Net revenue and downstream flow impact trade-offs for a network of small-scale hydropower facilities in California

Craig, Michael; Zhao, Jin; Schneider, Gia; Schneider, Abe; Watson, Sterling; Stark, Greg

doi:10.1088/2515-7620/aafd62

Title: Net revenue and downstream flow impact trade-offs for a network of small-scale hydropower facilities in California

Journal Article · 04 February 2019 · Environmental Research Communications

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/aafd62 · OSTI ID:1493372

^[1]; Zhao, Jin ^[2]; Schneider, Gia ^[2]; Schneider, Abe ^[2]; Watson, Sterling ^[2]; Stark, Greg ^[1]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Natel Energy, Alameda, CA (United States)

Deployment of small-scale hydropower, which generally ranges in capacity from 1-10 MW, may partly depend on its ability to mitigate environmental concerns while generating sufficient revenues. In this paper, we quantify net revenue and downstream flow impact trade-offs of a cascading series of 36 small-scale hydropower facilities under consideration for development in Northeast California. To do so, we develop a net-revenue-maximizing optimization model that determines hydropower operations while capturing key technical and river network constraints. We find that significantly constraining maximum discharges from each facility largely eliminates downstream flow impacts but negligibly changes the 36 facilities' combined operations and net revenues. Thus, we find a negligible trade-off between net revenues and downstream impacts in our study system, suggesting small-scale hydropower can contribute to decarbonization efforts while limiting local environmental impacts on downstream flows at little economic cost.

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Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Office of Renewable Energy. Water Power Technologies Office; USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1493372

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1503816

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5D00-72228

Journal Information:: Environmental Research Communications, Vol. 1, Issue 1; ISSN 2515-7620

Publisher:: IOP ScienceCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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