IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v101y2017icp251-264.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Governing the transition to renewable energy: A review of impacts and policy issues in the small hydropower boom

Author

Listed:
  • Kelly-Richards, Sarah
  • Silber-Coats, Noah
  • Crootof, Arica
  • Tecklin, David
  • Bauer, Carl

Abstract

The transition to renewable energy technologies raises new and important governance questions. With small hydropower (SHP) expanding as part of renewable energy and climate mitigation strategies, this review assesses its impacts and identifies escalating policy issues. To provide a comprehensive literature review of small hydropower, we evaluated over 3600 articles and policy documents. This review identified four major concerns: (1) confusion in small hydropower definitions is convoluting scholarship and policy-making; (2) there is a lack of knowledge and acknowledgement of small hydropower’s social, environmental, and cumulative impacts; (3) small hydropower’s promotion as a climate mitigation strategy can negatively affect local communities, posing contradictions for climate change policy; and (4) institutional analysis is needed to facilitate renewable energy integration with existing environmental laws to ensure sustainable energy development. For readers interested in small hydropower, we clarify areas of confusion in definition and explain the corresponding impacts for distinct system designs. For a broader readership, we situate small hydropower implementation within international trends of renewable energy development – the contradictory impacts of climate change policy, emerging dynamics in energy finance, and reliance on market mechanisms. Our paper provides a timely contribution to scholarship on small hydropower and the transition to renewable energy.

Suggested Citation

  • Kelly-Richards, Sarah & Silber-Coats, Noah & Crootof, Arica & Tecklin, David & Bauer, Carl, 2017. "Governing the transition to renewable energy: A review of impacts and policy issues in the small hydropower boom," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 251-264.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:101:y:2017:i:c:p:251-264
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2016.11.035
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421516306401
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2016.11.035?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Petras Punys & Antanas Dumbrauskas & Egidijus Kasiulis & Gitana Vyčienė & Linas Šilinis, 2015. "Flow Regime Changes: From Impounding a Temperate Lowland River to Small Hydropower Operations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-24, July.
    2. Wang, Bing & Liang, Xiao-Jie & Zhang, Hao & Wang, Lu & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2014. "Vulnerability of hydropower generation to climate change in China: Results based on Grey forecasting model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 701-707.
    3. Linnerud, Kristin & Holden, Erling, 2015. "Investment barriers under a renewable-electricity support scheme: Differences across investor types," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 699-709.
    4. Kusre, B.C. & Baruah, D.C. & Bordoloi, P.K. & Patra, S.C., 2010. "Assessment of hydropower potential using GIS and hydrological modeling technique in Kopili River basin in Assam (India)," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 298-309, January.
    5. Bartle, Alison, 2002. "Hydropower potential and development activities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(14), pages 1231-1239, November.
    6. Pang, Mingyue & Zhang, Lixiao & Ulgiati, Sergio & Wang, Changbo, 2015. "Ecological impacts of small hydropower in China: Insights from an emergy analysis of a case plant," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 112-122.
    7. Larentis, Dante G. & Collischonn, Walter & Olivera, Francisco & Tucci, Carlos E.M., 2010. "Gis-based procedures for hydropower potential spotting," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 4237-4243.
    8. Kucukali, Serhat, 2010. "Municipal water supply dams as a source of small hydropower in Turkey," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 2001-2007.
    9. Anas Mahmood Al-Juboori & Aytac Guven, 2016. "Hydropower Plant Site Assessment by Integrated Hydrological Modeling, Gene Expression Programming and Visual Basic Programming," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 30(7), pages 2517-2530, May.
    10. Dursun, Bahtiyar & Gokcol, Cihan, 2011. "The role of hydroelectric power and contribution of small hydropower plants for sustainable development in Turkey," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 1227-1235.
    11. Kucukali, Serhat & Baris, Kemal, 2009. "Assessment of small hydropower (SHP) development in Turkey: Laws, regulations and EU policy perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 3872-3879, October.
    12. Klimpt, Jean-Etienne & Rivero, Cristina & Puranen, Hannu & Koch, Frans, 2002. "Recommendations for sustainable hydroelectric development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(14), pages 1305-1312, November.
    13. Panić, Milena & Urošev, Marko & Milanović Pešić, Ana & Brankov, Jovana & Bjeljac, Željko, 2013. "Small hydropower plants in Serbia: Hydropower potential, current state and perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 341-349.
