Review on Governance in Hydroelectric Projects and Impacts on Natural Resources

This article reviewed the literature to highlight how governance in hydroelectric enterprises is configured and the impacts on natural resources resulting from this type of energy production. The methodological procedures were based on the PRISMA recommendation (Main Items for Reporting Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis) and indexed articles were used from the SCOPUS database. It was evidenced that more than 1/3 of the studies were conducted in Brazil, highlighting the potential of the Amazon region of the country for the construction of hydroelectric dams. Four essential subjects were identified as to be observed by the governance of these enterprises: stakeholder participation, habitat fragmentation, social impacts, and impacts on fish species. These subjects constitute three categories that synthesize governance in hydroelectric projects and the impacts on natural resources: energy policies – which generate benefits for the private sector and contemplate very little the local communities and the environment; water resources and fish - the impacts are related to the type of enterprise to be built, which can compromise the migration and reproduction of fish, in addition to the increasing concentration of nutrients in reservoirs and changes of the water quality; and biodiversity and ecosystem – which are affected by the fragmentation and alteration of natural habitats caused by dam floods.

An Approach of the Hydropower: Advantages and Impacts. A Review

The present review shows a perspective of hydropower development, a renewable source that has a global installed capacity of 1308 GW with 9000 stations around the world. The document showed the advantages and the impacts around the different author’s perspectives. The review method consisted of defining a criterial find of articles, thesis and scientific material to consolidate the knowledge and give a viewpoint of this renewable source. The results show extensible affectations from hydropower expansion and this renewable energy source that requires analysis and study to delineate development sustainable with multidisciplinary areas of reflection. Moreover, the investigated results worldwide show that hydropower is not a pollution source; however, it has environmental impacts, social and cultural; such facilities may affect land, homes, and natural habitats. It concludes that the development of hydroelectric projects brings benefits but entails unavoidable impacts; therefore, it recommends that these affections must evaluate with detailed studies based on sustainability criteria.

Modernization through capitalization: The hidden costs of Ethiopia’s Gibe III Dam and NESTown initiative

Building on recent work by Timothy Mitchell, this article interrogates the concept of capitalization, understood here specifically as models of extracting or capturing streams of future revenue for the present. In the context of urbanizing Ethiopia, national political and business leaders, international-development actors, and academics leverage agrarian–industrial transformations to persuade and justify monetizing the future through capitalization. I argue that far from a speculative mechanism to gain competitive advantage and accrue more investments later, Ethiopian development projects reveal how capitalization has a very physical and tangible footprint, serving to commodify the future, now. Ethiopian capitalization requires deep political and juridical continuities, revealed in institutional and developmental through lines from the country’s Derg regime to present governance by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Drawing on historical and contemporary archival analysis, I conceptually interrogate the process and effects of capitalization in Ethiopia first theoretically, and then through two spatially distinct cases of agrarian–industrial transformation in Ethiopia—the Gibe III Dam and the ongoing transformation of the New Ethiopian Sustainable Town (NESTown) initiative by private developers and government actors. Gibe III echoes past large-scale hydroelectric projects and NESTown echoes a history of villagization, “planned cities,” and high-modernist state-building. The cases show how historical and contemporary visions for “development” in Ethiopia steer toward models of greater capitalization, with outcomes that destroy ecosystems and livelihoods. These findings reveal capitalization’s presence and footprints, and suggest more radical institutional arrangements that do not force Ethiopia to financialize its future.

Surprising salmonid response to water diversion at four run-of-river hydroelectric projects in British Columbia

Run-of-river (ROR) hydroelectric power provides renewable energy with potentially less impact on fish habitat productivity than large, reservoir-storage hydroelectric projects. This is the first empirical study of resident fish response to water diversion at RoR projects in BC, where Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) abundance was monitored on four small streams using a before-after control-impact design. Although flows in the diversion reaches of these projects were reduced by 63% to 70%, total Rainbow Trout biomass increased from 35% to 157% across streams compared to the before period and control reaches. The response to water diversion differed among age classes: adult biomass increased with reduced growing season flows, juvenile biomass increased with reduced winter flows, higher stream conductivity, and increased late summer flows, and fry biomass increased with higher stream conductivity and temperatures. One novel way to contextualize these shifts in resident salmonid productivity and differential growth and/or survival by age class is via a size-density approach, which we use here to demonstrate how the carrying capacity of a stream for Rainbow Trout is affected by water diversion.

A percepção da qualidade de vida dos atingidos por barragens no Sul do Brasil: efetividade das políticas compensatórias / The perception of the quality of life of those affected by dams in Southern Brazil: effectiveness of the compensatory policies

