Hydropower,adaptive management,and Biodiversity

Adaptive management is a policy framework within which an iterative process of decision making is followed based on the observed responses to and effectiveness of previous decisions. The use of adaptive management allows science-based research and monitoring of natural resource and ecological community responses, in conjunction with societal values and goals, to guide decisions concerning man's activities. The adaptive management process has been proposed for application to hydropower operations at Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River, a situation that requires complex balancing of natural resources requirements and competing human uses. This example is representative of the general increase in public interest in the operation of hydropower facilities and possible effects on downstream natural resources and of the growing conflicts between uses and users of river-based resources. This paper describes the adaptive management process, using the Glen Canyon Dam example, and discusses ways to make the process work effectively in managing downstream natural resources and biodiversity.     

水电站项目生态用水工程措施设计

电站引水发电以及堤坝式电站调峰运行将使坝下河段减(脱)水,调水、引水和供水等河道以外用水水利工程也将造成下游河道减(脱)水,水文将对水生生态、生产和生活用水、河道景观等产生一系列的不利影响.为维护河流的基本生态需求,水利水电工程必须下泻一定的生态流量,将其纳入工程水资源配置统筹考虑,使河流水电动能经济规模和水资源配备向"绿色"方向发展.本文以火溪河阴坪水电站为例,简述水电工程下泄生态流量确定的主要方法和下泄生态流量的工程措施设计.     

彭水电站蓄水前后鱼类群落多样性特征

根据2006-2008年9-10月渔业资源动态监测资料,分析研究了彭水电站蓄水前后坝上和坝下江段鱼类群落结构变化及其生物多样性变化特征.研究结果表明:3次监测中,调查江段出现的鱼类共有9科44属63种,其中长江上游特有鱼类22种;渔获物中,群体数量主要由体重＜50 g的小型鱼类和幼鱼组成,而群体重量主要由＜500g的中...     

Dams in the Amazon: Belo Monte and Brazil’s Hydroelectric Development of the Xingu River Basin

Hydroelectric dams represent major investments and major sources of environmental and social impacts. Powerful forces surround the decision-making process on public investments in the various options for the generation and conservation of electricity. Brazil’s proposed Belo Monte Dam (formerly Kararaô) and its upstream counterpart, the Altamira Dam (better known by its former name of Babaquara) are at the center of controversies on the decision-making process for major infrastructure projects in Amazonia. The Belo Monte Dam by itself would have a small reservoir area (440 km²) and large installed capacity (11, 181.3 MW), but the Altamira/Babaquara Dam that would regulate the flow of the Xingu River (thereby increasing power generation at Belo Monte) would flood a vast area (6140 km²). The great impact of dams provides a powerful reason for Brazil to reassess its current policies that allocate large amounts of energy in the country’s national grid to subsidized aluminum smelting for export. The case of Belo Monte and the five additional dams planned upstream (including the Altamira/Babaquara Dam) indicate the need for Brazil to reform its environmental assessment and licensing system to include the impacts of multiple interdependent projects.     

瑞士绿色水电认证对我国水电开发评估的启示

简要介绍了EAWAG"绿色水电认证"的概念、程序和标准要求,分析了我国目前水电站评估中存在的制度上、技术上的缺陷和问题,结合"绿色水电认证"的特点,论证了该认证标准在我国水电站评估中的适宜性:绿色水电认证将管理计划与生态目标有机地结合,为我国水电评估指标体系的构建提供了十分有益的参考;通过绿色电力认证额外增加的发电量作为生态投资,强调电力的生态价值,提供资金改善受影响河道的生态完整性;绿色水电认证标准中关于生态监测的数据要求,能够填补我国目前水电站生态影响评价数据的不足.     

