essay on hydroelectric power plant

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Hydroelectric Power: Advantages of Production and Usage Completed

Hydroelectric power: advantages of production and usage, water use photo gallery, learn about water use through pictures, water use information by topic, surface water information by topic, water science school home.

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Nothing is perfect on Earth, and that includes the production of electricity using flowing water. Hydroelectric-production facilities are indeed not perfect (a dam costs a lot to build and also can have negative effects on the environment and local ecology), but there are a number of advantages of hydroelectric-power production as opposed to fossil-fuel power production.

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The following information references information presented by Itaipu Binacional . Content on this page is taken directly from their website.

Representatives of more than 170 countries reached consensus at the Top World Conference on Sustainable Development, in Johannesburg (2002), and at the 3rd World Forum on Water, in Kyoto (2003): hydroelectric generation is renewable and has certain merits Here are ten reasons leading them to this conclusion.

1. Hydroelectricity is a renewable energy source.

Hydroelectricity uses the energy of running water , without reducing its quantity, to produce electricity. Therefore, all hydroelectric developments, of small or large size, whether run of the river or of accumulated storage, fit the concept of renewable energy.

2. Hydroelectricity makes it feasible to utilize other renewable sources.

Hydroelectric power plants with accumulation reservoirs offer incomparable operational flexibility, since they can immediately respond to fluctuations in the demand for electricity. The flexibility and storage capacity of hydroelectric power plants make them more efficient and economical in supporting the use of intermittent sources of renewable energy, such as solar energy or Aeolian energy.

3. Hydroelectricity promotes guaranteed energy and price stability.

River water is a domestic resource which, contrary to fuel or natural gas, is not subject to market fluctuations. In addition to this, it is the only large renewable source of electricity and its cost-benefit ratio, efficiency, flexibility and reliability assist in optimizing the use of thermal power plants .

4. Hydroelectricity contributes to the storage of drinking water.

Hydroelectric power plant reservoirs collect rainwater, which can then be used for consumption or for irrigation. In storing water, they protect the water tables against depletion and reduce our vulnerability to floods and droughts.

5. Hydroelectricity increases the stability and reliability of electricity systems.

The operation of electricity systems depends on rapid and flexible generation sources to meet peak demands, maintain the system voltage levels, and quickly re-establish supply after a blackout. Energy generated by hydroelectric installations can be injected into the electricity system faster than that of any other energy source. The capacity of hydroelectric systems to reach maximum production from zero in a rapid and foreseeable manner makes them exceptionally appropriate for addressing alterations in the consumption and providing ancillary services to the electricity system, thus maintaining the balance between the electricity supply and demand.

6. Hydroelectricity helps fight climate changes.

The hydroelectric life cycle produces very small amounts of greenhouse gases (GHG). In emitting less GHG than power plants driven by gas, coal or oil, hydroelectricity can help retard global warming. Although only 33% of the available hydroelectric potential has been developed, today hydroelectricity prevents the emission of GHG corresponding to the burning of 4.4 million barrels of petroleum per day worldwide.

7. Hydroelectricity improves the air we breathe.

Hydroelectric power plants don't release pollutants into the air. They very frequently substitute the generation from fossil fuels, thus reducing acid rain and smog. In addition to this, hydroelectric developments don't generate toxic by-products.

8. Hydroelectricity offers a significant contribution to development.

Hydroelectric installations bring electricity, highways, industry and commerce to communities, thus developing the economy, expanding access to health and education, and improving the quality of life. Hydroelectricity is a technology that has been known and proven for more than a century. Its impacts are well understood and manageable through measures for mitigating and compensating the damages. It offers a vast potential and is available where development is most necessary.

9. Hydroelectricity means clean and cheap energy for today and for tomorrow.

With an average lifetime of 50 to 100 years, hydroelectric developments are long-term investments that can benefit various generations. They can be easily upgraded to incorporate more recent technologies and have very low operating and maintenance costs.

10. Hydroelectricity is a fundamental instrument for sustainable development.

Hydroelectric enterprises that are developed and operated in a manner that is economically viable, environmentally sensible and socially responsible represent the best concept of sustainable development. That means, "development that today addresses people's needs without compromising the capacity of future generations for addressing their own needs" (World Commission on the Environment and Development, 1987).

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• Itaipu Binacional

Below are other science topics associated with hydroelectric power water use.

Hydroelectric Power Water Use

Hydroelectric Power: How it Works

Below are multimedia items associated with hydroelectric power water use.

Below are publications related to hydroelectric power water use.

Estimated use of water in the United States in 2015

Estimated use of water in the united states in 2010.

ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Hydroelectric energy.

Hydroelectric energy is a form of renewable energy that uses the power of moving water to generate electricity.

Earth Science, Geography, Physical Geography

Slovenian Hydroelectric Dam

Damed river in a valley marked with agricultural fields along the flood plains surrounded by rolling hills.

Photograph by spiderskidoo/Getty

Hydroelectric energy , also called hydroelectric power or hydroelectricity , is a form of energy that harnesses the power of water in motion—such as water flowing over a waterfall—to generate electricity. People have used this force for millennia. Over 2,000 years ago, people in Greece used flowing water to turn the wheel of their mill to ground wheat into flour.

How Does Hydroelectric Energy Work?

Most hydroelectric power plants have a reservoir of water, a gate or valve to control how much water flows out of the reservoir , and an outlet or place where the water ends up after flowing downward. Water gains potential energy just before it spills over the top of a dam or flows down a hill. The potential energy is converted into kinetic energy as water flows downhill. The water can be used to turn the blades of a turbine to generate electricity, which is distributed to the power plant’s customers.

Types of Hydroelectric Energy Plants

There are three different types of hydroelectric energy plants, the most common being an impoundment facility. In an impoundment facility, a dam is used to control the flow of water stored in a pool or reservoir . When more energy is needed, water is released from the dam. Once water is released, gravity takes over and the water flows downward through a turbine . As the blades of the turbine spin, they power a generator.

Another type of hydroelectric energy plant is a diversion facility. This type of plant is unique because it does not use a dam. Instead, it uses a series of canals to channel flowing river water toward the generator-powering turbines .

The third type of plant is called a pumped-storage facility. This plant collects the energy produced from solar, wind, and nuclear power and stores it for future use. The plant stores energy by pumping water uphill from a pool at a lower elevation to a reservoir located at a higher elevation. When there is high demand for electricity, water located in the higher pool is released. As this water flows back down to the lower reservoir, it turns a turbine to generate more electricity.

How Widely Is Hydroelectric Energy Used Around the World?

Hydroelectric energy is the most commonly-used renewable source of electricity. China is the largest producer of hydroelectricity. Other top producers of hydropower around the world include the United States, Brazil, Canada, India, and Russia. Approximately 71 percent of all of the renewable electricity generated on Earth is from hydropower.

What Is the Largest Hydroelectric Power Plant in the World?

The Three Gorges Dam in China, which holds back the Yangtze River, is the largest hydroelectric dam in the world, in terms of electricity production. The dam is 2,335 meters (7,660 feet) long and 185 meters (607 feet) tall, and has enough generators to produce 22,500 megawatts of power.

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Hydroelectric Energy: The Power of Running Water

Hydroelectric energy is power made by moving water. “Hydro” comes from the Greek word for water.

Engineering, Geography, Social Studies, World History

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Hydroelectric energy is made by moving water. Hydro comes from the Greek word for water. Hydroelectric energy has been in use for thousands of years. Ancient Romans built turbines , which are wheels turned by flowing water. Roman turbines were not used for electricity , but for grinding grains to make flour and breads. Water mills provide another source of hydroelectric energy. Water mills, which were common until the Industrial Revolution , are large wheels usually located on the banks of moderately flowing rivers . Water mills generate energy that powers such diverse activities as grinding grain, cutting lumber , or creating hot fires to create steel . The first U.S. hydroelectric power plant was built on the Fox River in 1882 in Appleton, Wisconsin. This plant powered two paper mills and one home. Harnessing Hydroelectricity To harness energy from flowing water, the water must be controlled. A large reservoir is created, usually by damming a river to create an artificial lake, or reservoir. Water is channeled through tunnels in the dam. The energy of water flowing through the dam's tunnels causes turbines to turn. The turbines make generators move. Generators are machines that produce electricity. Engineers control the amount of water let through the dam. The process used to control this flow of water is called the intake system . When a lot of energy is needed, most of the tunnels to the turbines are open, and millions of gallons of water flow through them. When less energy is needed, engineers slow down the intake system by closing some of the tunnels. During floods , the intake system is helped by a spillway . A spillway is a structure that allows water to flow directly into the river or other body of water below the dam, bypassing all tunnels, turbines, and generators. Spillways prevent the dam and the community from being damaged. Spillways, which look like long ramps, are empty and dry most of the time. From Water Currents to Electrical Currents Large, fast-flowing rivers produce the most hydroelectricity. The Columbia River, which forms part of the border between the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon, is a big river that produces massive amounts of hydroelectric energy. The Bonneville Dam , one of many dams on the Columbia River, has 20 turbines and generates more than a million watts of power every year. Thats enough energy to power hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses. Hydroelectric power plants near waterfalls can create huge amounts of energy, too. Water crashing over the fall line is full of energy. A famous example of this is the hydroelectric plant at Niagara Falls, which spans the border between the United States and Canada. Hydroelectric energy generated by Niagara Falls is split between the U.S. state of New York and the Canadian province of Ontario. Engineers at Niagara Falls cannot turn the falls off, but they can severely limit the intake and control the amount of water rushing over the waterfall. The largest hydroelectric power plant in the world is the enormous Three Gorges Dam , which spans the Yangtze River in China. It is 185 meters (607 feet) tall and 115 meters (377 feet) thick at its base. It has 32 turbines and is able to generate more than two billion watts of power. Hydroelectric Energy and the Environment Hydroelectricity relies on water, which is a clean, renewable energy source. A renewable source of energy is one that will not run out. Renewable energy comes from natural sources, like wind , sunlight , rain, tides , and geothermal energy (the heat produced inside Earth). Nonrenewable energy sources include coal , oil , and natural gas . Water is renewable because the water cycle is continually recycling itself. Water evaporates , forms clouds , and then rains down on Earth, starting the cycle again.

Reservoirs created by dams can provide large, safe recreational space for a community. Boaters and water skiers can enjoy the lake. Many reservoirs are also stocked with fish. The area around a reservoir is often a protected natural space, allowing campers and hikers to enjoy the natural environment. Using water as a source of energy is generally a safe environmental choice. Its not perfect, though. Hydroelectric power plants require a dam and a reservoir. These artificial structures may be obstacles for fish trying to swim upstream . Some dams, including the Bonneville Dam, have installed fish ladders to help fish migrate . Fish ladders are a series of wide steps built on the side of the river and dam. The ladder allows fish to slowly swim upstream instead of being totally blocked by the dam. Dams flood river banks, destroying wetland habitat for thousands of organisms . Aquatic birds such as cranes and ducks are often at risk, as well as plants that depend on the marshy habitat of a riverbank. Operating the power plant may also raise the temperature of the water in the reservoir. Plants and animals near the dam have to adjust to this change or migrate elsewhere. The O'Shaughnessy Dam on the Tuolumne River in the U.S. state of California was one of the first hydroelectric energy projects to draw widespread criticism for its impact on the environment. The dam, constructed in 1913, flooded a region called Hetch Hetchy Valley, part of Yosemite National Park. (The lake created by the O'Shaughnessy Dam is called the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.) Environmental coalitions opposed the dam, citing the destruction of the environment and the habitats it provided. However, the power plant provided affordable hydroelectric energy to the booming urban area around San Francisco. The Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is still a controversial project. Many people believe the O'Shaughnessy Dam should be destroyed and the valley returned to its native habitat. Others contend that destroying a source of energy for such a major urban area would reduce the quality of life for residents of the Bay Area . There are limits to the amount of hydroelectric energy a dam can provide. The most limiting factor is silt that builds up on the reservoir's bed. This silt is carried by the flowing river, but prevented from reaching its normal destination in a delta or river mouth by the dam. Hundreds of meters of silt build up on the bottom of the reservoir, reducing the amount of water in the facility. Less water means less powerful energy to flow through the systems turbines. Most dams must spend a considerable amount of money to avoid silt build-up, a process called siltation . Some power plants can only provide electricity for 20 or 30 years because of siltation. Hydroelectric Energy and People Billions of people depend on hydroelectricity every day. It powers homes, offices, factories, hospitals, and schools. Hydroelectric energy is usually one of the first methods a country uses to bring affordable electricity to rural areas . Hydroelectricity helps improve the hygiene , education, and employment opportunities available to a community. China and India, for instance, have built dozens of dams recently, as they have quickly industrialized. The United States depended on hydroelectric energy to bring electricity to many rural or poor areas. Most of this construction took place during the 1930s. Dams were a huge part of the New Deal , a series of government programs that put people to work and brought electricity to millions of its citizens during the Great Depression . The Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, the Shasta Dam on the Sacramento River, and the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River are some dams constructed as part of the New Deal. The most famous hydroelectric power project of the New Deal is probably the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) . The TVA constructed a series of dams along the Tennessee River and its tributaries. Today, the TVA is the largest public power company in the U.S., providing affordable electricity for residents in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. However, hydroelectricity often comes at a human cost. The huge dams required for hydroelectric energy projects create reservoirs that flood entire valleys. Homes, communities, and towns may be relocated as dam construction begins. Egypt began construction of the Aswan Dam complex on the Nile River in 1960. Engineers realized that ancient temples of Abu Simbel were going to be flooded by the reservoir, called Lake Nasser. These monuments were built directly into cliffs several stories tall. The Abu Simbel temples are a part of Egypt's cultural heritage and a major tourist destination. Rather than have the monuments flooded, the government of Egypt relocated the entire mountainside to an artificial hill nearby. Today, Abu Simbel sits above the Aswan Dam. China's massive Three Gorges Dam project brings safe, affordable electricity to millions of people. It allows hospitals, schools, and factories to work longer, more reliable hours. It also allows people to maintain healthier lifestyles by providing clean water. Construction of the dam directly benefited workers, too. More than a quarter of a million people have found work with the project. However, the project has forced more than a million people to relocate. Lifestyles were disrupted. Many families were relocated from rural towns on the banks of the Yangtze River to Chongqing, a major urban area with 31 million residents. Other people were relocated out of the province entirely.

Hoover Dam The Hoover Dam was built during the Great Depression, a period when most people had little money and jobs were very scarce. Building the dam seemed like an impossible task. Many people said it could not be built. Workers labored long, hard days for two years, building tunnels that are 15 meters (50 feet) wide, big enough to fit a commercial airplane without its wings. The Hoover Dam is 221 meters (726 feet) tall, 52 meters (171 feet) taller than the Washington Monument in the U.S. capital of Washington, D.C. Building the dam gave hope and dignity to many victims of the Great Depression. It gave people a job and a way to earn money. The Hoover Dam is still in use, providing power to 1.7 million people in Arizona, California, and Nevada. It is often considered an engineering milestone and is named for Herbert Hoover, the U.S. president who helped make the project happen.