    14. Erdogdu, Erkan, 2011. "An analysis of Turkish hydropower policy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 689-696, January.
    15. Christopher Kaminker & Fiona Stewart, 2012. "The Role of Institutional Investors in Financing Clean Energy," OECD Working Papers on Finance, Insurance and Private Pensions 23, OECD Publishing.
    16. Loots, I. & van Dijk, M. & Barta, B. & van Vuuren, S.J. & Bhagwan, J.N., 2015. "A review of low head hydropower technologies and applications in a South African context," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1254-1268.
    17. Khan, Rakhshanda, 2015. "Small Hydro Power in India: Is it a sustainable business?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 207-216.
    18. Bøckman, Thor & Fleten, Stein-Erik & Juliussen, Erik & Langhammer, Håvard J. & Revdal, Ingemar, 2008. "Investment timing and optimal capacity choice for small hydropower projects," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 190(1), pages 255-267, October.
    19. Butera, Ilaria & Balestra, Roberto, 2015. "Estimation of the hydropower potential of irrigation networks," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 140-151.
    20. Kumar, Deepak & Katoch, S.S., 2015. "Sustainability suspense of small hydropower projects: A study from western Himalayan region of India," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 220-233.
    21. Barelli, L. & Liucci, L. & Ottaviano, A. & Valigi, D., 2013. "Mini-hydro: A design approach in case of torrential rivers," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 695-706.
    22. Nautiyal, Himanshu & Singal, S.K. & Varun & Sharma, Aashish, 2011. "Small hydropower for sustainable energy development in India," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 2021-2027, May.
    23. Baris, Kemal & Kucukali, Serhat, 2012. "Availibility of renewable energy sources in Turkey: Current situation, potential, government policies and the EU perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 377-391.
    24. Andy Stirling, 2014. "Transforming Power: social science and the politics of energy choices," SPRU Working Paper Series 2014-03, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    25. Paish, Oliver, 2002. "Small hydro power: technology and current status," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 6(6), pages 537-556, December.
    26. Ardizzon, G. & Cavazzini, G. & Pavesi, G., 2014. "A new generation of small hydro and pumped-hydro power plants: Advances and future challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 746-761.
    27. Phillips, Jon & Newell, Peter, 2013. "The governance of clean energy in India: The clean development mechanism (CDM) and domestic energy politics," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 654-662.
    28. Frey, Gary W. & Linke, Deborah M., 2002. "Hydropower as a renewable and sustainable energy resource meeting global energy challenges in a reasonable way," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(14), pages 1261-1265, November.
    29. Taele, B.M. & Mokhutšoane, L. & Hapazari, I., 2012. "An overview of small hydropower development in Lesotho: Challenges and prospects," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 448-452.
    30. Rojanamon, Pannathat & Chaisomphob, Taweep & Bureekul, Thawilwadee, 2009. "Application of geographical information system to site selection of small run-of-river hydropower project by considering engineering/economic/environmental criteria and social impact," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(9), pages 2336-2348, December.
    31. Ohunakin, Olayinka S. & Ojolo, Sunday J. & Ajayi, Oluseyi O., 2011. "Small hydropower (SHP) development in Nigeria: An assessment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 2006-2013, May.
    32. Hennig, Thomas & Wang, Wenling & Feng, Yan & Ou, Xiaokun & He, Daming, 2013. "Review of Yunnan's hydropower development. Comparing small and large hydropower projects regarding their environmental implications and socio-economic consequences," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 585-595.
    33. Martins, Douglas Eduardo Costa & Seiffert, Mari Elizabete Bernardini & Dziedzic, Maurício, 2013. "The importance of clean development mechanism for small hydro power plants," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 643-647.
    34. Ryo Fujikura & Mikiyasu Nakayama, 2009. "Lessons learned from the World Commission on Dams," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 173-190, May.
    35. Gleick, Peter H., 1992. "Environmental consequences of hydroelectric development: The role of facility size and type," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 17(8), pages 735-747.
    36. Hermann, Jennifer, 2010. "Development banks in the financial-liberalization era: the case of BNDES in Brazil," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    37. Aggidis, G.A. & Luchinskaya, E. & Rothschild, R. & Howard, D.C., 2010. "The costs of small-scale hydro power production: Impact on the development of existing potential," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 2632-2638.
