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Reducing greenhouse gas emissions of Amazon hydropower with strategic dam planning.

ABSTRACT: Hundreds of dams have been proposed throughout the Amazon basin, one of the world's largest untapped hydropower frontiers. While hydropower is a potentially clean source of renewable energy, some projects produce high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per unit electricity generated (carbon intensity). Here we show how carbon intensities of proposed Amazon upland dams (median = 39 kg CO₂eq MWh^-1, 100-year horizon) are often comparable with solar and wind energy, whereas some lowland dams (median = 133 kg CO₂eq MWh^-1) may exceed carbon intensities of fossil-fuel power plants. Based on 158 existing and 351 proposed dams, we present a multi-objective optimization framework showing that low-carbon expansion of Amazon hydropower relies on strategic planning, which is generally linked to placing dams in higher elevations and smaller streams. Ultimately, basin-scale dam planning that considers GHG emissions along with social and ecological externalities will be decisive for sustainable energy development where new hydropower is contemplated.

SUBMITTER: Almeida RM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6753097 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Reducing greenhouse gas emissions of Amazon hydropower with strategic dam planning.

Almeida Rafael M RM Shi Qinru Q Gomes-Selman Jonathan M JM Wu Xiaojian X Xue Yexiang Y Angarita Hector H Barros Nathan N Forsberg Bruce R BR García-Villacorta Roosevelt R Hamilton Stephen K SK Melack John M JM Montoya Mariana M Perez Guillaume G Sethi Suresh A SA Gomes Carla P CP Flecker Alexander S AS

Nature communications 20190919 1

Hundreds of dams have been proposed throughout the Amazon basin, one of the world's largest untapped hydropower frontiers. While hydropower is a potentially clean source of renewable energy, some projects produce high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per unit electricity generated (carbon intensity). Here we show how carbon intensities of proposed Amazon upland dams (median = 39 kg CO<sub>2</sub>eq MWh<sup>-1</sup>, 100-year horizon) are often comparable with solar and wind energy, whereas some lo ...[more]

PMID: 31537792

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Dataset Information

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions of Amazon hydropower with strategic dam planning.

Publications

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions of Amazon hydropower with strategic dam planning.

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