Hydropower news and discussions
Hydropower news and discussions
Hydropower is electricity generated using the flow of water – typically from rivers or dams, but increasingly also from tides and waves. In this thread, we can discuss the latest news and developments in this area.
Re: Hydropower news and discussions
Declining cost of renewables and climate change curb the need for African hydropower expansion
AUGUST 24, 2023
Hydropower, traditionally one of Africa's most important sources of electricity, will rapidly fade in importance and cede its position to solar power. The attractiveness of new hydropower is decreasing fast, both due to the increasing economic competitiveness of solar panels and to the increasingly uncertain effects of climate change on river flows. The majority of new dams proposed across Africa should, therefore, probably never be built, suggests a new study published in Science.
Abundant rainfall, massive gorges, enormous waterfalls: the geography of Africa has all the elements for producing electricity from river flow. For decades, many African countries have relied on hydropower for electricity generation, including projects that inspire as much awe as controversy. One only needs to think of Ghana's Lake Volta, the largest artificial lake in the world; the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Ethiopia's flagship project to provide millions of its citizens with electricity access; or DR Congo's dream of building the Grand Inga plant, which some claim could "light up all of Africa." And the voices that advocate for more of the same are strong: it is estimated that Africa has barely exploited 10% of its hydropower potential.
But is it a smart idea to plan for hundreds of new hydro dams across Africa? A new study from scientists in Italy, Austria, Ethiopia, and Belgium shows that this may not be the case. The study used a detailed energy model to investigate which combination of power sources would be most cost-effective for African countries to meet their rising demand until 2050—comparing hydropower to solar, wind, coal, natural gas, nuclear, and others. With unprecedented detail, the study individually considered every possible future hydropower plant in Africa—with its own storage size, river flow profile, and interplay with other hydropower dams.
"What is unique about our study is that we model every single hydropower plant in Africa individually—both existing ones and future candidates," explains Dr. Angelo Carlino, lead author of the study. "This way, our model can pinpoint which plants could be a smart investment and which ones should probably not be built."
Adding up all the numbers provides a sobering picture of the future of hydropower in Africa. The study found that up to 67% of possible future hydropower plants in Africa may not be worth the investment. This is mainly because hydropower will soon largely become unable to compete economically with solar and (to a lesser extent) wind power, whose costs have dropped at unprecedented rates in the last decade.
https://phys.org/news/2023-08-declining ... rican.html
The passage from Zambia to Zimbabwe through Kariba Dam. Credit: Manfidza/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
AUGUST 24, 2023
Hydropower, traditionally one of Africa's most important sources of electricity, will rapidly fade in importance and cede its position to solar power. The attractiveness of new hydropower is decreasing fast, both due to the increasing economic competitiveness of solar panels and to the increasingly uncertain effects of climate change on river flows. The majority of new dams proposed across Africa should, therefore, probably never be built, suggests a new study published in Science.
Abundant rainfall, massive gorges, enormous waterfalls: the geography of Africa has all the elements for producing electricity from river flow. For decades, many African countries have relied on hydropower for electricity generation, including projects that inspire as much awe as controversy. One only needs to think of Ghana's Lake Volta, the largest artificial lake in the world; the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Ethiopia's flagship project to provide millions of its citizens with electricity access; or DR Congo's dream of building the Grand Inga plant, which some claim could "light up all of Africa." And the voices that advocate for more of the same are strong: it is estimated that Africa has barely exploited 10% of its hydropower potential.
But is it a smart idea to plan for hundreds of new hydro dams across Africa? A new study from scientists in Italy, Austria, Ethiopia, and Belgium shows that this may not be the case. The study used a detailed energy model to investigate which combination of power sources would be most cost-effective for African countries to meet their rising demand until 2050—comparing hydropower to solar, wind, coal, natural gas, nuclear, and others. With unprecedented detail, the study individually considered every possible future hydropower plant in Africa—with its own storage size, river flow profile, and interplay with other hydropower dams.
"What is unique about our study is that we model every single hydropower plant in Africa individually—both existing ones and future candidates," explains Dr. Angelo Carlino, lead author of the study. "This way, our model can pinpoint which plants could be a smart investment and which ones should probably not be built."
Adding up all the numbers provides a sobering picture of the future of hydropower in Africa. The study found that up to 67% of possible future hydropower plants in Africa may not be worth the investment. This is mainly because hydropower will soon largely become unable to compete economically with solar and (to a lesser extent) wind power, whose costs have dropped at unprecedented rates in the last decade.
https://phys.org/news/2023-08-declining ... rican.html
The passage from Zambia to Zimbabwe through Kariba Dam. Credit: Manfidza/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