    38. Forouzbakhsh, F. & Hosseini, S.M.H. & Vakilian, M., 2007. "An approach to the investment analysis of small and medium hydro-power plants," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 1013-1024, February.
    39. Jaccard, Mark & Melton, Noel & Nyboer, John, 2011. "Institutions and processes for scaling up renewables: Run-of-river hydropower in British Columbia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 4042-4050, July.
    40. Dudhani, Surekha & Sinha, A.K. & Inamdar, S.S., 2006. "Assessment of small hydropower potential using remote sensing data for sustainable development in India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(17), pages 3195-3205, November.
    41. Kaldellis, J.K., 2007. "The contribution of small hydro power stations to the electricity generation in Greece: Technical and economic considerations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 2187-2196, April.
    42. Trussart, Serge & Messier, Danielle & Roquet, Vincent & Aki, Shuichi, 2002. "Hydropower projects: a review of most effective mitigation measures," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(14), pages 1251-1259, November.
    43. Okot, David Kilama, 2013. "Review of small hydropower technology," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 515-520.
    44. Adam G. Bumpus & Diana M. Liverman, 2008. "Accumulation by Decarbonization and the Governance of Carbon Offsets," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 84(2), pages 127-155, April.
    45. Voros, N.G. & Kiranoudis, C.T. & Maroulis, Z.B., 2000. "Short-cut design of small hydroelectric plants," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 545-563.
    46. Hosseini, S. M. H. & Forouzbakhsh, F. & Rahimpoor, M., 2005. "Determination of the optimal installation capacity of small hydro-power plants through the use of technical, economic and reliability indices," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(15), pages 1948-1956, October.
    47. Adam G. Bumpus & Diana M. Liverman, 2008. "Accumulation by Decarbonization and the Governance of Carbon Offsets," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 84(2), pages 127-155, April.
    48. Thomas Tanner & Jeremy Allouche, 2011. "Towards a New Political Economy of Climate Change and Development," IDS Bulletin, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(3), pages 1-14, May.
    49. Larry Lohmann, 2008. "Carbon Trading, Climate Justice and the Production of Ignorance: Ten examples," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 51(3), pages 359-365, September.
    50. Smits, Mattijs & Bush, Simon R., 2010. "A light left in the dark: The practice and politics of pico-hydropower in the Lao PDR," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 116-127, January.
    51. Karlis, Athanassios D & Papadopoulos, Demetrios P, 2000. "A systematic assessment of the technical feasibility and economic viability of small hydroelectric system installations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 253-262.
    52. Kumar, Deepak & Katoch, S.S., 2014. "Harnessing ‘water tower’ into ‘power tower’: A small hydropower development study from an Indian prefecture in western Himalayas," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 87-101.
    53. Kumar, Deepak & Katoch, S.S., 2014. "Sustainability indicators for run of the river (RoR) hydropower projects in hydro rich regions of India," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 101-108.
    54. Purohit, Pallav, 2008. "Small hydro power projects under clean development mechanism in India: A preliminary assessment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 2000-2015, June.
    55. Bridge, Gavin & Bouzarovski, Stefan & Bradshaw, Michael & Eyre, Nick, 2013. "Geographies of energy transition: Space, place and the low-carbon economy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 331-340.
    56. Kosnik, Lea, 2008. "The potential of water power in the fight against global warming in the US," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 3252-3265, September.
    57. Egre, Dominique & Milewski, Joseph C., 2002. "The diversity of hydropower projects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(14), pages 1225-1230, November.
    58. Kunrong Shen & Jian Li, 2012. "Measurement of Technology Spillovers," Frontiers of Economics in China-Selected Publications from Chinese Universities, Higher Education Press, vol. 7(1), pages 141-161, March.
    59. Abbasi, Tasneem & Abbasi, S.A., 2011. "Small hydro and the environmental implications of its extensive utilization," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 2134-2143, May.
    60. Oud, Engelbertus, 2002. "The evolving context for hydropower development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(14), pages 1215-1223, November.
    61. Tiago Filho, Geraldo Lúcio & Galhardo, Camila Rocha & de Cássia Barbosa, Adriana & Barros, Regina Mambeli & da Silva, Fernando das Graças Braga, 2011. "Analysis of Brazilian SHP policy and its regulation scenario," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 6689-6697, October.