ResumoEste artigo tem como objeto de estudo a qualidade de vida das populações remanejadas quando da construção das Usinas Hidrelétricas: Campos Novos, Barra Grande, Machadinho, Itá, e Fóz do Chapecó, na bacia dos rios Pelotas e Uruguai localizadas na divisa entre os estados do Rio Grande do Sul e de Santa Catarina, e suas consequências na qualidade de vida da população localizada ao longo das áreas atingidas. A região abrangida pela construção de barragens no Alto Uruguai experimentou grandes transformações ambientais, socioeconômicas e culturais. A partir dessa constatação, a seguinte questão norteou o trabalho: Qual a eficácia das políticas de remanejamento aplicadas pelo setor elétrico na região estudada? Assim, realizou-se uma análise da percepção da qualidade de vida da população atingida por estes empreendimentos hidrelétricos, através da seleção de algumas questões do survey aplicado no ano de 2011 em 632 indivíduos residentes na área de estudo. Estas questões contemplam a percepção dos entrevistados, antes e após a construção das UHEs, tomando como referência o fim dos anos 1980 e início dos anos 1990 (aqui representando o período anterior aos empreendimentos hidrelétricos) e o ano de 2011, quando da realização da pesquisa, como período posterior ao remanejamento. Os aspectos analisados foram: bem-estar social, qualidade dos serviços públicos, infraestrutura domiciliar, bem-estar econômico e sustentabilidade ambiental. A amostra escolhida para tal, foi a da população reassentada no município de origem, o que correspondeu a 384 entrevistados. Isso, em função de ser possível perceber com maior facilidade as alterações ocorridas e suas influências na qualidade de vida dos indivíduos em questão. Inicialmente, foi realizada a apresentação dos aspectos analisados, através de uma leitura descritiva destes, apontando assim, suas principais características. Logo em seguida, partiu-se efetivamente para a construção dos índices e indicadores (através do software de análise quantitativa SPSS) de cada um dos aspectos relacionados ao antes e depois do remanejamento que forneceu uma base empírica para o monitoramento da qualidade de vida do atingidos por barragens.Palavras-chave: Atingidos por barragens. Qualidade de vida. Políticas públicas. AbstractThis article aims to study the quality of life of the species relocated when the Hydroelectric Plants (HPP) were built: Campos Novos, Barra Grande, Machadinho, Itá and Fóz do Chapecó, in the Pelotas and Uruguay rivers basin located in the division between the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, and their consequences on the quality of life of the population located along the affected areas. A region covered by the construction of dams in Alto Uruguai has experienced major environmental, socioeconomic and cultural changes. From this observation, the following north question or work: What is the relocation policy applied by the electricity sector in the studied region? Thus, an analysis of the perception of the quality of life of the population affected by these hydroelectric projects was carried out, through the selection of some questions of applied research in 2011 in 632 students residing in the study area. These questions include the perception of the interviewees, before and after the construction of the UHEs, taking as a reference the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s (here, during the period before the hydroelectric projects) and the year of 2011, when the realization research, as a period after the relocation. The aspects analyzed were: social well-being, quality of public services, residential infrastructure, economic well-being and environmental sustainability. A sample chosen for this purpose was a population resettled in the municipality of origin, or that corresponded to 384 respondents. This, due to the fact that it is possible to perceive more easily the changes that occurred and their influences on the quality of life of the issues in question. Initially, a presentation of the analyzed aspects was made, through a descriptive reading of these, including the main characteristics. Right afterwards, it effectively starts to build indexes and indicators (using the quantitative analysis software Statistical Package for the Social Sciences - SPSS) of each of the related aspects before and after the relocation which provided an empirical basis for monitoring the quality of life achieved by dams.Keywords: Affected by dams. Quality of life. Public policy.

Seismic Monitoring System of Baixo Sabor and Feiticeiro Dams

In the last decade Portugal made a significant set of investments in new hydroelectric projects. According the Portuguese Dam Safety Regulation and Supporting Technical Documents, and the seismic risk for the regions where the dams were built, several seismic monitoring systems were implemented. One of the most important projects was the Baixo Sabor hydroelectric scheme which includes two large dams, namely the Baixo Sabor and Feiticeiro dams. These dams are located at northeast of Portugal and are very close to a major geological fault that crosses the Portuguese territory. Considering the seismic risk of the dam’s construction area, a seismic monitoring system was provided. That system incorporates stations in the dam’s galleries and remote stations along the reservoirs to detect eventual induced reservoir seismicity. This system has been in continuous operation and the data of the recorded earthquakes records has been analyzed and processed. This paper presents some aspects of the Portuguese legislation, refers the main studies that were used, presents a brief description of the regional Baixo Sabor geological and tectonic settings, describes the main features of the seismic monitoring system and presents some of the main results obtained during the first period of operation of the dams. Doi: 10.28991/cej-2020-03091603 Full Text: PDF

Hydrelectricity water footprint in the State of Amapá, Brazil: Coaracy Nunes hydroelectric plant

Hydraulic energy is the main source of Brazilian electric energy, responsible for approximately 80% of national production. Therefore, this article aims to determine the evaporation of the reservoir and the water footprint (PH) of the Coaracy Nunes hydroelectric plant (UHE) in Amapá. The average daily evaporation of 2013 was the one with the lowest value, 4.87 mm/day, while 2012 indicated the highest average, 5.00 mm day. Evaporation ranged from 110 to 180 mm/month, and February has lower values, between 110 and 125 mm/month. The highest values occurred between September and December, with emphasis on October with a maximum of 180 mm/month. The monthly evaporated volume showed the highest value in October and November, above 3900000 m3. And the month of February had the lowest consumption, on average 2700000 m3. There was also a predominance of lower PH values between January and May, partly being the period of greatest energy generation. And the highest PH occurred in November, the month with the lowest energy generation. The PH showed higher values between October and December, with a maximum value in November, 53.08 m3/GJ. The average PH was 25.3 m3/GJ, above the world average, which represents an inefficiency of the HPP in terms of power generation and PH. With the results, it is concluded that the evaporation by Linacre is relevant and agrees with the behavior of the climate in Amapá. And the PH values present an important tool in the evaluation of hydroelectric projects and in the management of water resources.