Hydroelectric Nations Hydroelectric power provides almost all the energy for some nations. Norway, Brazil, and the Democratic Republic of Congo all get more than 90 percent of their electricity from hydroelectric power plants. Plans for a new hydroelectric plant in the Democratic Republic of Congo may link homes and businesses in Europe with the African power supply.

Washington's Energy The state of Washington is the largest consumer of hydroelectric power in the United States. The state used almost 58 million watts of hydroelectricity in 2009, more than double the next-largest state consumer, Oregon.

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Writing Task 1 Example Essay: Hydroelectric Power

Updated: May 9, 2020

This example essay is from the Writing Task #1 Reading and Lecture on dams and hydroelectric power. If you have not yet read the passage or listened to the lecture, click here.

Example Essay

Both the reading and lecture discuss dams. While the reading says that dams offer positive benefits, the lecture disagrees .

First, the reading claims that dams are renewable energy resources. Hydropower is clean energy. It doesn’t emit harmful greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. However, the lecture insists that dams are not environmentally friendly. They actually produce greenhouse gases. When a dam is created, excess water runs off on to the land and floods the plant life there. Then, bacteria begins to decompose plants. In this process of decay, methane and carbon dioxide are emitted. Also, soil erosion, which happens as a result of dam construction, emits carbon dioxide. Furthermore, the natural surrounding land is changed and this can destroy wildlife and their habitats.

Next, the reading asserts that dams are cost effective. The energy they produce is reliable and so, the cost of hydroelectric power does not fluctuate. In contrast, the lecture argues that dams are not cost effective. They require huge investments. Dam construction in Turkey, Brazil and Mexico has contributed to the debt crises in those countries. Not only that, construction time is lengthy. One dam in Pakistan won’t be completed until 2027 and it will cost three times the initial estimates. The burden of paying for these costly dams often falls on the people.

Finally, the reading states that dams and their surrounding areas can be tourist attractions. Tourists enjoy boating and other water sports on the reservoirs. Hoover Dam’s Lake Mead and the Three Gorges Dam are popular spots for visitors. On the other hand, the lecture points out that dams are risky. Boaters may not be able to see they are in danger. Fatal accidents around dams are more prevalent than deaths caused by dam failures. Rescuers make up twenty-five percent of these fatalities. Moreover, dam failures, if they occur, can cause major damage. In 1975, a dam breach in China killed 171,000 people.

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Essay on hydro-power.

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Read this essay to learn about Hydro-Power. After reading this essay you will learn about: 1. Origin of Hydro-Power 2. Historical Development of Hydro-Power 3. Ideal Conditions for Its Development 4. World Production 5. Advantages 6. Disadvantages.

Essay # Origin of Hydro-Power:

Hydro-power is the energy harnessed from running water-streams, rivers or any other artificial or natural water flow. It is one of the oldest method of energy production. Even in the medieval period, people used to derive energy from water wheels. The contribution of hydel power in the world en­ergy production scenario is immense and ever-increasing.

Hydro-electricity now contributes nearly 7% of global electricity production when only 15.3 percent of the global exploitable hydro-electric potential is being used. Ever increasing awareness of ecology and social costs of hydro-plant construction failed to debar the increas­ing use of hydro-electricity.

The projected figure suggests that —if the present trend contin­ues — hydro-power will register an annual growth rate of 2.5 to 3% per annum.

Essay # Historical Development of Hydro-Power :

Power generation from running water has been made possible due to three inventions that occurred simultaneously:

(a) Rotating turbines — contain kinetic energy of swiftly flowing water.

(b) Dynamo — changes the kinetic energy into electrical energy.

(c) Cement — helps large constructions to tame the mighty rivers flowing through even inaccessible terrains.

Essay # Ideal Conditions for the Development of Hydro-Power :

The required ideal conditions for the successful development of any hydro-power project can broadly be divided into two types:

A. Physical Factors

B. Socio-Economic Factors.

A. Physical Factors :

Construction of hydro-power plant and its commercial success requires some ideal physical conditions:

1. Regular and abundant rainfall or availability of snow-melt water:

Steady production of hydro-power requires steady flow of water. As the rotation of turbine depends on water flow, the catchment area must receive either heavy rainfall or snow-melt water throughout the year.

2. Rugged topography:

Rugged topography in a region gives it high gradient of slope. In this high slope region, force of running water is, naturally, high. Higher force of water acceler­ates turbine movement and, finally, power generation increases. So, rapids and waterfalls in the upper course of river is ideal for hydro-power generation.

3. Volume of water:

Mere ruggedness of topography is not sufficient for hydro-power generation, unless and until there is steady flow of water in the river throughout the year.

4. Temperature above freezing point:

When temperature goes below freezing point, water of the river surface transforms into ice-layer and flow of water stops—hydel stations remain closed. So, temperature must remain above the freezing point.

5. Silt-free water:

Siltation in the reservoir often restricts water flow. Continuous siltation in the machinery reduces workability and lifespan of the machines gets reduced.

6. Water bodies within rivers:

Often, some rivers have lakes or water-bodies within its course. All hydel-power stations require large dams to restrict water to be stored in huge reservoirs. But natural lakes or water bodies save this expenditure.

7. Impermeable rock structure:

The rock structure of the hydel-power base should not be porous or permeable so that it can retain or hold the stored water and prevent any large- scale seepage.

8. Large space and sparse population:

These two factors are prerequisites for hydel projects. Construction of dams and machinery installation require large areas. So, uninhabited region is favourable, otherwise rehabilitation of displaced people will pose problems.

9. Climatic and Geological stability:

Last but not the least, requirement is climatic and geological stability. Draughts or floods may endanger the survival of hydel projects.

Similarly, earthquake-prone areas are potential threats to the survival of the plant.

10. Presence of forest:

Presence of dense vegetation in the nearby areas reduces soil erosion, lessen the probability of land slide and enhances rainfall in the area.

B. Socio-Economic Factors :

Socio-Economic factors play important role in the long-run operation of a hydel-project. Like any other economic project, cost-benefit ratio must be favourable. Various factors work in unison for the successful implementation of a hydel project.

Notable among these are:

1. Dense population and demand of power:

The construction cost of a hydel project is immense, though the production cost per unit is low. So, it is generally considered that pro­duced electricity should be easily marketed in the nearby area. A densely-populated area, where demand of electricity is large, can provide viable market to the project.

Nearness of a urban agglomeration or industrial region is added advantage to the project. For this reason, even having potential hydro-power capacity, many Afro-Asian underdeveloped countries failed to utilize their capacity.

2. Lack of substitute energy source:

Energy generated from fossil fuels are initially more cost-effective. So, hydro-power generation is more profitable where these energy sources are absent, or meagre. Coal and oil deficiency in countries like Japan, Norway, and Sweden compelled them to develop hydro-power stations.

3. Capital investment:

Erection of hydro-power project involves mammoth work-force, huge quantity of raw materials and massive construction work for a long-drawn period. So, huge amount of money is required. Only developed countries are able to supply this huge expenditure. Poor countries undertaking such ventures have to take international loans at high interest, which may not be profitable in the long-run.

4. Improved modern technology:

Modern high technology is a prerequisite in the intri­cate construction of hydro-power station.

The technical skill and expertise of engineers and computers make it successful.

5. Transport and communication:

Most of the hydro-power projects are developed in’ remote, inaccessible, rugged, mountainous terrain where road and rail networks are, nor­mally, absent. But as construction requires huge and varied machinery and construction mate­rials, easy transportation and smooth communication are the prerequisites for project works.

Essay # Potential or Recoverable Hydro-Power Capacity and World Production :

The total known exploitable hydro-power potential of the world is 4 million megawatts. The highest potential of water power is obviously found in tropical countries.

The percentage share of the known exploitable hydropower potential in different continents are:

Hydro-power, as a source of renewable energy, contributed nearly 6% of world energy in 1996. The potential of further improvement of hydro-electric is indeed high in countries like China, Brazil and C.I.S. China with a potential capacity of 2 million megawatts, has (till 1997) been able to harness only 63,000 megawatts. Till 1997, only 15.6% of the potential hydro-power has been tapped.

China has the largest potential, followed by C.I.S., Brazil, Indonesia, Canada and Zaire. Since 1985, 27% growth of hydro-power was recorded in the entire world. According to pro­jected estimates, hydro-power generation will witness a growth rate of 3% per annum.

Countries like Norway (95%), New Zealand (75%), Switzerland (74%) and Canada (57%) depend most on hydro-power generation and hydro-power comprises the lion’s share in their overall energy output. European countries, U.S.A. and Canada are the traditional leaders of hydro-power gen­eration where most of the projects are large while hydel projects in China are, comparatively smaller.

Essay # Advantages of Hydro Power:

1. Hydro power is a permanent renewable or flow resource.

2. Water power is eco-friendly and emits no pollutants from the plants.

3. Plant-load factor or ability of performance is almost optimum in hydel plants.

4. The machinery used in hydel plants run for much longer period and maintenance cost is minimum.

5 Due to low wage rate, low maintenance and absence of fuel cost, recurring cost is very low.

6. Hydro power highly profitable in the long-run.

7. Has longer lifespan.

8. During peak demand period hydro-power supply is more reliable and stable.

Essay # Disadvantages of Hydro Power:

1. Initial construction cost of hydel plant is immense. Large dams, turbines for project and urban amenities like school, hospital, and housing for the working people require huge investments. It is very difficult for underdeveloped economies to provide such investment.

2. Hydro power project is generally taken up in hostile environment. So, construction is difficult. It requires years for completion of the project.

3. Water flow of any river is unpredictable and variable with the changing seasons. One year it may receive excess water while next year it may experience drought.

So, frozen ice or deficiency or excess water flow may endanger the life of hydel stations.

4. Most of the hydel power projects are located in rugged inhospitable terrains. So, scope of expansion in those projects are limited.

5. Construction of hydel project is a long-term invest­ment. At its initial period, it remains non-profitable.

6. Nearly all hydel power projects are located in the remote mountain areas where ecology is fragile and vulnerable. So, construction requires large- scale destruction of forest and demolition of obstructions. These may endanger rare flora and fauna. Environmentalists are more and more raising their voice against the construction of hydel projects in delicately balanced environments, e.g., Sardar Sarovar and Narmada Valley projects in India.

7. Construction of hydel project require huge area. So, eviction of local inhabitants is compulsory. Re-settlement of these displaced persons creates grave social tension and economic burden to the project and the government.

8. Most of the hydel projects are located far from the industrial areas of which are the major consumer of electricity. Transport of electricity requires huge infrastructure. So, cost per unit of electricity escalates. Besides, loss of electricity due to long-­distance, transmission is also uneconomical.

Related Articles:

• Factors Affecting the Development and Generation of Hydro-Electric Power
• Distribution of Hydro-Power in the World

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Home — Essay Samples — Science — Energy — Hydroelectric power as a renewable energy

Hydroelectric Power as a Renewable Energy

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Published: Jan 15, 2019

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Hydro, wind and solar power as a base for a 100% renewable energy supply for South and Central America

Affiliations Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., Lappeenranta, Finland

Affiliation Lappeenranta University of Technology, Lappeenranta, Finland

Affiliation VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., Lappeenranta, Finland

* E-mail: [email protected]

• Larissa de Souza Noel Simas Barbosa, 
• Dmitrii Bogdanov, 
• Pasi Vainikka, 
• Christian Breyer

• Published: March 22, 2017
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173820
• Reader Comments

Power systems for South and Central America based on 100% renewable energy (RE) in the year 2030 were calculated for the first time using an hourly resolved energy model. The region was subdivided into 15 sub-regions. Four different scenarios were considered: three according to different high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission grid development levels (region, country, area-wide) and one integrated scenario that considers water desalination and industrial gas demand supplied by synthetic natural gas via power-to-gas (PtG). RE is not only able to cover 1813 TWh of estimated electricity demand of the area in 2030 but also able to generate the electricity needed to fulfil 3.9 billion m 3 of water desalination and 640 TWh LHV of synthetic natural gas demand. Existing hydro dams can be used as virtual batteries for solar and wind electricity storage, diminishing the role of storage technologies. The results for total levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) are decreased from 62 €/MWh for a highly decentralized to 56 €/MWh for a highly centralized grid scenario (currency value of the year 2015). For the integrated scenario, the levelized cost of gas (LCOG) and the levelized cost of water (LCOW) are 95 €/MWh LHV and 0.91 €/m 3 , respectively. A reduction of 8% in total cost and 5% in electricity generation was achieved when integrating desalination and power-to-gas into the system.

Citation: Barbosa LdSNS, Bogdanov D, Vainikka P, Breyer C (2017) Hydro, wind and solar power as a base for a 100% renewable energy supply for South and Central America. PLoS ONE 12(3): e0173820. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173820

Editor: Vanesa Magar, Centro de Investigacion Cientifica y de Educacion Superior de Ensenada Division de Fisica Aplicada, MEXICO

Received: September 16, 2016; Accepted: February 26, 2017; Published: March 22, 2017

Copyright: © 2017 Barbosa et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.

Funding: Public financing of Tekes (Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation) for the ‘Neo-Carbon Energy’ project under the number 40101/14; PhD scoolarship from CNPq (Brazil Council for Scientific and Technological Development). The study was funded by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd. The funder provided support in the form of salaries for authors (LSNSB, DB, PV, CB), but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.

Competing interests: The commercial affiliation (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd) does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Abbreviations: BAU, Business as usual scenario; Capex, capital expenditures; CCGT, combined cycle gas turbine; ccs, carbon capture and storage; chp, combined heat and power; csp, concentrating solar thermal power; el, electricity; fix, fixed; gdp, gross domestic product; gt, gas turbine; HHV, base on higher heating value of fuel; hvdc, high voltage direct current; lcoc, levelized cost of curtailment; lcoe, levelized cost of electricity; lcoebau, levelized cost of electricity of BAU scenario; lcoebau-CO2, levelized cost of electricity of BAU scenario considering CO2 costs; lcog, levelized cost of gas; lcos, levelized cost of storage; lcot, levelized cost of transmission; lcow, levelized cost of water; LHV, base on lower heating value of fuel; ocgt, open cycle gas turbine; opex, operational expenditures; phs, pumped hydro storage; PtG, power-to-gas; PV, photovoltaic; RE, renewable energy; RoR, run-of-river; sng, synthetic natural gas; st, steam turbine; swro, seawater reverse osmosis; tes, thermal energy storage; th, thermal; wacc, weighted average cost of capital

Introduction

South and Central America are economically emerging regions that have had sustained economic growth and social development during the last decade. The regions’ 3% gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate [ 1 ] followed by an estimated fast-paced electricity demand growth over the coming decades [ 2 ] requires the development of the power sector in order to guarantee efficiency and security of supply.