The future of hydropower in Europe: Interconnecting climate,markets and policies

Hydropower is very important for electricity supply security in the European inter-connexion as well as for the economy of regions (primarily peripheral) that possess water resources. Its future may however be jeopardized by several factors: climate change, the development of new renewable energy, the creation of super and micro-grids, and progress in power storage technology. Energy and climate policy, as well as electricity market design and dynamics play a pivotal role.This article carries out a comprehensive analysis of all these factors and discusses the future of hydropower. This discussion follows an overview of the present situation and of future drivers. The technical, environmental, economic and political aspects of the problem are analyzed with an interdisciplinary approach. The stakes as well as the uncertainties are highlighted.The conclusion is that hydropower has a promising future, particularly in light of emerging sustainable energy policy, but that the risks should not be overlooked. Academics will find a comprehensive interdisciplinary analysis of hydropower in this article, whereas public bodies, communities and hydropower companies can identify the strategic variables that should be taken into consideration in the decision making process. The end of water concessions or authorizations is also evoked.     

Managing forest ecosystem services for hydropower production

In many countries, hydropower development is rapidly becoming a focus of green growth policies. This represents a significant opportunity for ecosystem services-based land management that integrates environmental and development goals to benefit the hydropower sector and support economic growth. In this study, we present an approach for targeting ecosystem-provision investment in hydropower catchments coupled with hydrologic modeling to quantify the benefits of soil and water conservation activities. We demonstrate the application of this approach in five hydropower facility catchments in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India. The results show that there is a high potential for targeted soil and water conservation to increase sediment retention services that benefit hydropower facilities (up to a 44% reduction in sediment transported from uplands into streams), although this benefit is distributed non-uniformly across catchments and levels of investment. The extent to which services can be improved is strongly driven by current land use and management practices that impact how and where conservation activities can be located. Iterative use of the method described here, in a process of stakeholder engagement and capacity-building, enables policy makers to determine the optimal mix of land management strategies and budget allocation to maximize service improvements that support hydropower production.     

A synthesis of environmental and recreational mitigation requirements at hydropower projects in the United States

Environmental mitigation plays an important role in the environmentally sustainable development of hydropower resources. However, comprehensive data on mitigation required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) at United States (US) hydropower projects is lacking. Therefore, our objective was to create a comprehensive database of mitigation required at non-federal hydropower projects and provide a synthesis of available mitigation data. Mitigation data was collated for over 300 plants licensed or relicensed from 1998 through 2013. We observed that the majority of FERC mitigation requirements deal with either hydrologic flows or recreation and that hydropower plants in the Pacific Northwest had the highest number of requirements. Our data indicate opportunities exist to further explore hydropower mitigation in the areas of environmental flows, fish passage, and water quality. Connecting these data with ecological outcomes, actual flow data, and larger landscape level information will be necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation and ultimately inform regulators, managers, and planners.     

四川省水电行业环境监理试点工作实践与探讨

长期以来,我国对水电工程建设的环境管理实行环境影响评价和"三同时"制度,主抓环保审批和竣工验收两个环节,在工程施工阶段的环境管理相对薄弱,因此在水电资源开发的同时,也带来了一定程度的环境污染和生态破坏。为实现水电开发与环境保护的协调可持续发展,本文作者以某梯级电站为例,结合所参与的水电建设项目,对水电建设环境监理进行梳理和探讨,以期为水电建设项目环境监理的发展提供一定的理论及技术支持。     

水电开发对河流生态系统服务功能的影响——以澜沧江漫湾水电工程为例

人类的经济活动对河流生态系统施加的干扰越来越多,其中既有正面影响,也有负面影响.在剖析河流生态系统服务功能内涵特征的基础上,探讨了水电开发对河流生态系统服务功能影响的机理及途径,建立了评价指标体系和评估方法.并以澜沧江漫湾水电站为对象进行了案例研究.结果表明,漫湾水电工程建设对河流生态系统服务功能正面影响的价值增量为11.30×108元·a-1,负面影响的价值损失为3.27×108元·a-1.正面影响以水力发电产生的经济效益为主,负面影响以河流输沙和维持生物多样性服务功能减弱的价值损失为主.漫湾水电开发生态环境效益与生态环境成本的比值为1:5.56,生态环境影响的净现值为一26853.50×lO'元·a-1.鉴于水电开发经济效益获取所付出的巨大环境代价,提出了水电开发与河流生态系统服务功能可持续调控模型,以期为实现绿色水电开发提供参考.