Risks for Hydropower



With most hydro resources already developed, renewable developments in Europe focus almost entirely on other energy sources such as wind, biomass, solar photovoltaics and ocean conversion. There is no reported mid- or large-scale hydro development in the pipeline but there are continued installations of small hydro plants. This expansion carries with it risk.
There are concerns that giant dams may cause the earth to move triggering earthquakes, mentioned above. To date these have been unfounded and a bigger concern is earthquake damage to dams, which may lead to the rapid release of water causing damage downstream. During the 7.1 tremor in April 2010 in Qinghai, China, the Changu plant was damaged. While this damage was not serious or cause lasting damage, other earthquakes could cause serious damage via five mechanisms outlined in the figure below.
One of the biggest environmental factors that may affect hydro plants is climate change. Many large scale projects are strongly affected by seasonal variations in rainfall. In Africa blackouts have been attributed to reduced capacity of hydro resovoirs and dams. It is very difficult for hydro plant owners to mitigate or adapt to reduced rainfall due to uncertainty over short and long-term rainfall patterns. Coupled to that is the potential affects of climate change, which could alter rainfall patterns dramatically and affect hydro projects as many have a lifetime of up to 100 years.
Small hydro power

Small hydro power is hardly affected by these environmental problems and the impacts of such small installations are marginal, if there is any at all. It is promoted as environmentally friendly.

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