long received much attention from the global community, in particular, in relation to the recent exponential increase in the hydroelectric dam capacity and hydroelectricity generation (Xu et al 2009;IHA 2018;Mani 2021;Seo 2021b). Despite the increased runoff for hydropower under the projected climate change in the Himalayas, the authors also identify the increased challenges such as more frequent floods caused by glacier melting and landslides from increased precipitation, besides existing market and regulatory issues (Karki et al 2016). The results would be varied for a run-of-river (RR) hydropower station and a storage hydropower station.…”