Identifying High Power–Density Stream Reaches through Refined Geospatial Resolution in Hydropower Resource Assessment
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 142, Issue 4
Abstract
Aided by the rapid development of multiple geospatial data sets for topography, hydrology, and existing energy-water infrastructures, reconnaissance-level hydropower resource assessment can now be conducted using geospatial models in all regions of the United States. The updated techniques can be used to estimate the total undeveloped hydropower potential across all regions, and they may eventually help to identify additional hydropower resources that were previously overlooked. To enhance the characterization of higher power–density stream reaches, this paper explored how the degree of geospatial resolution affects the identification of hydropower stream reaches, using the geospatial merit matrix–based hydropower resource assessment (GMM-HRA) model. GMM-HRA model simulation was conducted at eight different spatial resolutions on six USGS eight-digit hydrologic units with terrains classified as flat, mild, and steep. The results showed that more hydropower potential from higher power–density stream reaches can be identified with increasing spatial resolution. Both flat and mild terrains exhibited lower impacts from resolution differences than did the steep terrain. The findings indicate that greater care should be taken in selecting the discretization resolution for hydropower resource assessments in future studies.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This research was sponsored by the Wind and Water Power Technologies Office, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Support from California State University–Fresno is also acknowledged. This paper was co-authored by employees of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT Battelle, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. DOE. Accordingly, the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for U.S. government purposes. The U.S. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan).
References
Conner, A. M., and Francfort, J. E. (1999). “Hydropower resource assessment modeling results.” Bridges, 10(40440), 113.
Conner, A. M., Francfort, J. E., and Rinehart, B. N. (1998). “U.S. hydropower resource assessment final report.”, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID.
Hadjerioua, B., et al. (2013). “An assessment of energy potential from new stream-reach development in the United States: Initial report on methodology.”, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN.
Hadjerioua, B., Wei, Y., and Kao, S.-C. (2012). “An assessment of energy potential at non-powered dams in the United States.”, Wind and Water Power Program, Dept. of Energy, Washington, DC.
Hall, D. G., et al. (2004). “Water energy resources of the united states with emphasis on low head/low power resources.”, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID.
Hall, D. G., Reeves, K. S., Brizzee, J., Lee, R. D., Carroll, G. R., and Sommers, G. L. (2006). “Feasibility assessment of the water energy resources of the United States for new low power and small hydro classes of hydroelectric plants.”, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID.
Kao, S.-C., et al. (2014). “New stream-reach development: A comprehensive assessment of hydropower energy potential in the United States.”, Wind and Water Power Program, Dept. of Energy, Washington, DC.
Pansky, T. E. (1989). “Regional rivers resource assessment as a tool for hydropower planning and policy: The Pacific northwest rivers study.” Waterpower’89, ASCE, Reston, VA, 897–907.
Pasha, M., Yeasmin, D., Kao, S., Hadjerioua, B., Wei, Y., and Smith, B. (2014). “Stream-reach identification for new run-of-river hydropower development through a merit matrix-based geospatial algorithm.” J. Water Res., 04014016.
USACE (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers). (1983). National hydroelectric power resources study, Washington, DC.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 142 • Issue 4 • April 2016
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 12, 2014
Accepted: Aug 10, 2015
Published online: Jan 7, 2016
Published in print: Apr 1, 2016
Discussion open until: Jun 7, 2016
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.