The South and Central American electrical energy mix is the least carbon-intensive in the world due to the highest share of renewable energy, mainly based on hydropower installed capacities [ 3 , 4 ]. However, the need to reduce the vulnerability of the electricity system to a changing hydrological regime is evident. Natural climate variability and climate change have been modifying the hydrological cycle and water regime in the drainage basis, threatening the availability and reliability of hydropower sources of many countries in the region, especially Brazil [ 5 ]. Serious droughts and severe weather events in Brazil have caused a reduction of 45% in the average water levels in hydro dam reservoirs in the last four years [ 6 ], and due to the fact that 71% of the electricity supply in the country relies on hydropower [ 7 ], the changes have endangered the country’s electricity security and supply. Over the past decade hydropower’s share in South and Central America has been declining and the indications for the future are that the downward trend will continue [ 2 ]. Regarding non-hydro renewable energy (RE) potential, South and Central America have vast solar, wind and biomass potentials, which could allow the region to maintain its high share of renewables, even under a low hydropower future scenario [ 2 ].

Most parts of the region lies within the Sun Belt region of highest solar radiation [ 8 ], with Chile, Bolivia and Argentina among the ten countries in the world with maximum irradiation for fixed, optimally tilted PV systems [ 9 ]. Moreover, the Atacama Desert has the best global maximum solar irradiation of 2,770 kWh/(m 2 ∙a) (for fixed, optimally tilted PV systems) and is an excellent region for solar photovoltaics (PV) energy production [ 9 ].

Regarding the potential for wind energy generation, Brazil (northeast region), Chile (northwest region), Paraguay (north region), Bolivia (southeast region) and Argentina (south and east region) have high annual wind energy potentials [ 10 ], which make the region highly valuable for wind power. In fact, one of the best wind sites globally is located in the region of Patagonia, Argentina.

Concerning biomass resources, South and Central America have suitable climatic conditions, land availability and cheap labor when compared to other countries [ 11 ]. In total biofuel production, Brazil and Argentina are, respectively, the second biggest ethanol and biodiesel producers globally and a recent wave of investments from the governments has boosted the production of biofuels over the medium and long terms [ 11 , 12 ]. In addition, South and Central American solid wastes, and agricultural and industrial residues are able to generate 1025 TWh LHV per year in the region [ 13 ].

Added to the above mentioned facts, a few numbers of South American countries have been supported not only by a regulatory framework that has raised investments in renewable energy generation, but also by low-carbon development plans. Long-term electricity auctions, aiming either at guaranteeing the adequacy of the system or at RE system electricity support, have been occurring in South and Central American countries [ 14 ]. Over 13,000 MW of capacity has been contracted through tendering since 2007 in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru [ 15 ]. Competitive bidding in Uruguay has reached the country target of 1 GW of wind power capacity by 2015 and Central American countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama released bids for renewable energy in 2014 [ 15 ]. Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica and Peru have national plans with climate change mitigation initiatives and scenarios [ 16 , 17 ] that can lead to national sustainable development and drive the changes in the countries’ energy systems. Chile’s government roadmap, launched in September 2015, is an excellent example of initiative since the report calls for no less than 70% of the country’s electricity demand being met by renewable energy sources by 2050, with an increase in 58% of actual renewable energy sources [ 18 ]. Costa Rica had been very close to reaching the 100% RE target already in 2015, since for 94 consecutive days of the year the total electricity had been covered by RE and the country reached 98% in total for the year [ 19 ]. Uruguay has slashed its carbon footprint in the last 10 years and, despite already having 94.5% of its electricity and 55% of its overall energy mix provided by RE, has announced a 88% cut in carbon emissions by 2017 compared with the average for 2009–13 [ 20 ].

As long as the energy systems in the region have a broad range of possible RE options and solutions supported by a regulatory framework, it has an essential role in addressing climate change and limiting global warming to less than 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels. High shares of renewables for the Latin American energy system have been outlined in other modelling studies for the year 2050, such as in [ 21 ] and [ 17 ]. Martínez et al. (2015) have considered three different assessment models to determine the energy and emissions trends in Brazil and the rest of the Latin American region up to 2050 based on a set of scenarios consistent with current trends and with the 2°C global mitigation target [ 17 ]. Greenpeace (2015) reports a compelling vision of what an energy future may look like for a sustainable world [ 21 ]. It presents two global scenarios in which energy is supplied 100% by renewable energy technologies with different reductions on energy intensity. The main differences between these studies and the study presented in this paper concern methodology and the existence of flexibility options for an overall balanced system. Both Martínez et al. (2015) and Greenpeace (2015) studies [ 21 , 17 ], for instance, have considered yearly resolution models (and not hourly resolution models) for RE generation, energy demand and supply. This approach, however, is not appropriate for systems relying on high shares of renewable energy since the energy generation varies hourly over time and does not guarantee that the hourly energy supply in a year covers the local demand from all sectors. Furthermore, the existence of different types of flexibility in the system, such as demand side management and energy shifted in location (transmission grids connecting different locations) were not evaluated in these studies either, and storage of energy at one location (and energy shifted in time) was only mentioned and not quantified.

Other studies [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ] have performed the optimization of energy systems on an hourly basis with a high penetration of renewable energy for countries such as Ireland, USA, Australia and Northeast Asia. This study, using a similar hourly based model and analysing different grid development levels, aims at designing an optimal and cost competitive 100% RE power system for South and Central America. A potential evolution of the generation mix was considered and takes into account:

• the actual electricity trade and transmission infrastructure of different sub-regions of South and Central America
• an optimal system design and wise utilization of considered available RE resources
• synergy between various resources and different regions that increase the efficiency of the power sector

Three different scenarios with different high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission grid development levels (region-wide, country-wide and area-wide energy systems) and one integrated scenario were analysed and compared. The integrated scenario considers an additional electricity demand for water desalination and industrial natural gas production, in order to give the system flexibility and to decrease overall cost guarantee that the water demand of the region will be fulfilled.

Methodology

The energy system model used in this study is based on linear optimization of energy system parameters under applied constraints and is composed of a set of power generation and storage technologies, as well as water desalination and synthetic natural gas (SNG) generation via power-to-gas (PtG) for industrial use, which operate as flexible demand. For a complete understanding of the whole energy system, a fully integrated scenario that also considers heat and mobility demand has to be modeled, even though this is not in the scope of this study. As the applied energy system model has already been described in [ 23 ] and [ 27 ], the coming sections do not include a detailed description of the model, its input data and the applied technologies. However, it presents a comprehensive summary and all additional information that has been assumed for the model in the present study. Further technical and financial assumptions can be found in the Supporting Information section in this paper.

Model summary

The energy system optimization model is based on a linear optimization of the system parameters under a set of applied constraints as described in detail previously [ 23 and 27 ]. The main constraint for the optimization is to guarantee that for every hour of the year the total electric energy supply within a sub-region covers the local demand from all considered sectors and enables a precise system description including synergy effects of different system components for the power system balance.

The aim of the system optimization is to achieve a minimal total annual energy system cost. The annual energy system cost can be calculated as the sum of the annual costs of installed capacities of the different technologies, costs of energy generation and costs of generation ramping. On the other hand, for residential, commercial and industrial electricity prosumers the target function is minimal cost of consumed energy, calculated as the sum of self-generation, annual cost and cost of electricity consumed from the grid, minus benefits from selling of excess energy. Prosumers are the ones that install respective capacities of rooftop PV systems and batteries and produce and consume electricity at the same time.

The model flow diagram that contains all the considered input data, system models and model output data is presented on Fig 1 .

• PPT PowerPoint slide
• PNG larger image
• TIFF original image

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173820.g001

Several types of input datasets and constraints are used in the model, as described previously by [ 23 ] and [ 27 ]:

• historical weather data for direct and diffuse solar irradiation, wind speed, precipitation amounts and geothermal data,
• synthetic load data for every sub-region,
• water and industrial natural gas demand,
• technical characteristics of used energy generation, storage and transmission technologies, such as power yield, energy conversion efficiency, power losses in transmission lines and storage round trip efficiency,
• capital expenditures, operational expenditures and ramping costs for all technologies,
• electricity costs for residential, commercial and industrial prosumers,
• limits for minimum and maximum installed capacity for all energy technologies,
• configuration of regions and interconnections.

Description of historical weather data can be found in [ 23 ] and [ 27 ] and is not highlighted in this paper.

Geothermal data are evaluated based on existing information on the surface heat flow rate [ 28 , 29 ] and surface ambient temperature for the year 2005 globally. For areas where surface heat flow data are not available, an extrapolation of existing heat flow data was performed. Based on that, temperature levels and available heat of the middle depth point of each 1 km thick layer, between depths of 1 km and 10 km [ 30 , 31 , 32 ] globally with 0.45°x0.45° spatial resolution, are derived.

Due to the fact that in the future, depletion and deterioration of available water resources can lead to water shortages, water demand was calculated based on water consumption projections and future water stress [ 33 ]. Water stress occurs when the water demand exceeds renewable water availability during a certain period of time. It is assumed that water stress greater than 50% shall be covered by seawater desalination and that there are no restrictions on the variable operation of the desalination plants [ 34 , 35 ]. Transportation costs are also taken into account and the methodology and calculations for seawater desalination are described in [ 36 ]. The energy consumption of seawater reverse osmosis desalination plants is set to 3.0 kWh/m 3 and horizontal and vertical pumping are 0.04 kWh/(m 3 ∙h∙100km) and 0.36 kWh/(m 3 ∙h∙100m), respectively [ 36 ]. The levelized cost of water (LCOW) includes water production, electricity, water transportation and water storage costs and will change according to renewable resource availability and cost of water transport to demand sites.

Present industrial gas consumption is based on natural gas demand data from the International Energy Agency statistics [ 37 ] and natural gas consumption projections for the year 2030 were calculated considering industrial annual growth projections based on the World Energy Outlook [ 1 ].

Applied technologies

The technologies used in the South and Central American energy system optimization can be divided into four different categories: conversion of RE resources into electricity, energy storage, energy sector bridging (for definition, see later), and electricity transmission.

The RE technologies for producing electricity applied in the model are ground-mounted (optimally tilted and single-axis north-south oriented horizontal continuous tracking) and rooftop solar PV systems, concentrating solar thermal power (CSP), onshore wind turbines, hydropower (run-of-river and dams), biomass plants (solid biomass and biogas), waste-to-energy power plants and geothermal power plants. Hydro run-of-river plants are the ones located in rivers that have a small reservoir capacity that stores maximum 48 full load hours of water in energy and hydro dams are the ones with bigger reservoirs, capable of storing energy up to months.

For energy storage, batteries, pumped hydro storage (PHS), adiabatic compressed air energy storage (A-CAES), thermal energy storage (TES) and power-to-gas (PtG) technology are integrated to the energy system. PtG includes synthetic natural gas (SNG) synthesis technologies: water electrolysis, methanation, CO 2 scrubbing from air, gas storage, and both combined and open cycle gas turbines (CCGT, OCGT). The synchronization of the operation of SNG synthesis technologies are important once the model does not include hydrogen and CO 2 storage. A 48-hour biogas buffer storage allows part of the biogas to be upgraded to biomethane and injected into the gas storage.

The energy sector bridging technologies provide more flexibility to the entire energy system, thus reducing the overall cost. One bridging technology available in the model is PtG technology for the case that the produced gas is consumed in the industrial sector and not as a storage option for the electricity sector. The second bridging technology is seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination, which couples the water sector to the electricity sector.

For electricity transmission most transmission lines are based on high voltage alternating current (HVAC) technology. However, for better efficiency over very long distances high voltage direct current (HVDC) technology are usually used. Alternating current (AC) grids within the sub-regions exist but are beyond of the methodological options of the current model since grid costs and distribution data are not accessible for the entire region and, therefore, would implicate a bad estimation on the respective costs and grid distribution. However, for inter-regional electricity transmission, HVDC grids are modeled. Power losses in the HVDC grids consist of two major components: length dependent electricity losses of the power lines and losses in the converter stations at the interconnection with the AC grid.

An energy system mainly based on RE and in particular intermittent solar PV and wind energy requires different types of flexibility for an overall balanced and cost optimized energy mix. The four major categories are generation management (e.g. hydro dams or biomass plants), demand side management (e.g. PtG, SWRO desalination), storage of energy at one location and energy shifted in time (e.g. batteries), and transmission grids connecting different locations and energy shifted in location (e.g. HVDC transmission).

The full model block diagram is presented in Fig 2 .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173820.g002

Scenario assumptions

Regions subdivision and grid structure..

The South America region and also Central American countries that connect South America to North America (Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Belize) were considered in this study. The super region was divided into 15 sub-regions: Central America (that accounts for Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Belize), Colombia, Venezuela (that accounts for Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, Suriname), Ecuador, Peru, Central South America (that accounts for Bolivia and Paraguay), Brazil South, Brazil São Paulo, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Argentina Northeast (includes Uruguay), Argentina East, Argentina West and Chile. Brazil and Argentina, which are the biggest countries in population and territory, were divided into five and three sub-regions respectively, according to area, population and national grid connections.

In this paper four scenarios for energy system development options are discussed:

• regional energy systems, in which all the regions are independent (no HVDC grid interconnections) and the electricity demand has to be covered by the respective region’s own generation;
• country-wide energy system, in which the regional energy systems are interconnected by HVDC grids within the borders of nations;
• area-wide energy system, in which the country-based energy systems are interconnected;
• integrated scenario: area-wide energy system scenario with SWRO desalination and industrial natural gas demand. In this scenario, RE sources combined with PtG technology are used not only as electricity generation and storage options within the system, but also as energy sector bridging technologies to cover water desalination and industrial gas demand, increasing the flexibility of the system.

Fig 3 presents the South and Central American region’s subdivision and grid configuration. HVDC interconnections for energy systems of the countries are shown by dashed lines. The structure of HVDC grid is based on existing configuration of South and Central American grids.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173820.g003

Financial and technical assumptions.

The model optimization is performed in a technological and financial status for the year 2030 in a currency value of the year 2015. The overnight building approach as typically applied for nuclear energy [ 38 ] was considered. The financial assumptions for capital expenditures (capex), operational expenditures (opex) and lifetimes of all components, for all the considered scenarios, are provided in Table A in S1 File . Weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is set to 7% for all scenarios, but for residential PV self-consumption WACC is set to 4%, due to lower financial return requirements. The technical assumptions concerning power to energy ratios for storage technologies, efficiency numbers for generation and storage technologies, and power losses in HVDC power lines and converters are provided in Tables A, B and C in S1 File . Since the model calculates electricity generated by prosumers, electricity prices for residential, commercial and industrial consumers in most of the region countries for the year 2030 are needed, being taken from [ 39 ] except for Ecuador, Suriname, Venezuela, Guyana and French Guiana, whose electricity prices are taken from local sources. Prices are provided in Table E in S1 File . As the electricity price is on a country basis, the sub-regions’ electricity prices in Brazil and Argentina have the same value. The production and consumption of electricity by prosumers are not simultaneous and, consequently, prosumers cannot self-consume all electricity generated by their solar PV system. The excess electricity produced by prosumers is assumed to be fed into the grid for a transfer selling price of 2 €cents/kWh. Prosumers cannot sell to the grid more power than their own annual consumption.

