IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v14y2021i7p2029-d531132.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environment Management of Hydropower Development: A Case Study

Author

Listed:
  • Yakun Zhang

    (State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Institute of Project Management and Construction Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)

  • Wenzhe Tang

    (State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Institute of Project Management and Construction Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)

  • Colin F. Duffield

    (Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia)

  • Lihai Zhang

    (Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia)

  • Felix Kin Peng Hui

    (Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia)

Abstract

Environment management is one of the key aspects of hydropower development in acquiring sustainable energy. However, there has been limited research demonstrating the overall aspects of environment management of hydropower development with support of sound empirical evidence. In present study, the status of environment management in hydropower development was comprehensively investigated by conducting a case study based on the data collected from a field survey. The results show that, as environment management is largely subject to legal requirements, the environment management system needs to be established by integrating the legal requirements and needs of project implementation. This could potentially reduce the influence of legal restrictions on hydropower development. The main hydropower project environment management processes include identifying key environmental factors, implementation, monitoring, and performance measurement, which deal with environmental issues such as terrestrial and aquatic ecology protection, wastewater treatment, solid waste disposal, and acoustic-environment protection. Project participants should establish partnering relationships to cooperatively deal with environmental impacts of hydropower project development, in which public participation and sufficient resources input into environmental protection are essential for project success. The results of this study provide a sound basis for participants to deal with the key issues of environmental protection such as meeting legal requirements, training for improving environment management process, cost control, and cooperative environment management. The results of this study could help practitioners to tackle the interactions among project delivery, environmental protection, and engagement of local communities in an optimized way with the aim of maximizing effectiveness of the resources of all participants.

Suggested Citation

  • Yakun Zhang & Wenzhe Tang & Colin F. Duffield & Lihai Zhang & Felix Kin Peng Hui, 2021. "Environment Management of Hydropower Development: A Case Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-12, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:7:p:2029-:d:531132
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/7/2029/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/7/2029/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Remus Creţan & Lucian Vesalon, 2017. "The Political Economy of Hydropower in the Communist Space: Iron Gates Revisited," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 108(5), pages 688-701, October.
    2. Rawshan Ali & Alban Kuriqi & Shadan Abubaker & Ozgur Kisi, 2019. "Hydrologic Alteration at the Upper and Middle Part of the Yangtze River, China: Towards Sustainable Water Resource Management Under Increasing Water Exploitation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-16, September.
    3. Kuriqi, Alban & Pinheiro, António N. & Sordo-Ward, Alvaro & Garrote, Luis, 2019. "Flow regime aspects in determining environmental flows and maximising energy production at run-of-river hydropower plants," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    4. Chen, Shaoqing & Chen, Bin & Fath, Brian D., 2015. "Assessing the cumulative environmental impact of hydropower construction on river systems based on energy network model," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 78-92.
    5. Wang, Shuli & Shen, Wenxin & Tang, Wenzhe & Wang, Yunhong & Duffield, Colin F. & Hui, Felix Kin Peng, 2019. "Understanding the social network of stakeholders in hydropower project development: An owners' view," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 326-334.
    6. Chang, XiaoLin & Liu, Xinghong & Zhou, Wei, 2010. "Hydropower in China at present and its further development," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 4400-4406.
    7. Awojobi, Omotola & Jenkins, Glenn P., 2016. "Managing the cost overrun risks of hydroelectric dams: An application of reference class forecasting techniques," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 19-32.
    8. 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.
    9. Gavin Bridge & Andrew E G Jonas, 2002. "Governing Nature: The Reregulation of Resource Access, Production, and Consumption," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 34(5), pages 759-766, May.
    10. Darmawi, & Sipahutar, Riman & Bernas, Siti Masreah & Imanuddin, Momon Sodik, 2013. "Renewable energy and hydropower utilization tendency worldwide," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 213-215.
    11. Cartelle Barros, Juan José & Lara Coira, Manuel & de la Cruz López, María Pilar & del Caño Gochi, Alfredo, 2015. "Assessing the global sustainability of different electricity generation systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 473-489.
    12. Sternberg, R., 2008. "Hydropower: Dimensions of social and environmental coexistence," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 12(6), pages 1588-1621, August.
    13. Tang, Wenzhe & Li, Zhuoyu & Qiang, Maoshan & Wang, Shuli & Lu, Youmei, 2013. "Risk management of hydropower development in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 316-324.
    14. Ansar, Atif & Flyvbjerg, Bent & Budzier, Alexander & Lunn, Daniel, 2014. "Should we build more large dams? The actual costs of hydropower megaproject development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 43-56.
    15. Diakoulaki, D. & Karangelis, F., 2007. "Multi-criteria decision analysis and cost-benefit analysis of alternative scenarios for the power generation sector in Greece," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 716-727, May.
    16. Soito, João Leonardo da Silva & Freitas, Marcos Aurélio Vasconcelos, 2011. "Amazon and the expansion of hydropower in Brazil: Vulnerability, impacts and possibilities for adaptation to global climate change," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 3165-3177, August.
    17. Fang, Yiping & Wang, Mingjie & Deng, Wei & Xu, Keyan, 2010. "Exploitation scale of hydropower based on instream flow requirements: A case from southwest China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(8), pages 2290-2297, October.
    18. Egre, Dominique & Milewski, Joseph C., 2002. "The diversity of hydropower projects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(14), pages 1225-1230, November.
    19. Yuanan Hu & Hefa Cheng, 2013. "The urgency of assessing the greenhouse gas budgets of hydroelectric reservoirs in China," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 3(8), pages 708-712, August.
    20. Wenzhe Tang, 2016. "Holistic hydropower scheme for China," Nature, Nature, vol. 532(7597), pages 37-37, April.
    21. Rosso, M. & Bottero, M. & Pomarico, S. & La Ferlita, S. & Comino, E., 2014. "Integrating multicriteria evaluation and stakeholders analysis for assessing hydropower projects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 870-881.
    22. 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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yufei Ma & Ping-an Zhong & Bin Xu & Feilin Zhu & Jieyu Li & Han Wang & Qingwen Lu, 2021. "Cloud-Based Multidimensional Parallel Dynamic Programming Algorithm for a Cascade Hydropower System," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 35(9), pages 2705-2721, July.
    2. Piyawat Sritram & Ratchaphon Suntivarakorn, 2021. "The Efficiency Comparison of Hydro Turbines for Micro Power Plant from Free Vortex," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-13, November.

