'Forgotten giant': Hydropower can speed the switch to net-zero, report says
THE 1992 RIO CLIMATE CONFRENCE WAS LED BY HYDRO QUEBEC'S MAURICE STRONG
Daniel Martins
THE WEATHERNETWORK
In the drive to net-zero, the biggest buzz always seems to be around wind and solar — hydroelectric power, the first true largescale clean energy source, just doesn’t seem to capture the public imagination the same way.
That waning interest seems to be mirrored by governments and investors. While wind and solar push deeper into record-breaking territory amid the continuing decline in installation costs, hydropower is expected to grow by a mere 17 per cent over the course of the current decade — a quarter less than the previous.
But that disinterest is a mistake, says the International Energy Agency, whose recent special report on hydropower says it needs to be a critical part of the energy transition, complementing wind and solar while making up for their drawbacks.
“Hydropower is the forgotten giant of clean electricity, and it needs to be put squarely back on the energy and climate agenda if countries are serious about meeting their net zero goals,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a release from the agency. “It brings valuable scale and flexibility to help electricity systems adjust quickly to shifts in demand and to compensate for fluctuations in supply from other sources.”
Notwithstanding the rise of wind and solar, hydropower globally outweighs both in terms of generation, supplying one sixth of electricity worldwide. It makes up at least half of the generation in 35 countries, including 28 emerging nations with a combined population of more than 800 million people.
But the IEA says new hydropower projects struggle with long lead times, high upfront costs, difficulties with permits and environmental impact assessments, and local opposition, all of which have turned off investors — something the IEA says governments need to take active measures to fix.
“These measures include providing long-term visibility on revenues to ensure hydropower projects are economically viable and sufficiently attractive to investors, while still ensuring robust sustainability standards,” the IEA says.
CANADA, AN OLD HAND AT HYDRO, STILL HAS ROOM TO GROW
Canada’s grid is famously dominated by zero-emission sources, and hydropower towers over them all.
A full 60 per cent of our power is hydroelectric, four times more than distant-second nuclear. The country as a whole is so steeped in hydropower that Canadians refer to their home electricity as “hydro,” even in parts of the country where it makes up negligible parts of the grid.
One of Canada’s most recognizable features seen from space, nicknamed the “Eye of Quebec,” is the ring-shaped Manicouagan Reservoir formed by that province’s Daniel Johnson Dam. Worldwide, Canada ranks fourth in hydropower generation.
In the drive to net-zero, the biggest buzz always seems to be around wind and solar — hydroelectric power, the first true largescale clean energy source, just doesn’t seem to capture the public imagination the same way.
That waning interest seems to be mirrored by governments and investors. While wind and solar push deeper into record-breaking territory amid the continuing decline in installation costs, hydropower is expected to grow by a mere 17 per cent over the course of the current decade — a quarter less than the previous.
But that disinterest is a mistake, says the International Energy Agency, whose recent special report on hydropower says it needs to be a critical part of the energy transition, complementing wind and solar while making up for their drawbacks.
“Hydropower is the forgotten giant of clean electricity, and it needs to be put squarely back on the energy and climate agenda if countries are serious about meeting their net zero goals,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a release from the agency. “It brings valuable scale and flexibility to help electricity systems adjust quickly to shifts in demand and to compensate for fluctuations in supply from other sources.”
Notwithstanding the rise of wind and solar, hydropower globally outweighs both in terms of generation, supplying one sixth of electricity worldwide. It makes up at least half of the generation in 35 countries, including 28 emerging nations with a combined population of more than 800 million people.
But the IEA says new hydropower projects struggle with long lead times, high upfront costs, difficulties with permits and environmental impact assessments, and local opposition, all of which have turned off investors — something the IEA says governments need to take active measures to fix.
“These measures include providing long-term visibility on revenues to ensure hydropower projects are economically viable and sufficiently attractive to investors, while still ensuring robust sustainability standards,” the IEA says.
CANADA, AN OLD HAND AT HYDRO, STILL HAS ROOM TO GROW
Canada’s grid is famously dominated by zero-emission sources, and hydropower towers over them all.
A full 60 per cent of our power is hydroelectric, four times more than distant-second nuclear. The country as a whole is so steeped in hydropower that Canadians refer to their home electricity as “hydro,” even in parts of the country where it makes up negligible parts of the grid.
One of Canada’s most recognizable features seen from space, nicknamed the “Eye of Quebec,” is the ring-shaped Manicouagan Reservoir formed by that province’s Daniel Johnson Dam. Worldwide, Canada ranks fourth in hydropower generation.
© Provided by The Weather NetworkHydroelectricity makes up more than half of Canada's energy generation. Image: Daniel Johnson Dam (Hydro Quebec)
Even so, with its abundant rivers and lakes, Canada’s hydroelectric potential is still not maxed out, according to industry group Waterpower Canada, which says generation capacity is set to grow 10 per cent over the coming decade. Around half of that will come from new projects such as Muskrat Falls in Labrador, La Romaine in Quebec, Keeyask in Manitoba, and B.C.’s Site C project. The rest will come from refurbishment and expansion of existing sites, and new projects using “pumped storage hydro,” which makes use of sites such as quarries and abandoned mines.
“This is before even considering the large number of well-selected sites for new hydropower projects where there is progress on environmental studies and engineering design — of which there are many tens of gigawatts that could be brought online in the next 10-to-15 years,”
Waterpower Canada spokeswoman Anastasia Smolentseva told The Weather Network.
Though wind and solar make up a small part of Canada’s energy mix, they are gradually growing, and most jurisdictions, including the federal government, have announced plans to move toward net-zero.
With installation costs for those energy sources falling each year, Smolentseva says Canada’s hydro resources can be a “reliable and resilient backbone” for the nascent wind and solar sectors as the country’s last fossil fuel plants are retired.
“Wind and solar power output varies according to weather conditions, and consumer electricity demand constantly fluctuates. By adjusting the quantity of water flowing into hydropower turbines, producers can rapidly ramp up or down as needed to flexibly balance supply with demand,” she says, adding: “Without a resource such as hydropower representing a significant proportion of generation capacity, the grid would not be stable and peak loads could not always be met.”
Even so, with its abundant rivers and lakes, Canada’s hydroelectric potential is still not maxed out, according to industry group Waterpower Canada, which says generation capacity is set to grow 10 per cent over the coming decade. Around half of that will come from new projects such as Muskrat Falls in Labrador, La Romaine in Quebec, Keeyask in Manitoba, and B.C.’s Site C project. The rest will come from refurbishment and expansion of existing sites, and new projects using “pumped storage hydro,” which makes use of sites such as quarries and abandoned mines.
“This is before even considering the large number of well-selected sites for new hydropower projects where there is progress on environmental studies and engineering design — of which there are many tens of gigawatts that could be brought online in the next 10-to-15 years,”
Waterpower Canada spokeswoman Anastasia Smolentseva told The Weather Network.
Though wind and solar make up a small part of Canada’s energy mix, they are gradually growing, and most jurisdictions, including the federal government, have announced plans to move toward net-zero.
With installation costs for those energy sources falling each year, Smolentseva says Canada’s hydro resources can be a “reliable and resilient backbone” for the nascent wind and solar sectors as the country’s last fossil fuel plants are retired.
“Wind and solar power output varies according to weather conditions, and consumer electricity demand constantly fluctuates. By adjusting the quantity of water flowing into hydropower turbines, producers can rapidly ramp up or down as needed to flexibly balance supply with demand,” she says, adding: “Without a resource such as hydropower representing a significant proportion of generation capacity, the grid would not be stable and peak loads could not always be met.”
No comments:
Post a Comment