Feed-in profiles for solar and wind energy.

The feed-in profiles for solar CSP, optimally tilted and single-axis tracking PV, and wind energy were calculated according to [ 23 ] and [ 27 ]. Fig 4 presents the aggregated profiles of solar PV generation (optimally tilted and single-axis tracking), wind energy power generation and CSP solar field. The profiles are normalized to maximum capacity averaged for South America. A table with the computed average full load hours (FLH) is provided in Table F in S1 File .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173820.g004

The feed-in values for hydropower are calculated based on the monthly resolved precipitation data for the year 2005 as a normalized sum of precipitation in the regions. Such an estimate leads to a good approximation of the annual generation of hydropower plants, as described previously in [ 23 ].

Biomass and geothermal heat potentials.

For biomass and waste resource potentials, data is taken from [ 13 ] and classified as described in [ 23 ]. Costs for biomass are calculated using data from the International Energy Agency [ 40 ] and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [ 41 ]. For solid wastes a 75 €/ton gate fee for incineration is assumed. Calculated solid biomass, biogas, solid waste and geothermal heat potentials and prices for biomass fuels are provided in Tables G and H in S1 File . Price differences between countries are because of different waste and residue component shares. Heating values are based on lower heating values (LHV).

For regional geothermal heat potentials the calculations are based on spatial data for available heat, temperature and geothermal plants for depths from 1 km to 10 km. Geothermal heat is used only for electricity generation in the model. For each 0.45°x0.45° area and depth, geothermal LCOE is calculated and optimal well depth is determined. It is assumed that only 25% of available heat will be utilized as an upper resource limit. The total available heat for the region is calculated using the same weighed average formula as for solar and wind feed-in explained in [ 23 ], except for the fact that areas with geothermal LCOE exceeding 100 €/MWh are excluded.

Upper and lower limitations on installed capacities.

Lower and upper limits calculations are described in [ 23 ]. Lower limits on already installed capacities in South and Central American sub-regions are provided in Table I in S1 File and all upper limits of installable capacities in South and Central American sub-regions are summarized in Table J in S1 File . For other technologies, upper limits are not specified unless for biomass residues, biogas and waste, for which it is assumed that the available and specified amount of the fuel can be used during the year.

The demand profiles for sub-regions are calculated using a synthetic algorithm, calibrated according to previous load curves for Argentina, Brazil and Chile [ 42 ]. The data is in hourly resolution for the year 2015. It is computed as a fraction of the total country energy demand based on load data weighted by the sub-regions’ population. Fig 5 represents the area-aggregated demand of all sub-regions in South and Central America. The increase in electricity demand by year 2030 is estimated using IEA data [ 1 ] and local data. Solar PV self-consumption prosumers have a significant impact on the residual load demand in the energy system as depicted in Fig 5 (right). The overall electricity demand and the peak load are reduced by 22.8% and 15.0%, respectively, due to prosumers.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173820.g005

Industrial gas demand values (gas demand excluding electricity generation and residential sectors) and desalinated water demand for South and Central American sub-regions are presented in Table K in S1 File . Gas demand values are taken from IEA data [ 37 ] and desalination demand numbers are based on water stress and water consumption projection [ 36 ].

Main findings on the optimized energy system structure and costs

As the main results, cost minimized electrical energy system configurations are derived for the given constraints for all the studied scenarios. The configurations are also characterized by optimized installed capacities of RE electricity generation, storage and transmission for every modelled technology and hourly electricity generation, storage charging and discharging, electricity export, import, and curtailment are calculated. In order to determine whether or not the project is interesting compared to other similar project’s average rates, the average financial results of the different scenarios for the total system (including PV self-consumption and the centralized system) are expressed as levelized costs. The levelized costs used are: levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), levelized cost of electricity for primary generation (LCOE primary), levelized cost of curtailment (LCOC), levelized cost of storage (LCOS) and levelized cost of transmission (LCOT). All levelized costs, total annualized cost, total capital expenditures, total renewables capacity and total primary generation for South and Central America region are presented in Table 1 .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173820.t001

In Table 1 the importance of HVDC transmission lines in 100% RE systems is clear: it leads to a significant reduction in RE installed capacities, electricity cost, annual expenditures for the system and storage costs; electricity cost of the entire system in the case of area-wide open trade power transmission decreases by 4.4% and 8.7% compared to the country-wide and region-wide scenarios, respectively. Grid utilization decreases the primary energy installed conversion capacities by 7.3% and 13.5% in reference to country-wide and region-wide scenarios, respectively, and reduces storage utilization, according to Table 2 . Cost of transmission is relatively small in comparison to the decrease in primary generation and storage costs. Curtailment costs are reduced by 40.9% and 56.7% in the area-wide scenario compared to the country-wide and region-wide scenarios, respectively, decreasing more significantly than storage costs in the case of broader grid utilization; however, the impact of excess energy on total cost is rather low.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173820.t002

A further decrease in LCOE of 17.5% compared to the area-wide open trade scenario can be reached by the integration of water desalination and industrial gas sectors. This cost reduction is mainly explained by a reduction of storage cost by 35% since industrial gas and desalination sectors decrease the need for long-term storage utilization, giving additional flexibility to the system through demand management. An 11% decrease in primary electricity generation cost can be noticed as well and is explained by an increase in the flexibility of the system and the utilization of low-cost wind and solar electricity as can be seen in Table 2 . For biogas, a fraction of 24% of the biogas used in biogas power plants in the area wide-open trade scenario is re-allocated from the electricity sector to the industrial gas demand for efficiency reasons. The sub-region Brazil Northeast has a peculiarity that has to be highlighted in the integrated scenario: 26.8 TWh of its industrial gas demand is supplied only by biogas plants and no PtG is needed (Table K in S1 File . The numeric values for LCOE components in all sub-regions and scenarios are summarized in Table N in S1 File .

Concerning RE installed capacities, all the RE technologies present a reduction of total installed capacity with an increase of grid utilization ( Table 2 ); solar PV technologies have the highest GW installed capacity in all the analyzed scenarios, accounting for 61%, 62%, 60% and 71% of the total installed capacity in region-wide, country-wide, area-wide and integrated scenarios, respectively. The high share of solar PV can be explained by the fact that this is the least cost RE source for the region as a whole, as a consequence of assuming a fast cost reduction of solar PV and battery storage in the next fifteen years [ 43 , 44 ]. Furthermore, the area-wide open trade scenario leads to 64% of solar PV total installed capacity being provided by PV prosumers as a result of prosumer LCOE competitiveness all over the region.

A PV self-consumption overview is given in Table L in S1 File . Self-generation plays a crucial role in 100% RE power systems for South and Central America due to rather high electricity prices throughout South and Central America and low self-consumption LCOE. Self-generation covers 99.3% of residential prosumers’ demand, 91.6% and 92% of demand for commercial and industrial prosumers.

Despite the fact that an upper limit 50% higher than the current capacity was considered for hydro dams and hydro RoR plants, the total hydropower plants’ installed capacity practically did not change considering all the studied scenarios: PV and wind seemed to be more profitable technologies according to the availability of the regions’ resources.

For energy storage options, transmission lines decrease the need for storage technologies, since energy shifted in time (storage) can be partly cost effectively substituted by energy shift in location; total installed capacities of batteries, PHS, A-CAES, PtG and gas turbines decrease with the grid expansion. PtG electrolyzers have a rather low installed capacity in the region-wide and country-wide scenarios and for the area-wide scenario, PtG is not needed for seasonal storage. On the other hand, hydro dams have a key role as virtual batteries for solar and wind long-term balancing, reducing interregional electricity trade and electricity transmission costs.

Concerning water desalination need, although the South American region has high water availability and rainfall, regions such as Chile, the western part of Argentina and Venezuela, shall present a need for water desalination by 2030 according to water stress calculations (Table K in S1 File .

An overview of the electricity generation curves for the area-wide scenario can be seen in Fig 6 . All 8760 hours of the year are sorted according to the generation minus the load, which is represented by the black line. A higher electricity generation than demand can be observed for 3500 hours of the year, which is used for charging storage. This is caused by a high electricity generation from inflexible energy sources, due to high shares of solar PV and wind energy in the South and Central American energy mix, and a higher solar irradiation and wind speed in the region during these hours of the year. As a consequence, flexible electricity generation options (such as hydro dams, biomass and biogas) and discharge of storage plants are needed. On the other hand, during the other hours of the year, the inflexible electricity generation reduces significantly in comparison to the decrease in electricity demand, increasing the need for flexible electricity generation, energy storage discharge and grid utilization. The storage plants are operated for about 3500 hours of the year in charging mode and about 5250 hours in discharging mode. Electricity curtailment is only significant for some hundreds of hours in the year and constant during almost the entire period since the existence of HVDC transmission lines enables that sub-regions with the best RE resources to export electricity to the ones with a shortage in RE resources.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173820.g006

Main findings on the optimized energy system structure in a sub-region analysis

If a sub-regional analysis is considered, as presented in Figs 7 – 9 , some differences between the scenarios, especially between the area-wide and the integrated scenarios, can be noticed. Additional demand in the case of a RE-based energy system can change the entire system structure because of shifting optimal cost structure parameters and areas being confronted with their upper resource limits. For region-wide and area-wide scenarios, solar PV dominates in almost all the sub-regions considered; for the integrated scenario, in which an additional electricity demand was included, the sub-regions that have excellent wind conditions and, therefore, low cost wind energy, have high shares of wind installed capacities in their energy mix. The shift to power in the industrial gas and desalination sectors is driven by a higher supply of least cost wind sites in sub-regions such as Central South America, Brazil Northeast, Argentina East, Argentina Northeast, Argentina West and Chile. Still considering the integrated scenario, for all other sub-regions, the increase in electricity demand system flexibility is followed by an increase in solar PV single-axis installed capacities, being in this case, the least cost RE source.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173820.g007

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173820.g008

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173820.g009

The interconnected HVDC transmission grid significantly decreases total installed capacities ( Fig 7 and Table 2 ): mainly solar PV single-axis (i.e. PV single-axis installed capacities are reduced by 100% in Argentina East from region-wide to area-wide scenario) and wind turbines (i.e. wind installed capacities are decreased by 99.8% in Brazil Southeast from region-wide to area-wide scenario) for almost all the sub-regions. Some exceptions are Central South America, Brazil Northeast and Argentina West, that had an increase in 1.6%, 4.3% and 51.9%, respectively, in total RE installed capacities from region-wide to area-wide scenario. Despite a significant reduction in PV single-axis capacities (99.7%, 98.7%, 99.3%, respectively), an increase in wind capacities (486.7%, 34.8% and 244.4%, respectively) was observed due to excellent wind energy conditions in the respective sub-regions. The structure of HVDC power lines and utilized RE resources strongly influence the total storage capacity needed. In this context, the already installed hydro dams are an important RE source that can act as virtual batteries for long-term storage. Data of storage systems’ discharge capacities, energy throughput and full load cycles per year are summarized in Table M in S1 File . The generation capacities of storage technologies decrease with integration of the HVDC grid. However, for the integrated scenario capacities of storage technologies increase in absolute numbers. State-of-charge profiles for the area-wide scenario for battery, PHS, A-CAES and gas storages and hydro dams are provided in Fig E and F in S2 File . The state-of-charge diagrams show the system optimized operation mode of the different storage technologies: mainly daily (battery, PHS), mainly weekly (A-CAES) and mainly seasonal (gas, hydro dams).

Electricity import/export

For the region-wide open trade scenario, all sub-regions of South and Central America need to match their demand using only their own RE resources. Nonetheless, in the case of the country-wide and area-wide open trade scenarios, a division of sub-regions into net exporters and net importers with interregional electricity flows can be observed ( Fig 10 ). Net exporters are sub-regions with the best renewable resources and net importers are sub-regions with moderate ones. Due to export and import, there are differences in generation and demand but in a minor quantity also due to storage losses. For the area-wide integrated scenario (not shown in Fig 10 ) the differences are mainly due to energy consumption for SNG production.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173820.g010

Fig 10 reveals the net exporter sub-regions: Central South America, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Argentina West and Chile. Net importers are Peru, Argentina Northeast, Argentina East and Brazil Southeast. The remaining sub-regions are classified as balancing sub-regions since electricity is both imported and exported during the day and throughout the year. Hourly resolved profiles for regional generation in an importer sub-region (Argentina Northeast), balancing sub-region (Central America) and exporting region (Brazil North) are presented in Fig A, B and C in S2 File , respectively). Considering the integrated scenario, SNG producing regions tend to increase the intra-regional electricity generation to fulfill the increased demand for the desalination and SNG producing sectors what would change the picture remarkably.

The import/export shares in all regions and scenarios are summarized in Table N in S1 File . The share of export is defined as the ratio of net exported electricity to the generated primary electricity of a sub-region and the share of import is defined as the ratio of imported electricity to the electricity demand. The area average is composed of sub-regions’ values weighted by the electricity demand.

Concerning interregional electricity flows between the sub-regions, Fig 11 shows that electricity trade increases during the night and first morning hours all throughout the year and decreases during the same daily period in the winter time. This tendency can be explained by the fact that high shares of solar PV electricity generation requires that during the night, not only storage technologies are used but also electricity is imported by sub-regions with higher inflexible electricity generation. In this case, the electricity flow is directed from sub-regions with high hydropower generation, such as Brazil North and Central South America, to regions with high solar PV generation, such as Venezuela and Peru. During the winter time the electricity demand decreases and, consequently, the need for electricity trade. An overview of the power transmission lines, the key parameters and the percentage of grid utilization can be found in Table O in S1 File .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173820.g011

Energy flow for 100% RE power systems for South and Central America

An energy flow diagram is capable of showing the breakdown of energy production, utilization and losses according to each technology and sector. The energy flow for the integrated system is presented in Fig 12 ; diagrams for the region-wide and area-wide scenarios are presented in Fig F in S2 File .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173820.g012

The flows are comprised of primary RE resource generators, energy storage technologies, HVDC transmission grids, total demand of each sector and system losses. Potentially usable heat and ultimate system losses consist of the difference of primary power generation and final electricity demand. Both are comprised of curtailed electricity; heat produced by biomass, biogas and waste-to-energy power plants; heat of transforming power-to-hydrogen in the electrolyzers, hydrogen-to-methane in methanation and methane-to-power in the gas turbines; and the efficiency losses in A-CAES, PHS, battery storage, as well as by the HVDC transmission grid.