    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Tahseen, Samiha & Karney, Bryan W., 2017. "Reviewing and critiquing published approaches to the sustainability assessment of hydropower," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 225-234.
    4. Sebestyén, Viktor, 2021. "Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews: Environmental impact networks of renewable energy power plants," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    5. Jaewon Jung & Sungeun Jung & Junhyeong Lee & Myungjin Lee & Hung Soo Kim, 2021. "Analysis of Small Hydropower Generation Potential: (2) Future Prospect of the Potential under Climate Change," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-26, May.
    6. de Faria, Felipe A.M. & Davis, Alex & Severnini, Edson & Jaramillo, Paulina, 2017. "The local socio-economic impacts of large hydropower plant development in a developing country," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 533-544.
    7. Li, Yun & Li, Yanbin & Ji, Pengfei & Yang, Jing, 2015. "The status quo analysis and policy suggestions on promoting China׳s hydropower development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1071-1079.
    8. Wang, Shuli & Shen, Wenxin & Tang, Wenzhe & Wang, Yunhong & Duffield, Colin F. & Hui, Felix Kin Peng, 2019. "Understanding the social network of stakeholders in hydropower project development: An owners' view," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 326-334.
    9. 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.
    10. Bekker, A. & Van Dijk, M. & Niebuhr, C.M., 2022. "A review of low head hydropower at wastewater treatment works and development of an evaluation framework for South Africa," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    11. Jiang, Hou & Lu, Ning & Huang, Guanghui & Yao, Ling & Qin, Jun & Liu, Hengzi, 2020. "Spatial scale effects on retrieval accuracy of surface solar radiation using satellite data," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    12. Wang, Peng-Tao & Wei, Yi-Ming & Yang, Bo & Li, Jia-Quan & Kang, Jia-Ning & Liu, Lan-Cui & Yu, Bi-Ying & Hou, Yun-Bing & Zhang, Xian, 2020. "Carbon capture and storage in China’s power sector: Optimal planning under the 2 °C constraint," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    13. Mirumachi, Naho & Torriti, Jacopo, 2012. "The use of public participation and economic appraisal for public involvement in large-scale hydropower projects: Case study of the Nam Theun 2 Hydropower Project," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 125-132.
    14. Chen, Ji & Shi, Haiyun & Sivakumar, Bellie & Peart, Mervyn R., 2016. "Population, water, food, energy and dams," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 18-28.
    15. Jelena Cvijović & Vladimir Obradović & Marija Todorović, 2021. "Stakeholder Management and Project Sustainability—A Throw of the Dice," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-22, August.
    16. Zhou, Jianzhong & Zhang, Yongchuan & Zhang, Rui & Ouyang, Shuo & Wang, Xuemin & Liao, Xiang, 2015. "Integrated optimization of hydroelectric energy in the upper and middle Yangtze River," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 481-512.
    17. Ascher, William, 2021. "Rescuing responsible hydropower projects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    18. Stevovic, Svetlana & Milovanovic, Zorica & Stamatovic, Milan, 2015. "Sustainable model of hydro power development—Drina river case study," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 363-371.
    19. 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.
    20. Farrell, C.C. & Osman, A.I. & Doherty, R. & Saad, M. & Zhang, X. & Murphy, A. & Harrison, J. & Vennard, A.S.M. & Kumaravel, V. & Al-Muhtaseb, A.H. & Rooney, D.W., 2020. "Technical challenges and opportunities in realising a circular economy for waste photovoltaic modules," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).

    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:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:7:p:2029-:d:531132. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.