RenewableS 2013 GlObal STaTUS RePORT - REN21

Sidebar 3. Sustainability Spotlight: Hydropower
Hydropower dates back more than 2,000 years to when the
Greeks used water wheels to grind grain. Over the centuries, it
has played an important role in providing mechanical energy
and, more recently, electricity, supporting human and economic
development.
Hydropower dams, which provide large-scale water storage,
can provide protection from hydrological variability (including
floods and droughts) and increase irrigation of agricultural
lands, while potentially providing a means of transportation and
recreation. Specific applications of hydropower offer significant
potential for reducing carbon emissions in the near and long
terms. Hydropower is used by electric grid operators to provide
baseload power and to balance electricity supply and demand,
and it plays an increasingly important role in supporting growing
shares of variable renewable resources in power systems.
(See Sidebar 3, GSR 2012.)
Notwithstanding these benefits, there is ongoing debate
about hydropower’s sustainability. The environmental and
social impacts of hydro projects include: potential impacts
on hydrological regimes, sediment transport, water quality,
biological diversity, and land-use change, as well as the
resettlement of people and effects on downstream water users,
public health, and cultural heritage. The gravity of the particular
impacts varies from project to project, as does the scope for
their avoidance or mitigation. Also, the opportunity to maximise
positive impacts (beyond the renewable electricity generated)
varies from site to site.
A number of technological developments offer the potential
to improve hydropower’s environmental sustainability. These
include certain locally effective fish passages; both large and
small “fish-friendly” turbine technologies that reduce downstream
passage mortality; models for optimising environmental
flows; and design changes to minimise or avoid discharges of
lubricating oil from turbine equipment (or the use of biodegradable
oils). Project planning is beginning to incorporate greater
understanding of dynamic climate and environmental impacts,
in addition to traditional concerns such as revenue generation
and flood control.
Some reservoir management plans incorporate upstream
land-use management practices in recognition of associated
sedimentation. Other practices include the identification of
“no-go” project areas, and the protection of other areas (e.g.,
through “river offsets”) to compensate for project impacts
such as biodiversity loss. In Norway, for example, the National
Master Plan for hydropower sorts projects into acceptable/
not acceptable categories and protects a large number of the
nation’s rivers. Prioritising existing water storage facilities, or
new multipurpose facilities (driven by development, climate
change mitigation, and water supply and irrigation concerns) for
hydropower capacity expansion can offer a means of reducing
associated impacts while broadening related benefits.
With regard to social impacts, model projects have shown
increased recognition of the potential risks associated with
hydropower and identification of opportunities to avoid them.
Although interactions with project-affected communities typically
focus on mitigation and compensation, some examples
have shown a shift to benefit sharing, with efforts to optimise
potential positive impacts through engagement with affected
communities and collaborative initiatives to improve local
living standards. In instances when a decision is made to move
populations, some developers have begun to engage communities
in planning for their resettlement. Approximately 10% of
the USD 500 million Theun Hinboun Expansion Project in Laos
was allocated to address resettlement and social issues after a
long participatory process involving a variety of stakeholders,
although the overall resulting impact on resettled communities
remains a controversial subject.
Since the World Commission on Dams report was released
in 2000, both the industry and international agencies have
developed a number of standards, principles, and guidelines
to optimise sustainability. These include the World Bank
Safeguards, Equator Principles, and Hydropower Sustainability
Assessment Protocol. The International Finance Corporation
(IFC) Performance Standards and Equator Principles require
developers to obtain Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC)
for projects that affect indigenous peoples who are closely
tied to their lands and natural resources through traditional
ownership or customary use. The voluntary Hydropower
Sustainability Assessment Protocol aims to guide sustainability
in the hydropower sector by measuring a project’s performance
throughout its life cycle, treating environmental and social
issues at parity with other considerations.
Better compliance, further development, and wider adoption of
these tools offer the potential to ensure that international practices
are applied locally, irrespective of variations in national
regulations, while providing common frameworks around which
project stakeholders can engage in dialogue about specific
projects and their impacts.
The “Sustainability Spotlight” sidebar is a regular feature of the
Global Status Report, focusing on sustainability issues regarding
a specific renewable energy technology or related issue.
02
Source: See Endnote 11 for this section.
37