Agricultural vs. hydropower tradeoffs in the operation of the High Aswan Dam

Journal Article · Wed Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1982 · Water Resour. Res.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/WR018i006p01605· OSTI ID:5534301

Oven-Thompson, K ^[1]; Alercon, L; Marks, D H

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1. Metcalf and Eddy, Boston, MA

A tradeoff relationship is defined between hydropower and agriculture for the monthly operations of the High Aswan Dam under current water availability conditions. A stochastic dynamic programming model is employed which incorporates the physical constraints (e.g., reservoir storage limits, turbine capacity, allowable reservoir releases, etc.) of the High Aswan Dam system. Variations of monthly reservoir releases for agriculatural purposes are imposed on the system through this model, and consequent impacts on hydropower production at the high dam are studied. The results show that once operating rules are optimized for current agricultural demands an 11-20% increase in firm monthly hydropower production can be gained when summer irrigation allocations are reduced by 25%. A simple benefit/cost analysis concludes that potential benefits obtained by gains in firm monthly hydropower are nearly equal to potential losses in the agricultural sector when summer allocations are reduced by 5-10%. Operation questions raised by the introduction of a new emergency flood control spillway at Toshka are addressed. Recommendations are made for the operating guidelines of the high dam releases in light of these results.

• OSTI ID: 5534301
• Journal Information: Water Resour. Res.; (United States), Journal Name: Water Resour. Res.; (United States) Vol. 18:6; ISSN WRERA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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AFRICA
AGRICULTURE
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
DAMS
DEMAND
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
EGYPTIAN ARAB REPUBLIC
ELECTRIC POWER
ENERGY DEMAND
ENERGY SOURCES
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
FUNCTIONAL MODELS
HYDROELECTRIC POWER
INDUSTRY
IRRIGATION
NILE RIVER
OPTIMIZATION
POWER
PRODUCTIVITY
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
RIVERS
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
STREAMS
SURFACE WATERS
VARIATIONS