Power system costs for the studied scenarios

From the presented results for the South and Central America region, and from the results presented in [ 23 ] and [ 27 ] for the Northeast Asian region, it can be concluded that different levels of grid development lead to different power system configurations and costs. The installation of an HVDC transmission grid between sub-regions enables a significant decrease not only in the cost of electricity but also in RE and storage installed capacities in the RE-based system. The total levelized cost of electricity in the region decreased from 61.9 €/MWh for the region-wide open trade scenario to 59.1 €/MWh for the country-wide open trade scenario and 56.5 €/MWh for the area-wide open trade scenario. The total annualized cost of the system decreased from 115 b€ for the region-wide open trade scenario to 104 b€ for the area-wide open trade scenario. In parallel the capex requirements are reduced from 948 b€ for the region-wide open trade to 912 b€ and 889 b€ for the country-wide and area-wide open trade scenarios, respectively. Additional costs of HVDC transmission lines (56 b€ annual cost for area-wide scenario) are compensated by a substantial decrease in generation and storage capacities enabled by lower losses and costs of energy transmission compared to energy storage, and access to low cost electricity generation in other regions. The HVDC transmission grid may not increase the chances to supply electricity to rural people that do not yet have access to electricity nowadays in South and Central America regions. However, RE-based mini-grid solutions and solar home systems may be a proper solution in addition to grid extension [ 45 , 46 , 47 ].

The role and influence of PV technologies on 100% RE system for South and Central America by 2030

PV technologies have the highest share in installed capacities for a 100% RE energy mix in all the analyzed scenarios, which is in accordance with the fact that these technologies have well distributed FLH all over the sub-regions and are the least cost RE technology in most of the cases. Besides, the installation of distributed small-scale and centralized PV plants is already profitable in numerous regions in the word and PV electricity generation cost are set to decrease even more in the coming years [ 48 , 49 ], especially in regions with high PV FLH.

In addition, PV self-consumption has to be analyzed in more detail since prosumers’ electricity generation provokes some positive and negative distortion in the system demand profile ( Fig 5 ) and costs [ 23 ]. In order to measure the influences of PV prosumers, region-wide, country-wide and area-wide open trade scenarios are also calculated without PV self-consumption and the total demand is assumed to be covered by a more centralized system. The annualized costs for the more centralized 100% RE system are 12.2% lower for the region-wide scenario (101 b€ against 115 b€ base scenario), 12.8% lower for the country-wide scenario and 13.5% lower for the area-wide open trade scenario for the RE system without PV self-consumption. This result is explained by the fact that PV self-consumption provokes additional costs because of a different target function of prosumers. Prosumers will install PV systems, if LCOE of PV self-consumption is lower than the grid electricity selling price. However, LCOE of PV self-consumption can be higher than the total system LCOE. Consequently, the system reacts by installing more flexibility granting capacities, such as low cost RE or further storage capacities, which increase the system costs as well., As in South and Central America there are only slight differences in electricity consumption during the whole year, the peak, minimum and average load, and total remaining electricity demand in the system are significantly decreased by 15–23% due to PV prosumers’ electricity production. Thus, the most expensive peak hours throughout the year are substantially reduced by about 15% by PV self-consumption, which exhibits a substantial economic value. The electricity consumption in the centralized system was higher in the first morning hours and during the evenings, and with PV prosumers influence, there was a lower electricity consumption during the afternoon. For the region-wide scenario a comparable low cost increase due to the decentralized generation can be explained by the fact that additional disturbance cost in the system (provoked by prosumers) is compensated by access to low cost residential electricity (for residential consumers WACC is assumed to be 4%). Finally, PV self-consumption is in particular valuable in area constrained regions, since zero impact areas on rooftops can be utilized for local electricity generation, which in turn reduces the requirement of imports. This may be in some regions a policy option for reaching higher local value creation and less supply risk due to higher electricity imports.

Advantages of the system’s flexibility

The integrated scenario is the scenario in which water desalination and industrial gas sectors are integrated into the power sector. The integration can be considered for the reason that both new integrated sectors require only electricity to cover projected natural gas demand (except the gas demand for power generation and residential purposes that are not considered in this study) and renewable water demand by SNG generation and SWRO desalination, respectively. In parallel with supplying demand, such an integration gives the system additional flexibility, especially for seasonal fluctuation compensation. Variable PtG and desalination plants enable the production of synthetic gas and water during periods of excess electricity, reducing LCOG and LCOW. Recent SWRO desalination plants, for instance, such as the Hadera plant in Israel and Al Khafji in Saudi Arabia have been designed to work on variable power input [ 35 , 50 ]. Al-Nory and El-Beltagy (2014) also discuss the variable operation of desalination plants depending on the availability of renewable energy in the grid. In 100% RE systems, generation and supply management and grid integration are very important tools that diminish curtailed electricity, integrate other sectors to the power sector and connect RE plants across a wide geographical area complementing their resources. The availability of RE in South and Central America is sufficient to cover additional electricity demand for producing 640 TWh LHV of SNG and 3.9 billion m 3 of renewable water. Adding 967 TWh el for gas synthesis and SWRO desalination induces an additional installation of RE generation capacities of 410 GW of PV and about 66 GW of wind energy. As well, former long-term gas storage is partly substituted by short-term battery storage. Next, there is a significant increase in electrolyzer units of about 131 GW and substantially reduced gas turbines.

The integration benefit for the electricity, water and industrial gas sectors is estimated to be about 13.1 b€ of the annual system cost. An additional decrease in the electricity demand by 167 TWh and the curtailed electricity by 23 TWh can be observed also. These benefits are of 8%, 5% and 23%, respectively, compared to the non-integrated, separate systems. Further, the cost of renewable water seems to be quite affordable at 0.91 €/m 3 , and the cost of electricity decreases by 18% to 46 €/MWh for the integrated scenario compared to the area-wide open trade scenario without sector integration. However, the cost of synthetic gas, at 95.1 €/MWh LHV , appears to be significantly higher than the current price.

Other alternatives for achieving a low carbon based energy system

The conclusions for this study clearly show the potential of the region for RE generation and for a global climate change mitigation strategy. The results of a fairly low LCOE for the year 2030 (in all the considered scenarios) added to the already existing RE policies and low carbon development plans can boost the development of a renewable power system in the South and Central American region in the coming years. Among the alternatives for achieving a low carbon based energy system, non-renewable options, such as nuclear energy, natural gas and coal carbon capture and storage (CCS) have been also highlighted [ 51 ]. The LCOE of the alternatives are as follows [ 51 ]: 112 €/MWh for new nuclear (assumed for 2023 in the UK and Czech Republic), 112 €/MWh for gas CCS (assumed for 2019 in the UK) and 126 €/MWh for coal CCS (assumed for 2019 in the UK). However, a report published by [ 52 ] concludes that CCS technology is not likely to be commercially available before the year 2030 [ 23 ]. In the mid-term, the findings for Europe can be also assumed for South and Central America. These other alternatives have still further disadvantages such as nuclear melt-down risk, nuclear terrorism risk, unsolved nuclear waste disposal, remaining CO 2 emissions of power plants with CCS technology, a diminishing conventional energy resource base and high health cost due to heavy metal emissions of coal fired power plants. Moreover, the 100% renewable resource-based energy system options for South and Central America presented in this work seem to be considerably lower in cost (about 45–63%) than the other alternatives.

Comparison to a business as usual scenario

A comparison to a business as usual scenario (BAU) is important in order to check, if the estimated LCOE for the 100% RE system is lower than the LCOE of a system based on current policies. In order to do so, a BAU scenario based on the current policy scenario [ 1 ] was analyzed and its LCOE was calculated for the year 2030. The mix of installed capacities for the BAU scenario is displayed in Table 3 .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173820.t003

Due to the fact that the BAU scenario considers fossil fuel power plants, two different values for LCOE were calculated for this scenario: one that does not take into account CO 2 emission costs (LCOE BAU ) and another that considers a 59.8 €/tCO 2 [ 53 ] emission cost (LCOE BAU-CO2 ). An overnight approach was also assumed and transmission costs were not included since AC grids costs and distribution are not available in the literature. Therefore, for comparing LCOE values for BAU and 100% RE scenarios, LCOT was excluded from total LCOE for country and area-wide scenarios.

Fig 13 shows the result for LCOE BAU and LCOE BAU-CO2 in comparison to LCOE of 100% RE scenarios. The calculated LCOE BAU and LCOE BAU-CO2 values are 67.2 €/MWh el and 77.0 €/MWh el , respectively. Comparing LCOE BAU to LCOE for 100% RE scenarios, the values are at least 9 and at most 16% lower, what shows that even under no CO 2 emission taxes policy, a 100% RE power system is the least cost solution for the increase in the region’s electricity demand by 2030. In addition, if CO 2 emission costs are considered, these percentages are even higher ranging from 24 to 44% as shown on Fig 13 . Although the discussion of other costs and benefits (such as decrease of air pollution, increase in health and quality of life, minimal impact on the environment and economic benefits to regional areas) are not the scope of this paper, it is important to mention that if these costs and benefits are included in the calculations, they would increase even more LCOE of BAU scenarios and decrease LCOE of 100% RE scenarios. As pointed out by [ 54 ], [ 55 ] and [ 56 ] these costs are very high and further substantially increase the real societal costs of current conventional energy systems and have to be regarded as societal very harmful subsidies. For this reason, it is essential to reinforce the importance of a new policy scenario and of the development of RE technologies in South and Central America.

Comparison of LCOE BAU , to country-wide, region-wide and area-wide scenarios (top). Comparison of LCOE BAU-CO2 to country-wide, region-wide and area-wide scenarios (bottom).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173820.g013

Limitations of the considered model

The model presented in this article presents some limitations that had to be mentioned and analysed. Most of them come from future financial, technical, demographic and economic development assumptions and from technological change and climate policies that were not considered. The key limitations are listed below:

• Since financial and technical assumptions for the renewable energy and storage technologies are global in nature, differences between the assumptions for countries and regions of the same country are not considered. Therefore, divergences in total cost and mix of capacities may be found if a further study that takes into account different assumptions for South and Central American countries is considered.
• Biomass potentials used in this study do not consider differences in biomass availability during the year, i.e. it does not consider that straw and bagasse from sugarcane refineries are available only during the harvest season. This may lead to an overestimation of biomass power plant installed capacities and an underestimation of storage capacities in the current study.
• It was considered that PV prosumers’ surplus electricity production can be fed into the grid for a transfer selling price of 2 €cents/kWh. However, this is a broader estimation in order to calculate the benefits from the selling of excess energy by prosumers and does not consider that each South and Central American country has its own policy (feed-in-tariff or RE auctions) and selling regulation and price.
• Grid interconnections are based on each country’s current national grid although the model’s sub-regional division does not allow that the modelled system accurately represents the current system. In addition, most of the grid interconnection between countries do not yet exist, and were considered in order to show the benefits from grid integration in energy systems with high shares of RE. AC transmission lines were not modelled due to: the lack of information on this data for the entire region; a considerable increase in the computational cost that could unfeasible the model.
• The overnight approach can increase the LCOE of primary generation in regions with already existing high shares of hydropower plants, such as Brazil South. This fact can considerably change the total mix of capacity of the whole region if another approach that considered already existing power plants and future power plants were regarded.

RE technologies can generate enough energy to cover all electricity demand in South and Central America for the year 2030 on a price level of 47–62 €/MWh el , depending on geographical and sectoral integration. The electricity needed to cover PtG technology and SWRO desalination demand can be produced by RE sources as well, providing the region with 100% renewable synthetic natural gas and clean water supply. However, due to high cost obtained for the synthetic gas, government regulation and/or subsidies might be needed to ensure the financial viability of this synthetic fuel, as part of a comprehensive net zero emission strategy.

Due to the need to diminish the dependency of the South and Central American power sector on a changing hydrological profile, different shares of variable RE technologies are essential for 100% RE-based power systems in the region. This need has been an urgent issue for many countries within the region in recent years. In the cost minimized design of the energy mix presented in this study, hydropower continues to dominate in the electricity sector (in terms of TWh of electricity production) in most sub-regions of South and Central America. Nonetheless, the vulnerability of the existing power system is solved by a high share of complementary renewable sources, leading to the least-cost solution for the problem under the given constraints.

For all the studied scenarios solar PV technology emerged as the main energy supply (in terms of GW of installed capacities) in most of the sub-regions; however, with the integration of industrial natural gas and water desalination sectors, the role of PV decreases in sub-regions where wind turbines offer the least cost technology. The HVDC transmission grid plays a key role within the renewable resource-based energy system since the established Super Grid enables a significant cost decrease, a cut-off of storage utilization, and a significant reduction of primary generation capacities. Meanwhile, PV self-consumption induces a moderate increase in total electricity costs of 12–14%. This is due to the fact that consumers tend to utilize higher cost level solar energy and the excess electricity from prosumer generation provokes additional disturbances in the system. In turn, this increases the system need for flexibility.

For the integrated scenario it was found that industrial SNG generation displaces SNG storage as seasonal storage for the electricity sector. Instead of gas turbine utilization in case of an energy deficit, the system curtails the SNG generation in that system set-up as a major source of flexibility to the system.

A fully integrated renewable energy system has to be simulated and deeply studied in order to better understand the findings for the South and Central American region. However, compared to a BAU scenario based on current policies, this research work indicates that a 100% renewable resources-based energy system is a real economic, environmental and health low cost option and is a very important indicator that should be taken into account by policymakers for the development of future policies.

Supporting information

Table A: Financial assumptions for energy system components [ 36 , 49 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 ,]. Table B: Efficiencies and energy to power ratio of storage technologies. Assumptions are mainly taken from [ 61 ]. Table C: Efficiency assumptions for energy system components for the 2030 reference years. Assumptions are mainly taken from [ 59 ] and from [ 61 ]. Table D: Efficiency assumptions for HVDC transmission [ 63 ]. Table E: Regional end-user grid electricity costs for year 2030. Assumptions for most of the countries were taken from [ 39 ]. Table F: Average full load hours and LCOE for optimally tilted and single-axis tracking PV systems, and wind power plants in Central and South American regions. Abbreviation: full load hour, FLH . Table G: Regional biomass [ 13 ] and geothermal energy potentials. Table H: Regional biomass costs, calculated based on biomass sources mix in the region. Solid wastes cost are based on assumption of 75 €/ton gate fee paid to the MSW incinerator. Table I: Lower limits of installed capacities in South and Central American regions. Data were taken from [ 3 ]. Table J: Upper limits on installable capacities in South and Central America regions in units of GW th for CSP and GW el for all other technologies. Table K: Annual industrial gas [ 37 , 1 ] and water demand [ 36 ] for year 2030. Table L: Overview on prosumers electricity costs installed capacities and energy utilization for South and Central America.Table M: Overview on storage capacities, throughput and full cycles per year for the four scenarios for South and Central America. Table N: Total LCOE components in all sub-regions. Table O: Overview on electricity transmission lines parameters for the area-wide open trade scenario.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173820.s001

Fig A. Hourly generation profile for Argentina Northeast, example for an importing region. Fig B. Hourly generation profile for Central America, example for a balancing region. Fig C. Hourly generation profile for Brazil North, example for an exporting region. Fig D. Aggregated state-of-charge for the storages in the integrated scenario: battery (top left), PHS (top right), A-CAES (bottom left) and gas storage (bottom right). Fig E. State-of-charge for hydro dams in the integrated scenario. During the rainy season, the water levels in the reservoirs are above 60% of the reservoir storage capacities. Fig F. Energy flow of the system for the region-wide open trade (top) and area-wide open trade (bottom) scenarios.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173820.s002

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Svetlana Afanasyeva, Arman Aghahosseini, Javier Farfan and Michael Child for helpful support.

