Impacts of hot-dry conditions on hydropower production in Switzerland
Hydropower plays a significant role in the transition towards a low-carbon power system, being a renewable energy source that can complement solar and wind power, which are highly intermittent. However, hydropower is itself dependent on local weather conditions and climate variability. Moreover, ext...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acd8d7 |
| _version_ | 1797633056879673344 |
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| author | Noelia Otero Pascal Horton Olivia Martius Sam Allen Massimiliano Zappa Tobias Wechsler Bettina Schaefli |
| author_facet | Noelia Otero Pascal Horton Olivia Martius Sam Allen Massimiliano Zappa Tobias Wechsler Bettina Schaefli |
| author_sort | Noelia Otero |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Hydropower plays a significant role in the transition towards a low-carbon power system, being a renewable energy source that can complement solar and wind power, which are highly intermittent. However, hydropower is itself dependent on local weather conditions and climate variability. Moreover, extreme climate conditions, such as hot-dry compound events, can have a major impact on hydropower production (HP). Here, we examine the impacts of hot-dry conditions on HP under current and future climate scenarios in Switzerland, a country where hydropower provides the biggest share (60%) of the total electricity production. Overall, our results point out that the impacts of hot-dry conditions on HP are case-specific. We found that hot-dry compound conditions during the warmer months negatively impact HP in power plants with little or no water storage capacity (run-of-river schemes). On the contrary, schemes with large, seasonal accumulation lakes and significant glacier resources will continue to be able to produce high amounts of HP during hot-dry conditions in summer, which is an important result for Alpine hydropower. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T11:46:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4bc03635b2ca4cff89c89d3668a5232e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T11:46:23Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-4bc03635b2ca4cff89c89d3668a5232e2023-11-09T11:39:09ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262023-01-0118606403810.1088/1748-9326/acd8d7Impacts of hot-dry conditions on hydropower production in SwitzerlandNoelia Otero0Pascal Horton1Olivia Martius2Sam Allen3Massimiliano Zappa4Tobias Wechsler5Bettina Schaefli6Institute of Geography, University of Bern , Bern, Switzerland; Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern , Bern, SwitzerlandInstitute of Geography, University of Bern , Bern, Switzerland; Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern , Bern, SwitzerlandInstitute of Geography, University of Bern , Bern, Switzerland; Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern , Bern, SwitzerlandOeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern , Bern, Switzerland; Institute of Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Bern , Bern, SwitzerlandSwiss Federal Research Institute WSL, University of Bern , Birmensdorf, SwitzerlandInstitute of Geography, University of Bern , Bern, Switzerland; Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, University of Bern , Birmensdorf, SwitzerlandInstitute of Geography, University of Bern , Bern, Switzerland; Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern , Bern, SwitzerlandHydropower plays a significant role in the transition towards a low-carbon power system, being a renewable energy source that can complement solar and wind power, which are highly intermittent. However, hydropower is itself dependent on local weather conditions and climate variability. Moreover, extreme climate conditions, such as hot-dry compound events, can have a major impact on hydropower production (HP). Here, we examine the impacts of hot-dry conditions on HP under current and future climate scenarios in Switzerland, a country where hydropower provides the biggest share (60%) of the total electricity production. Overall, our results point out that the impacts of hot-dry conditions on HP are case-specific. We found that hot-dry compound conditions during the warmer months negatively impact HP in power plants with little or no water storage capacity (run-of-river schemes). On the contrary, schemes with large, seasonal accumulation lakes and significant glacier resources will continue to be able to produce high amounts of HP during hot-dry conditions in summer, which is an important result for Alpine hydropower.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acd8d7hot-dry conditionsSwitzerlandhydropowermachine learningprobabilistic response |
| spellingShingle | Noelia Otero Pascal Horton Olivia Martius Sam Allen Massimiliano Zappa Tobias Wechsler Bettina Schaefli Impacts of hot-dry conditions on hydropower production in Switzerland Environmental Research Letters hot-dry conditions Switzerland hydropower machine learning probabilistic response |
| title | Impacts of hot-dry conditions on hydropower production in Switzerland |
| title_full | Impacts of hot-dry conditions on hydropower production in Switzerland |
| title_fullStr | Impacts of hot-dry conditions on hydropower production in Switzerland |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impacts of hot-dry conditions on hydropower production in Switzerland |
| title_short | Impacts of hot-dry conditions on hydropower production in Switzerland |
| title_sort | impacts of hot dry conditions on hydropower production in switzerland |
| topic | hot-dry conditions Switzerland hydropower machine learning probabilistic response |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acd8d7 |
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