EGU General Assembly 2021

The transition to a low-carbon economy will require the development of innovative methods to integrate renewable sources of energy while minimizing the additional pressure on closely connected ecosystems.

Hydropower is a mature and cost-competitive renewable energy source, which helps stabilize fluctuations between energy demand and supply. The structural and operational differences between hydropower systems and renewable energy farms may require changes in the way hydropower facilities operate to provide balancing, reserves or energy storage. Yet, non-power constraints on the hydropower system, such as water supply, flood control, conservation, recreation, navigation may affect the ability of hydropower to adjust and support the integration of renewables. Holistic approaches that may span a range of spatial and temporal scales are needed to evaluate hydropower opportunities and support a successful integration of renewables maintaining a resilient and reliable power grid. In particular, there is a need to better understand and predict spatio-temporal dynamics between climate, hydrology, and power systems.

This session solicits academics and practitioners contributions on novel technical tools and analytics that explore the use of hydropower and storage technologies to support the integration of distributed renewable energy sources in planning and management of low-carbon electricity systems. We specifically encourage interdisciplinary teams of hydrologists, meteorologists, power system engineers, and economists to present on case studies and power grid modernization initiatives, and discuss collaboration with environmental and energy policymakers.

Questions of interest include:
- How to predict water availability and storage capabilities for hydropower production?
- How to predict and quantify the space-time dependences and the positive/negative feedbacks between wind/solar energies, water cycle and hydropower?
- How do energy, land use and water supply interact during transitions?
- What policy requirements or climate strategies are needed to manage and mitigate risks in the transition?
- Quantification of energy production impacts on ecosystems such as hydropeaking effects on natural flow regimes.

This session has the support of the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) that established the joint program “Hydropower” to facilitate research, promote hydropower and enable sustainable electricity production.