Author Contributions

• Conceptualization: CB PV.
• Data curation: DB LSNSB.
• Formal analysis: LSNSB.
• Funding acquisition: LSNSB PV CB.
• Investigation: LSNSB CB.
• Methodology: DB CB.
• Project administration: CB PV.
• Resources: CB PV.
• Software: DB.
• Supervision: CB PV.
• Validation: DB LSNSB.
• Visualization: DB LSNSB CB PV.
• Writing – original draft: LSNSB.
• Writing – review & editing: LSNSB CB PV.
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A Hydroelectric Power Plant Brief: Classification and Application of Artificial Intelligence

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Essay on Small Hydro Power Plants | Hydro Energy | Energy Management

Here is a compilation of essays on ‘Small Hydro Power Plants’ for class 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Find paragraphs, long and short essays on ‘Small Hydro Power Plants’ especially written for school and college students.

Essay on Small Hydro Power Plants

Essay Contents:

• Essay on the Economic Considerations for Small Hydro Power Plants

Essay # 1. Introduction to Small Hydro Power Plants:

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The utilization of hydro energy to operate agricultural and industrial devices is one of the oldest and widespread techniques of human achievement. Hydraulic rams were used to raise water for lift irrigation and drinking purposes. Water mills had been used to generate mechanical power to drive irrigation pumps, machine tools and small electric generators. The Himalayan Mill is well known in the mountain areas from Afghanistan to Burma which is mostly used for grinding grains.

China has developed 1200 MW of power by small hydel projects by creating water heads of about 5m along the rivers. Chinese model is difficult to develop in India due to different topography. The current number of operational small hydro power plants is 90,000 in China, 10500 in USA, 5300 in Japan, 2600 in Switzerland, 1300 in Austria.

Essay # 2. Indian Situation of Small Hydro Power Plants:

As we come down the hills, the available head decreases and equipment costs go up. Most of our rivers flow through flat terrains which can be harnessed to produce hydropower. The large potential of hydro energy available from flowing water in the rivers and irrigation canals, however, still remains un­tapped.

Generating power on a small scale from low and ultra-low head drops of 3 to 20 meters has not been an economic proportion because of the high civil and equipment costs as well as high operating cost to be incurred per unit of power generated. The situation is further deteriorated by very low load factors in rural areas.

The modern high technologies do not adapt to rural ecology. An energy production technique based on renewable source and appropriate technology which can be take care by trained local people for its operation and mainte­nance problems is ideally suited. Only appropriate technology involving local resources, manpower and raw materials can ensure environmental harmony and sustainability of the development.

Hydropower, available free of cost in the form of flowing water, is an impor­tant, pollution free, renewable source of energy. Contrary to large size hydroelec­tric power stations, small hydro power plants have a very low, if any, impact on the environment. These can be integrated with irrigation, fish breeding and drinking water supply schemes. A potential of 15000 MW capacities has been identified out which 1398 MW of actual potential has been already exploited.

Essay # 3. Determination of Net Electric Power Output of a Hydroelectric Power Plant:

Hydroelectric power stations harness the kinetic energy of water flow. This energy is produced from the potential energy of water flowing down due to height difference created by a dam or a slope.

The net electric power output of a hydroelectric power plant is given by:

P = ρQgHƞ o

= ρQgHƞ T ƞ g ƞ Tr

P = Electric power output in [W]

ρ = Density of water, [kg/m 3 ]

Q = water flow rate in turbine, [m 3 /s]

g = Gravitational acceleration [9.81m/s 2 ]

H = net useful water head, [m]

ƞ o = overall efficiency of hydropower plant,

ƞ T = Turbine efficiency [0.85 – 0.95]

ƞ G = Generator efficiency [0.95 – 0.99]

ƞ Tr = Transformer efficiency [0.92 – 0.98]

Determine the net power output of a small hydroelectric power plant using a Pelton turbine if water flow rate is 2m 3 /s and the plant has an overall efficiency of 82%. Water is delivered to the turbine from a height of 300 m. The density of water is 1000 kg/m 3 .

ρ = 1000 kg/m 3

Q = 2m 3 /s

P = pQgHƞ o

= 1000 × 2 × 9.81 × 300 × 0.82 × 10 -6 MW

= 4.8265 MW.

Essay # 4. Current Energy of Floating Water :

Special ‘zero’ head turbines operating on kinetic energy of flowing water in rivers and irrigation canals can be used to harness huge river current energy.

The current energy of flowing water may be expressed as:

P = ½ AV 3 ƞ

P = Power generated (W)

A= Embarrassing area Runner (m 2 )

V = Water current speed [m/s]

ƞ = Efficiency of runner [0.5 to 0.85]

The efficiency depends upon the type of runner. The relation between river current speed for a turbine with swept are of and rotor efficiency of 25% is shown in Fig. 5.1.

Essay # 5. Types of Small Hydro Power Plants:

The small hydro power plants can be classified according to the size of the hydro turbine.

1. Micro Hydel Projects:

Micro Hydel Projects of capacity 50 to 100 kW.

A micro hydro power plant with a propeller type turbine with a power output of 50 kW at a head of 10m and water flow rate of 0.8 mVs.

2. Mini Hydel Projects:

Mini Hydel Projects of capacity range 100 kW to 1000 kW.

A mini hydro power plant with Francis turbine with a power output of 750 kW at a head of 25m and water flow rate of 0.4 m 3 /s.

3. Small Hydel Projects:

Small Hydel Projects capacity range of 2MW to 15 MW.

A small hydro power plant with Pelton turbine with a power output of 3 MW at a head of 400 m and water flow rate of 0.9m 3 /s.

Small hydel projects can be completed in four to five years, mini and micro projects in three years provided civil works of irrigation projects are already completed. Water released for irrigation only is used and power can be gener­ated for 6 to 7 months a year.

Essay # 6. Hydraulic Machines Used for Small Hydro Power Plants:

Various hydraulic machines used for small hydro power plants are:

1. Hydro Turbines :

Two types of hydro turbines are used in power plants:

(i) Impulse Turbine:

It utilizes the kinetic energy of a high velocity water jet which strikes the buckets on blades mounted on a shaft. The kinetic energy of water jet is con­verted into mechanical energy of rotation of shafts. The impulse turbine with tangential water flow (Pelton turbine) is used for very high water heads as shown in Table 5.1.

(ii) Reaction Turbines:

The reaction turbines develop power utilizing both pressure energy and kinetic energy of water. The blades of a reaction turbine are totally immersed in the flow of water and the energy of the water is converted into shaft work.

The reaction turbines are Francis turbines with radial water flow and Kaplan turbines with axial water flow.

The schematic representation of various hydro turbines is given is Fig. 5.2 and the efficiency curves are given in Fig. 5.3. The type of turbine for a site is selected on the basis of available head. In case of overlapping the type of turbine selection is decided from efficiency curves. Pelton turbine has more efficiency but is more suitable for constant load operation. For variable loads, Francis and Kaplan turbines are suited as these have flat efficiency curves.

2. Himalaya Mill :

It is a vertical shaft, horizontal runner hydraulic turbine used for driving grain mills. The wooden radial blades are attached to a boss fitted into a wooden or steel shaft. The water is fed through open wooden channel. It produces about 0.35 kW of shaft power with a water head of 1 m. There are about 10,000 such mills scattered in the hilly areas from Afghanistan to Burma producing power equivalent of about 45,000 kWh daily.

The horizontal water wheel can be improved in performance to raise its efficiency substantially. The improved wheel can be used in a small scale indus­trial park as a prime mover for flour mills, thrashers, rice husking machines, vertical lathe, circular saw, trip hammer, small electrical generator, carpet loom, etc.

The vertical lathe can be used by the craftsmen to produce wooden vessels and trip hammers for embossed copper vessels. The saw mill can be used by carpenters. All these machines can be employed together to meet the local needs for production of domestic and agricultural implements and packing boxes for the export of fruits and other products.

The Himalaya Mill can also be developed into an efficient and modern Pelton turbine using metallic buckets filted to a vertical shaft supported or roller bearings. The water can be directed onto the buckets through adjustable nozzle from piping system collecting water from natural streams existing abundantly in the hilly areas. The stopping of turbine can be achieved through manual brakes and load/speed regulation by the nozzle. The output of the machines can be standardised at 5 to 10 kW. The mill can be designed and manufactured locally in the small-scale industry park.

The tail race water can be re-circulated by lifting it with a hydraulic ram for irrigation purposes.

3. Hydraulic Ram :

Hydraulic ram is a contrivance to raise a part of large amount of water available at some height, to a greater height. This can be employed in hilly areas where some natural source of water like a spring or a stream is available at some altitude. Work done by a large quantity of water in falling through a small height is used to raise a small part of it to a greater height. Action of water hummer makes it feasible.

No external power is, therefore, required to work this machine. Other attrac­tions are- negligible amount of maintenance and supervision costs, continuous operation, high efficiency, quiet operation and possibility of automatic adjust­ment of water supply .The lift-able volume diminishes asymptotically with lifting height. In case of medium lifting height, the hydraulic ram operates with efficiency absolutely comparable to a piston pump of the same performance.

As the hydraulic ram does not need a driving unit it is to be considered as ideal for lift irrigation and drinking water for hilly areas where the supply in fossil energy carriers or electricity is problematic. The hydraulic ram operates with water streams of 1 to 40 m 3 s and fall heads of 1.5 to 30 m and with lifting heights up to 300 m. Hydraulic ram is a simple and rugged device for operating irrigation schemes. This can be easily assembled from local materials.

4. Poncelet Water Wheel :

In ancient times, floating mills were used in Germany on large rivers such as Rhine to drive electric generators and machine tools. A vertical undershot water wheel consisting of a horizontal shaft and radial blades fixed to it was fitted on the side of a barge which was either moored to the bank or firmly anchored in the stream.

A smaller barge was used to support the other end of the shaft. The hulls of the barges were built with local materials. The efficiencies realised were very low, in the range of 20 to 30% because of bad blade geometry (straight radial blades).

Poncelet water wheel is an improvement on the straight blades of undershot water wheel, which has suitable curvature. Water strikes the vanes practically without shock (inlet vane angle 15°) and drives it by impulse. Water is dis­charged from the blades almost vertically downwards. The efficiencies achieved are 55 to 65%.

The main drawback of such machines is low power output for a given size and weight because at any instant only a small part of it is actually in the water being driven by the current while the rest of the machine is idle.

5. Darrieus Turbine Rotor :

Darrieus turbine rotor is similar to modern vertical-axis wind turbine which was first introduced in France by G.J.M. Darrieus in 1920’s. Its configuration consists of four hydrofoil blades which rotate at much higher speed than the water current speed.

The speed of rotation is primarily dependent upon the machine overall dimensions. It has relatively low starting torque. Because of simplicity of the blade design and because they are relatively thin, blade fabri­cation costs are low. They require no pitch control for synchronous applications.

Two prototypes have been developed by Intermediate Technology Develop­ment Group, London as shown in Fig. 5.4. The blades can be made out of timber of fabricated from steel, ferro-cement or glass fibre. The expected performance is shown in fig. 5.1.

Prototype (a):

Vertical axis rotor 13.5 rpm in 1 m/s current. Power takes off above surface. Swept area 3.75 m 2

Prototype (b):

Horizontal axis rotor 32 rpm in 1 m/s current. Powers take off under water. Swept area 3.75 m 2 .

Essay # 7. Floating Type Micro Hydro Power Plant:

The floating type micro hydro power plants are suitable for use in situations where there is no “head” of water available and are designed to extract kinetic energy from a river or canal water current. Therefore, appropriate sites are along the banks of large rivers or on irrigation canals.

As the energy flux depends upon the cube of water velocity, the latter must be as large as possible. The depth of water required for a 4m 2 runner is at least 2.5m.

(i) Hydraulic Machines :

The Darrieus turbine rotor is a low speed machine. It is a low solidity device which is completely submerged during operation and this, together with its high efficiency (above 50%) means that a rotor of moderate size and modest material content can extract useful amounts of energy from current speeds as low as 1 m/s (2 knots).

The mechanical energy obtained can be used for running irrigation pumps, small electric generators and small compressors for cold storages and ice mills. The small cold storages in hilly areas are necessary to store potatoes and other perishable goods to get better returns. Ice mill can be used to chill and store milk before it is sent to bigger collection centres.

The electricity generated is required to light the houses, schools, community centres and to operate TV sets and other domestic devices. All these measures can improve the wealth of the village multifold and raise the standard of living of the local population which will arrest their migration to big cities.

A turbine with swept area of and rotor efficiency of 25% can give an output of 8 kW at a water current speed of only 2 m/s.

In plain areas, irrigation canals are expected to be an important area of application for floating type micro hydro power plants. In a large canal, like in a river the turbine rotor could be mounted on a pontoon, whereas on a small canal it might be cheaper to mount the rotor under a bridge or beam over the canal. The power output from the rotor could be increased by shaping the canal banks to form a venturi in order to increase the local water velocity through the rotor.

(ii) Installation :

The appropriate sites for floating type micro hydro power plants are along the banks of large rivers or on irrigation canals. The pontoon carrying the turbine, generator and transmission system can float on two rows of barges or oil drums under which wooden keels are affixed. The site requirements are shown in fig. 5.5.

The mooring details are shown in Fig. 5.6. The mooring cable arrangement protects the rotor against submerged or semi-submerged objects striking the blades. The cable can be adjusted with a winch to ensure sufficient angle of the keels to the current direction so that water side thrust on the keels keeps the pontoon at a sufficient distance from the bank.

(iii) Auxiliaries and Controls :

The rotational speed of Darriens turbine is very low- 13.5 rpm for vertical axis and 32 rpm for horizontal axis turbines. For Poncelet turbine, the peripheral velocity of runner is about half of water current speed. Therefore, multistage belt drives or gear boxes are needed to increase the speed of generator shaft to about 950 rpm.

Permanent magnet alternator or induction generators are preferred over synchronous generators. In order to reduce equipment costs, the conven­tional mechanical or hydro-mechanical speed governor should be dis­pensed with the inertia of rotor being small; there is a problem of instability in power supply quality.

The above problems can be solved by the use of a flywheel which can ensure stable power supply and can shave-off power demand fluctuations. A flywheel designed for this purpose can be accelerated to extremely high speeds without any risk of breaking apart.