    62. Kumar, Deepak & Katoch, S.S., 2015. "Small hydropower development in western Himalayas: Strategy for faster implementation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 571-578.
    63. Yi, Choong-Sung & Lee, Jin-Hee & Shim, Myung-Pil, 2010. "Site location analysis for small hydropower using geo-spatial information system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 852-861.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ptak, Thomas & Crootof, Arica & Harlan, Tyler & Kelly, Sarah, 2022. "Critically evaluating the purported global “boom” in small hydropower development through spatial and temporal analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    2. Sharma, Ameesh Kumar & Thakur, N.S., 2015. "Resource potential and development of small hydro power projects in Jammu and Kashmir in the western Himalayan region: India," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1354-1368.
    3. Kumar, Deepak & Katoch, S.S., 2015. "Sustainability suspense of small hydropower projects: A study from western Himalayan region of India," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 220-233.
    4. Mishra, Sachin & Singal, S.K. & Khatod, D.K., 2011. "Optimal installation of small hydropower plant—A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(8), pages 3862-3869.
    5. Cheng, Chuntian & Liu, Benxi & Chau, Kwok-Wing & Li, Gang & Liao, Shengli, 2015. "China׳s small hydropower and its dispatching management," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 43-55.
    6. Kumar Sharma, Ameesh & Thakur, N.S., 2017. "Assessing the impact of small hydropower projects in Jammu and Kashmir: A study from north-western Himalayan region of India," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 679-693.
    7. Anita Kwartnik-Pruc & Aneta Mączyńska, 2022. "Assessing Validity of Employing Surveying Methods to Capture Data on Topography to Determine Hydrological and Topographic Parameters Essential for Selecting Locations for the Construction of Small Hyd," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-41, February.
    8. Wagner, Beatrice & Hauer, Christoph & Schoder, Angelika & Habersack, Helmut, 2015. "A review of hydropower in Austria: Past, present and future development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 304-314.
    9. Kumar, Deepak & Katoch, S.S., 2015. "Small hydropower development in western Himalayas: Strategy for faster implementation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 571-578.
    10. Kumar, Deepak & Katoch, S.S., 2014. "Harnessing ‘water tower’ into ‘power tower’: A small hydropower development study from an Indian prefecture in western Himalayas," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 87-101.
    11. Balkhair, Khaled S. & Rahman, Khalil Ur, 2017. "Sustainable and economical small-scale and low-head hydropower generation: A promising alternative potential solution for energy generation at local and regional scale," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 378-391.
    12. Mishra, Mukesh Kumar & Khare, Nilay & Agrawal, Alka Bani, 2015. "Small hydro power in India: Current status and future perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 101-115.
    13. Izadyar, Nima & Ong, Hwai Chyuan & Chong, W.T. & Leong, K.Y., 2016. "Resource assessment of the renewable energy potential for a remote area: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 908-923.
    14. Teegala Srinivasa Kishore & Epari Ritesh Patro & V. S. K. V. Harish & Ali Torabi Haghighi, 2021. "A Comprehensive Study on the Recent Progress and Trends in Development of Small Hydropower Projects," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-31, May.
    15. Mosier, Thomas M. & Sharp, Kendra V. & Hill, David F., 2016. "The Hydropower Potential Assessment Tool (HPAT): Evaluation of run-of-river resource potential for any global land area and application to Falls Creek, Oregon, USA," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 492-503.
    16. Zhou, Daqing & Deng, Zhiqun (Daniel), 2017. "Ultra-low-head hydroelectric technology: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 23-30.
    17. Ferreira, Jacson Hudson Inácio & Camacho, José Roberto & Malagoli, Juliana Almansa & Júnior, Sebastião Camargo Guimarães, 2016. "Assessment of the potential of small hydropower development in Brazil," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 380-387.
    18. Kumar Sharma, Ameesh & Thakur, N.S., 2017. "Energy situation, current status and resource potential of run of the river (RoR) large hydro power projects in Jammu and Kashmir: India," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 233-251.
    19. Xu, Jiuping & Ni, Ting, 2017. "Integrated technological paradigm-based soft paths towards sustainable development of small hydropower," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 623-634.
    20. Anuja Shaktawat & Shelly Vadhera, 2021. "Risk management of hydropower projects for sustainable development: a review," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 45-76, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:101:y:2017:i:c:p:251-264. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.