With the construction of major hydro plants, more and more large-scale hydropower systems are taking shape gradually, which brings up a challenge to optimize these systems. Optimization of large-scale hydropower system (OLHS), which is to determine water discharges or water levels of overall hydro plants for maximizing total power generation when subjecting to lots of constrains, is a high dime...

Here we translate the impacts of climate change on hydropower generation, and discuss implications on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and operation in California. We integrate a model of major surfacewater reservoirs with an electric grid dispatch model, and perturb it by projected runoff based on representative concentration pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). Results show that climate change and var...

despite the numerous advantages of large dams, there is still a deep suspicion about the real,long-term benefits and costs of their construction. land use change on a vast scale, displacement of a largepopulation of indigenous people, loss of biodiversity and production of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as environmental, socioeconomic and cultural consequences resulting therefrom, indicate c...

This paper analyzes ownership trends of nonfederal hydropower generating assets from 1980–2003. Previous research has shown that the overall electricity industry is unique in that, because of the extreme inelasticity of demand for power, even small sectors of the industry have the potential to exhibit substantial price setting behavior. Hydropower assets especially, with their unique ability to...

In this article we wish to evaluate efficiency of use of Dnieper cascade hydropower plants on the basis of common approaches to environmental management. We evaluate the efficiency of use the flooded areas of the hydropower station in agriculture. Assessment of the man-made risks includes evaluation of static (regular maintenance of dams) and stochastic (probability of artificial tsunami) compo...

Climate change has a large impact on water resources and thus on hydropower. Hydroelectric power generation is closely linked to the regional hydrological situation of a watershed and reacts sensitively to changes in water quantity and seasonality. The development of hydroelectric power generation in the Upper Danube basin was modelled for two future decades, namely 2021–2030 and 2051–2060, usi...

The bulk hydropower transmission via trans-provincial and trans-regional power networks in China provides great operational flexibility to dispatch power resources between multiple power grids. This is very beneficial to alleviate the tremendous peak load pressure of most provincial power grids. This study places the focus on peak operations of cascaded hydropower plants serving multiple provin...

River tributaries have a key role in the biophysical functioning of the Mekong Basin. Of particular interest are the Sesan, Srepok, and Sekong (3S) rivers, which contribute nearly a quarter of the total Mekong discharge. Forty two dams are proposed in the 3S, and once completed they will exceed the active storage of China’s large dam cascade in the Upper Mekong. Given their proximity to the Low...