It can be made from concentric rings of quartz fibre as windings, the rings being fitted over one another and close gaps filled with an elastic substance to keep the plies of the rims together. The flywheel is coupled to a generator and enclosed in a sealed evacuated casing to reduce wind-age losses. The device operates as a generator when power demand on the system grows and as an electric motor when it is time to accumulate energy.

Essay # 8. Economic Considerations for Small Hydro Power Plants:

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. Haridwar and Bhopal plants, Jyoti Limited, Baroda have the capacity to manufacture small hydro turbines as per Table 5.1. Himalaya Mills, Hydraulic Rams and Floating Mills can be designed, manufactured and installed using local materials and skills. Independent small hydel projects become very costly due to heavy civil costs involved. The cost may be Rs. 18000 per kW installed.

Therefore such projects become viable if planned as multiple purpose use of water including irrigation and power generation. As we come down the hills, the available head decreases and equipment costs go up. For example, the cost of one hydro set of horizontal tubular design of 3.2 kW capacities operating at a head of 3 m may be Rs. 1.20 lakhs, i.e., Rs. 40,000 per kW installed.

The civil costs are site specific but taking 30% of equipment cost, the total installed cost will be a high value of Rs. 52,000 per kW installed. Even though the schemes are costlier but the cost of 1 kWh will be less than from pumped hydroelectric power plant as water is essentially free and other running cost components of operation and maintenance are very low.

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Atlas Renewable Energy, Hydro Rein commission 438MW solar project in Brazil

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Solar developers Atlas Renewable Energy and Hydro Rein have started commercial operation of a 438MW solar PV project in Brazil.

Located in the south-eastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, the Boa Sorte PV farm consists of several projects that will provide power to aluminium smelter Albras, a joint venture owned by Hydro and Nippon Amazon Aluminium, under a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA).

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Development of the project was jointly made between Latin America-based developer Atlas Renewable Energy and Norwegian-based renewables developer Hydro Rein.

This marks Hydro Rein’s second-largest PV project in Brazil, after the 531MW Mendubim solar plant , which started commercial operation last month. The project, located in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, is a joint venture with Norwegian energy company Equinor and renewables developer Scatec.

In terms of financing, the Boa Sorte project marks the first time the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) executed a loan using the US dollar as a reference for a renewable energy project in Brazil, setting a “new precedent” for project financing in the country and allowing projects with a US-denominated PPA to receive such funding.

Moreover, the Boa Sorte PV project increases Atlas Renewable Energy’s presence in Brazil, where it recently sold a 545MW solar portfolio to French utility Engie’s subsidiary in Brazil , Engie Brasil Energia. The developer has a portfolio of 5.8GW of renewable energy assets, of which 2.7GW is operational.

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Mexico’s likely next president is a scientist. Politics has her mostly quiet on climate threats

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The López home kept filling with seawater as the Gulf of Mexico rose and winter storms got worse.

Cristina López and her family decided to leave after one bad storm in November, knowing the ocean would eventually devour their home in the fishing town of El Bosque.

“There was nowhere else to go,” said López, who now lives about a 20-minute drive away.

Driven by climate change, sea-level rise and increasingly ferocious storms are eroding thousands of miles of Mexico’s coastline facing both the Gulf and the Pacific Ocean . Around this country of nearly 130 million, drought is draining reservoirs dry and creating severe water shortages. Deadly heat is straining people and crops. Aging infrastructure is struggling to keep up.

But don’t expect the leading presidential candidate, Claudia Sheinbaum , an environmental scientist and a co-author of the 2007 Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, to make climate a central part of her campaign ahead of the June 2 election.

That is because as many countries move away from the burning of fossil fuels like oil and gas, which cause climate change, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, one of Mexico’s most popular leaders in generations, has moved his country in the opposite direction.

Sheinbaum is often seen as the mentee of López Obrador, who is restricted by law to one term. As president, he has pumped billions of dollars into Mexico’s indebted state oil company and has been pushing an overhaul of the country’s energy sector that has boosted fossil fuel production and stymied investment in renewable energy projects. That has resulted in Sheinbaum, who until last June was Mexico City’s mayor, having largely gone quiet on global warming in Mexico, the world’s 11th-largest oil producer.

At the heart of her silence appears to be the conundrum facing many leaders in the face of climate change: should they sacrifice immediate political and economic needs to grapple with the longer-term changes necessary for human survival?

Sheinbaum has told The Associated Press that she believes in science, technology and renewable energy but also has said that if she wins she would continue increasing power generation by state-owned companies, which often run power plants with oil and coal.

Her main opponent, Xóchitl Gálvez, a former opposition senator, has said she would promote private investment in the energy sector, if elected. The businesswoman has promised to permanently close refineries in Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas states within the first six months of her presidency, and has proposed transforming the country’s state-run oil and gas company into one that could also produce electricity using renewable sources such as geothermal energy.

Whoever wins will be the first female president of Mexico.

WATER SHORTAGES As the election approaches, a worsening water crisis is making it harder for Sheinbaum and her main opponent to ignore Mexico’s climate threats.

Sprawling Mexico City gets its water from overtapped underground aquifers and a vast network of canals, dams and reservoirs called the Cutzamala System. Persistent drought intensified by climate change and El Niño has drawn the system to record lows.

Neighborhoods not connected to the system are feeling the pinch of hot temperatures and delayed water deliveries by trucks. Laundromats have gone weeks without water and shortages have even hit restaurants and businesses in affluent neighborhoods like Polanco, sometimes called the “Beverly Hills of Mexico.”

In Xochimilco in the city’s south, Ana Maria Sandoval worries about how much worse the water cuts will get and what her 10-year-old grandson will face someday because of climate change.

But she has some hope for Sheinbaum, who belongs to López Obrador’s Morena party.

“I think she’s going to do something,” Sandoval said. “I’m going to vote for her to see if she follows through and at least helps us store rainwater.”

LÓPEZ OBRADOR’S FOSSIL FUEL AGENDA Under López Obrador, Mexico has prioritized fossil fuel production in a quest to nationalize power generation in a country still deeply dependent on fuel imports. That’s exemplified by his flagship — still not operational — Olmeca oil refinery located just 50 miles west (80 kilometers) of the mostly disappeared town of El Bosque in Tabasco.

López Obrador’s government also purchased a refinery in Texas and passed legislation — part of which Mexico’s Supreme Court recently struck down — to limit how much electricity private gas and renewable energy facilities can sell. The policy would have favored the state-owned electrical power company over private power firms.

When confronted about his administration’s environmental record, López Obrador has pointed to hydroelectric plants that have been renovated, his oft-questioned reforestation program and a solar energy project in the state of Sonora, among others.

At a White House climate summit last year, López Obrador listed his administration’s efforts to address climate change, telling world leaders that “next year, we will be fulfilling the commitment to produce more clean and renewable energies in our country.”

Yet scientists at Climate Action Tracker, a group that scrutinizes nations’ pledges to reduce emissions, have criticized Mexico’s backtracking on its already modest climate targets, downgrading its rating in 2021 and 2022 to “critically insufficient,” the lowest level.

SHEINBAUM’S CAMPAIGN Sheinbaum has said she supports the president’s goal of keeping 54% of Mexico’s electricity generation under state control, a vision that effectively casts aside more renewable energy production in favor of dirtier fuels.

But there are also some indications that Sheinbaum could take a more science-driven approach than her predecessor. Many point to her performance as mayor of Mexico City during the coronavirus pandemic for clues.

As mayor, Sheinbaum emphasized mask-wearing, testing and vaccination while López Obrador often minimized the dangers of the virus that ravaged Mexico.

Decades prior, Sheinbaum worked on plans to measure Mexico City’s air pollution. As mayor, she boosted the city’s public electro-mobility and cycling infrastructure, and initiated a large solar power park on the rooftops of a major wholesale market.

As for water, Sheinbaum has repeatedly said that Mexico needs a 30-year plan, an idea she has reiterated on the campaign trail. She recently laid out a plan in which she said her administration would prioritize better measuring water use in Mexico across sectors, especially agriculture, which uses the vast majority of the country’s water. But the plan was light on details about how her government would do so.

In Iztapalapa, a borough of Mexico City with almost 2 million people, Juana Acosta and Jose Luis Perez recently waited 15 days, a week longer than usual, for a water delivery. Residents of the poor, dense borough aren’t new to water problems, but residents like Acosta said they are getting worse. She has complained of longer wait times and stricter rationing due largely to shortages and higher demand.

“They didn’t used to leave us like this for a long time without water,” Acosta said.

Naishadham reported from Washington, D.C.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org .

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2022-2023 Hydropower Accomplishments

Hydropower, otherwise known as hydroelectric power, offers a number of advantages to the communities that they serve. Hydropower and pumped storage continue to play a crucial role in our fight against climate change by providing essential power, storage, and flexibility services. Below are just some of the benefits that hydropower can provide as the United States transitions to 100% clean electricity by 2035 and net-zero emissions by 2050.

In a study led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory on hydropower flexibility, preliminary analysis found that the firm capacity associated with U.S. hydropower’s flexibility is estimated to be over 24 GW. To replace this capability with storage would require the buildout of 24 GW of 10-hour storage—more than all the existing storage in the United States today. Additionally, in terms of integrating wind and solar, the flexibility presented in existing U.S. hydropower facilities could help bring up to 137 gigawatts of new wind and solar online by 2035.

ADVANTAGES OF HYDROPOWER:

• Hydropower is a renewable source of energy. The energy generated through hydropower relies on the water cycle, which is driven by the sun, making it renewable.
• Hydropower is fueled by water, making it a clean source of energy.
• Hydroelectric power is a domestic source of energy, allowing each state to produce its own energy without being reliant on international fuel sources.
• Impoundment hydropower  creates reservoirs that offer recreational opportunities such as fishing, swimming, and boating. Most hydropower installations are required to provide some public access to the reservoir to allow the public to take advantage of these opportunities. 
• Hydroelectric power is flexible. Some hydropower facilities can quickly go from zero power to maximum output. Because hydropower plants can generate power to the grid immediately, they provide essential backup power during major electricity outages or disruptions.
• Hydropower provides benefits beyond electricity generation by providing flood control, irrigation support, and clean drinking water.
• Hydropower is affordable. Hydropower provides low-cost electricity and durability over time compared to other sources of energy. Construction costs can even be mitigated by using preexisting structures such as bridges, tunnels, and dams.
• Hydropower complements other renewable energy sources. Technologies like pumped storage hydropower  (PSH) store energy to use in tandem with renewables such as wind and solar power when demand is high.
• Hydropower is an established industry in the United States, employing 66,500 people . And there are a growing number of jobs available in hydropower, including manufacturing, utilities, professional and business services, construction, trade and transportation, energy systems, water management, environmental science, welding, machinery, and other services.
• The U.S. hydropower workforce could grow to 120,000 jobs by 2030 and 158,000 by 2050. For those interested in becoming part of this workforce, hydropower education programs can be found nationwide.
• Hydropower creates jobs in rural locations and boosts local economies.

To stay up to date on the latest hydropower news and funding opportunities, subscribe to the  Hydro Headlines newsletter . 

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Russian Attack Leaves Over a Million in Ukraine Without Electricity

Power plants and a major hydroelectric dam were damaged in what Ukrainian officials said was one of the war’s largest assaults on energy infrastructure.

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By Constant Méheut and Ivan Nechepurenko

Constant Méheut reported from Kyiv, Ukraine, and Ivan Nechepurenko from Tbilisi, Georgia.

A large-scale Russian missile and drone attack damaged power plants and caused blackouts for more than a million Ukrainians on Friday morning, in what Ukrainian officials said was one of the war’s largest assaults on energy infrastructure.

At least five people were killed in the assault, and 26 others were injured, according to the Ukrainian national police .

The strikes came as ​the Kremlin escalated its rhetoric over the conflict, saying that Russia was “in a state of war” in Ukraine — and moving beyond the euphemism “special military operation” — because of the West’s heavy involvement on the Ukrainian side.

In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, traffic lights were not working and the water supply was disrupted. A fire raged at the country’s largest hydroelectric dam, in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia. A few dozen miles to the southwest, a power line supplying a Russian-occupied nuclear power plant was temporarily knocked out.

“The enemy is now launching the largest attack on the Ukrainian energy sector in recent times,” Herman Halushchenko, Ukraine’s energy minister, said on Facebook . “The goal is not just to damage, but to try again, like last year, to cause a large-scale failure of the country’s energy system.”

The Ukrainian Air Force said that Russia had launched 63 Iranian-made “Shahed” attack drones and 88 missiles in the assault, including hypersonic weapons that fly at several times the speed of sound. The air force said it had shot down most of the drones but fewer than half of the missiles, a low interception rate compared with previous assaults that may reflect Ukraine’s dwindling air-defense stocks.

“Russian missiles have no delays, unlike aid packages for Ukraine,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media , an apparent reference to the $60 billion in military assistance for Ukraine that Republicans in the United States Congress have held up for months .

“‘Shahed’ drones have no indecision, unlike some politicians,” Mr. Zelensky added.

Russia’s defense ministry said that Friday’s attack was part of a wider series of strikes in retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s border regions this month. The ministry said the strikes had targeted Western-supplied equipment and weapons in addition to Ukraine’s energy facilities.

The Kremlin said the West’s support for Kyiv had justified the change in how it describes the conflict.

Since Moscow’s full-scale invasion began in 2022, the Kremlin has insisted that it was conducting a “special military operation.” The country’s communications watchdog ordered Russian news media outlets not to describe the hostilities as an “invasion” or a “declaration of war.”

But Russian officials including President Vladimir V. Putin have occasionally used the word war in reference to the conflict, mostly to insist that Russia has been fighting a Western coalition. And in an interview published on Friday in a hawkish pro-Kremlin tabloid, the Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, attempted to explain the change.

“Yes, it started as a special military operation, but as soon as this grouping was formed, when the collective West became a participant in this one the side of Ukraine, it became a war for us,” he said. “I am convinced of that,” he added. “And everyone should understand that for their internal mobilization.”

The assault on Friday was reminiscent of Russia’s air campaign against the Ukrainian energy grid during the first winter of the war, which plunged Kyiv into cold and darkness. The Ukrainian authorities had warned that Russia was likely to repeat that campaign this winter, but instead Moscow’s air attacks had so far mostly targeted industrial and military facilities.

Friday’s attack was Russia’s second large-scale air assault in two days. A missile attack on Kyiv on Thursday injured at least 13 people and damaged several buildings.

The latest assault began shortly after midnight, when Russian forces launched dozens of attack drones against several Ukrainian regions, according to Ukraine’s air force. Then, around 3 a.m., Russian fighter jets fired cruise missiles, followed by ballistic missiles and then hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, one of the most sophisticated weapons in Russia’s arsenal.

The complex barrage appeared designed to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses, following a strategy used in previous Russian air assaults . Ukraine’s air force said it had not managed to shoot down any of the Kinzhal missiles.

Missile strikes on power facilities caused outages in seven Ukrainian regions, according to Ukrenergo , the national electricity company, prompting the country to receive urgent energy assistance from Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the head of Ukrenergo, said that the attack was bigger than those targeting energy infrastructure during the first winter of the war. Oleksiy Kuleba , the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said that hundreds of thousands of homes had temporarily lost power, affecting some 1.2 million residents.

Mr. Kuleba said that “blackout schedules” had been introduced in several regions to “preserve the power system” during repairs.

Particularly affected was the eastern city of Kharkiv, where about 15 explosions were heard, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov. A pumping station was hit, hampering the city’s water supply, and electric trams and buses were not functioning.

“The city is completely without power. As a result, water and heating supply are not working,” Mr. Terekhov said in a video on social media. Earlier Friday, the local authorities said that 700,000 residents in the Kharkiv region had no electricity.

In the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, the Dnipro hydroelectric power plant suffered damage to its structure, including a large dam. Photos and videos posted online showed fire and smoke billowing from the plant, and the local authorities said that the road across the dam had been closed. The Ukrainian general prosecutor’s office said the plant had been hit eight times.

Ihor Syrota , the head of Ukrhydronenergo, the state company that owns Ukraine’s hydroelectric plants, said that there was no risk of a breach, but that an electricity-generating unit was in critical condition.

Attacks on power installations were also reported in the western regions of Vinnytsia, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk. Airstrikes on these areas have been rare during the war.

DTEK, a prominent Ukrainian power company, said in a statement that two of its power stations had been knocked offline. “In total, DTEK has temporarily lost around half of its available generation capacity,” it said.

Ukraine invested in protecting its energy infrastructure after the first winter of the war, building multilayered fortifications that included sandbags, concrete walls and cages filled with rocks. But the country’s energy system remains hobbled .

The White House condemned Russia’s “brutal strikes” on Friday. In a post on X , a U.S. National Security Council spokeswoman, Adrienne Watson, said that it is “critical we provide Ukraine more air defenses to defend against these attacks.”

“Lives are on the line,” she said.

Oleksandra Mykolyshyn contributed reporting from Kyiv.

Constant Méheut reports on the war in Ukraine, including battlefield developments, attacks on civilian centers and how the war is affecting its people. More about Constant Méheut

Ivan Nechepurenko covers Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the countries of the Caucasus, and Central Asia. He is based in Moscow. More about Ivan Nechepurenko

Our Coverage of the War in Ukraine

News and Analysis

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has signed into law three measures aimed at replenishing the ranks of his country’s depleted army, including lowering the draft age to 25 .

With continued American aid to Ukraine stalled and against the looming prospect of a second Trump presidency, NATO officials are looking to take more control of directing military support from Ukraine’s allies  — a role that the United States has played for the past two years.

Exploding drones hit an oil refinery and munitions factory far to the east of Moscow, in what Ukrainian media and military experts said was among the longest-range strikes with Ukrainian drones so far in the war .

Turning to Marketing: Ukraine’s troop-starved brigades have started their own recruitment campaigns  to fill ranks depleted in the war with Russia.

Symbolism or Strategy?: Ukrainians say that defending places with little strategic value is worth the cost in casualties and weapons  because the attacking Russians pay an even higher price. American officials aren’t so sure.

Elaborate Tales: As the war grinds on, the Kremlin has created increasingly complex fabrications online  to discredit Zelensky and undermine Ukraine’s support in the West.

How We Verify Our Reporting

Our team of visual journalists analyzes satellite images, photographs , videos and radio transmissions  to independently confirm troop movements and other details.

We monitor and authenticate reports on social media, corroborating these with eyewitness accounts and interviews. Read more about our reporting efforts .

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Hydro Rein and Atlas fire up Boa Sorte solar plant in Brazil

The 438MW plant will supply the generated power to Albras, one of the country's largest aluminium producers.

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Hydro Rein, Atlas Renewable Energy and Albras, a joint venture of Hydro and Nippon Amazon Aluminium, have begun operations at the 438MW Boa Sorte solar plant in Paracatu, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

The solar plant will generate 920 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually, enough to power 394,000 Brazilian households.

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The Boa Sorte facility will offset 61,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions per year.

Hydro Rein Brazil head Marcela Jacob stated: “We are proud to reach this impressive achievement for a solar project contributing greatly to Hydro’s decarbonisation journey in Brazil. Hydro Rein’s mission is to develop renewable energy solutions for more sustainable industries. This is what we are doing with Boa Sorte.”

The renewable energy generated will be supplied to Albras, one of Brazil’s largest primary aluminium producers.

It will cover 12% of the company’s energy needs under a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) effective from 2025 to 2044.

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The project, developed by Norsk Hydro subsidiary Hydro Rein in collaboration with Atlas Renewable Energy, was completed on time and within budget.

Hydro Rein adhered to International Finance Corporation performance standards and equator principles during its development.

Albras CEO João Batista Menezes stated: “This is a significant milestone for Albras to secure our long-term strategy of greener aluminium production. With this investment, we are securing Albras’ long-term energy sourcing as well as diversifying our energy matrix, and by investing in renewable sources we reinforce our commitment to be part of the solution for the green transition.

“We want to contribute to creating a fair society by producing responsibly using renewable energy.”

In March 2023, Scatec , Hydro Rein and Equinor commenced operation of the 531MW Mendubim solar plant in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.

The power from Mendubim will be supplied to Alunorte, an aluminium supplier predominantly owned by Hydro, through a 20-year PPA. The agreement ensures the purchase of 60% of the plant’s expected power production, with the remainder to be sold on the Brazilian power market.

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Palisades Nuclear Plant on Path to Recommissioning by 2025

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Loan Programs Office (LPO) announced a conditional commitment of up to $1.52 billion for a loan guarantee to Holtec Palisades LLC to finance the restoration and resumption of service of the Palisades Power Plant, an 800-MW nuclear generating station in Covert Township, Michigan (Figure 1).

The project aims to bring the single-reactor unit back into commercial operation by the end of 2025. It was retired by previous owner Entergy in May 2022. If finalized, Holtec Palisades would be the first recommissioning of a shutdown nuclear power plant in the U.S.

“Holtec is committed to helping the nuclear and energy industries meet challenges and find solutions. Repowering Palisades helps ensure we have enough reliable, around-the-clock electricity to keep the lights on for Michigan families and small businesses while also helping mitigate climate change through safe, reliable, and carbon-free generation,” Nick Culp, Palisades Nuclear Generating Station’s senior manager for Governmental Affairs with Holtec Decommissioning International, told POWER . “Our repower efforts have been buoyed by the strong broad-based support this effort has received from our federal, state, and community partners who recognize the strategic importance of the plant to the state and nation’s clean energy future.”

The DOE said the Palisades project highlights President Biden’s “ Investing in America ” agenda to “support good-paying, high-quality job opportunities in communities across the country while also expanding access to affordable clean energy resources.” The project is expected to support or retain up to 600 jobs in Michigan––many of them filled by workers who have been at the plant for more than 20 years––with approximately 45% of the workforce at the site being union labor upon restart. In addition to the workers supported by the facility’s restart, if finalized, the loan guarantee would support more than 1,000 jobs during the facility’s regularly scheduled refueling and maintenance periods every 18 months.

A Long History (to Be Continued?)

The Palisades facility has a long history. Plans for the plant’s construction were first announced in January 1966. The station includes a pressurized water reactor designed and manufactured by Combustion Engineering, and it has a Westinghouse turbine-generator. The architect-engineer/constructor was Bechtel Power Corp.

Site excavation began in August 1966, first concrete was poured in March 1967, and the reactor vessel was delivered to the site on Oct. 22, 1968. The first nuclear chain reaction at Palisades occurred on May 24, 1971, and the first commercial power generation took place on Dec. 31, 1971. The unit has a maximum dependable capacity of 798 MW, but its record hourly output was 821 MWh, which occurred on Jan. 15, 2006.

At the time of its final shutdown , Entergy was the owner and operator of the plant. The company had purchased it from Consumers Energy in April 2007 for $380 million. The purchase also included receipt of the used fuel at Consumers’ decommissioned Big Rock Point Nuclear Plant, located in Charlevoix in northwestern Lower Michigan. Entergy actually acquired several nuclear plants in regions where wholesale markets operated after deregulation substantially changed the electric industry in the late 1990s. At its peak, the company operated six merchant nuclear units, with about 5,000 MW of capacity, along with five nuclear units in its regulated companies, also representing about 5,000 MW.

But the merchant business proved to be challenging for Entergy. In December 2016, Entergy proposed retiring the Palisades plant by 2018 as part of a bigger plan for the company to exit the merchant nuclear generation business altogether. Those plans changed in September 2017 after the Michigan Public Service Commission said it would only grant partial recovery ($136.6 million) of the $172 million Consumers Energy had requested for the buyout of a power purchase agreement it had with Entergy for Palisades’ output.

Palisades Shutdown and Transferred

In the end, Palisades was taken offline for the final time on May 20, 2022. The shutdown completed a record-setting run at the site—the unit had continuously generated electricity for 577 consecutive days since its last refueling, which was also a world record for a plant of its kind. Notably, Palisades was ranked in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) highest safety category, and Entergy said the station was regarded by its peers as one of the top performers in the industry.

Following the removal of used fuel from the Palisades reactor, the facility was transferred to Holtec International on June 28, 2022, “for purposes of a safe and timely decommissioning.” Holtec was expected to complete the dismantling, decontamination, and remediation of Palisades to NRC standards by 2041.

Yet, efforts to save the Palisades plant quickly began. Holtec applied for financial support through the Civil Nuclear Credit Program, a $6 billion fund designed to help preserve the existing U.S. reactor fleet and save thousands of high-paying jobs across the country. The program was made possible by the passing of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Holtec also received backing from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who wrote a letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Sept. 9, 2022, in support of Holtec’s plans to repower and reopen Palisades.

In September 2023, Holtec and Wolverine Power Cooperative, a not-for-profit power generation cooperative, agreed on a long-term deal , with Wolverine committing to purchase up to two-thirds of the power generated by Palisades for its Michigan-based member rural electric cooperatives. Wolverine’s non-profit rural electric cooperative project partner, Hoosier Energy, an alliance of 18 member cooperatives serving 59 counties across central and southern Indiana and southeastern Illinois, would purchase the balance. Today’s announcement brings Palasades’ rebirth another step closer to fruition.

Excitement Surrounds Recommissioning

“Palisades is coming back,” Gov. Whitmer said in a statement issued to POWER by her press secretary. “Thanks to an effective collaboration between the Biden-Harris administration, the State of Michigan, the Michigan Legislature, and Holtec, work will begin shortly to restart operations at Palisades. Once complete, Palisades will become the first successfully restarted nuclear power plant in American history, protecting 600 union jobs at the plant, 1,100 in the community, and access to clean, reliable power for 800,000 homes. We will lead and build the future here in Michigan with our 100% clean energy by 2040 standard, the strongest clean energy labor standards in the nation, and tools to build more renewable energy faster. Let’s keep getting it done.”

“Palisades’ carbon-free generation is essential to both Michigan and the United States achieving their clean climate goals while maintaining around-the-clock reliability to meet future demand,” added Culp. “The project is anticipated to avoid 4.47 million tons of CO 2 emissions per year—in addition to other noxious greenhouse gases—for a total of 111 million tons of CO 2 over the next 25 years.”

In addition to the main 800-MW reactor, Holtec has plans to use the Palisades site as the location for its first two small modular reactor (SMR) units, which will not be part of the project that may be financed under this conditional commitment. The two units will potentially add an additional 800 MW of generation capacity at the site, take advantage of existing infrastructure, and spur the domestic development of new reactor technologies, which the DOE says is critical to combatting the climate crisis.

Still, much work needs to be done to bring the existing unit back into service. “Since last year, we have participated in a series of public meetings with U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff on our proposed reauthorization of power operations at Palisades. We have made several key filings with the NRC to lay out the path to reauthorize the repowering of Palisades within the Agency’s existing regulatory framework. Among many things, the repower entails rehiring the plant workforce, reestablishing our training program, and significant investment in plant inspections, preventative maintenance, upgrades, and modifications,” explained Culp.

There is hope, however, that the work can progress fairly quickly. “We remain on track to repower the plant by the end of 2025, pending all necessary federal regulatory reviews and approvals,” Culp said. Upgrades are expected to keep the Palisades unit in operations until at least 2051, subject to NRC licensing approvals.

Detractors Persist

Yet, not everyone is pleased with the prospect of Palisades returning to service. The group Beyond Nuclear, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) membership organization that “aims to educate and activate the public about the connections between nuclear power and nuclear weapons and the need to abandon both to safeguard our future,” issued a lengthy diatribe railing against the Palisades project.

“Under this rushed schedule, there is no possible way for Holtec to complete all the decades-long overdue system repairs, refurbishment, replacements, and safety-critical upgrades previous owner Entergy never got around to, over the 15 years of its ownership of Palisades, and then ultimately simply walked away from. Given Palisades’ age-related degradation, some of these needed fixes, such as on the embrittled reactor pressure vessel, are too expensive or even impossible to do. These are the kinds of overwhelming challenges that have led to the record-breaking number of atomic reactor shutdowns in North America in the past decade. Palisades should remain closed for good,” Kevin Kamps, a radioactive waste specialist with Beyond Nuclear, said in a press release issued by the group.

“Palisades has had a distinguished record of safe and reliable operation. At the time of shutdown, Palisades ranked in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s highest safety category, was recognized as a top performing plant within the industry, and completed consecutive record-breaking production runs. That is both a testament to the excellent material condition of the plant as well as to the operating experience and qualifications of our plant workforce, who are onsite and returning. Like all commercial nuclear plants in the United States, a repowered Palisades would continue to operate under the independent federal oversight of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,” Culp countered.

“We have been impressed with the U.S. Department of Energy’s loan application process. As part of the loan application process, the Palisades repower has undergone rigorous financial, technical, legal, and market analysis by the U.S. Department of Energy’s professional staff, which includes qualified engineers, financial, and legal experts, as well as expert third-party advisors,” he added.

Return to Service Much Faster Than New-Build

Because the plant’s infrastructure already exists, the Palisades project does not involve traditional major construction activities, but it will require inspections, testing, refurbishment, rebuilding, and replacement of existing equipment. Holtec is currently pursuing a reauthorization of the Palisades operating license with the NRC, the Federal agency responsible for regulating and licensing commercial nuclear power plants in the U.S. To date, Holtec has submitted three NRC licensing requests in pursuit of license reauthorization and anticipates submitting the remainder in spring 2024.

The LPO said that while the conditional commitment demonstrates the DOE’s intent to finance the project, Holtec must satisfy certain technical, legal, environmental, and financial conditions before the Department enters into definitive financing documents and funds the loan.

— Aaron Larson is POWER’s executive editor ( @POWERmagazine ).

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