Cumulative Impacts and Joint Operation of Small-Scale Hydropower Cascades : Case Studies for Selected River Basins in Northwest Vietnam
Increasing energy demands and concerns about global warming call for an increase in energy generation from renewable sources. Small hydropower plants represent a significant contribution to meet this demand. But the optimal use of this resource in...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/597231498679713099/Cumulative-impacts-and-joint-operation-of-small-scale-hydropower-cascades-case-studies-for-selected-river-basins-in-Northwest-Vietnam http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28418 |
| Summary: | Increasing energy demands and concerns
about global warming call for an increase in energy
generation from renewable sources. Small hydropower plants
represent a significant contribution to meet this demand.
But the optimal use of this resource in a sustainable manner
still remains a challenge. A cascade of small dams may have
detrimental impacts on the environment and water use without
implementation of proper mitigation measures and planning.
To obtain more insight in the consequences of hydropower
cascades and possibilities to improve the cascade planning
process in order to reduce such impacts, the Vietnamese
Ministry of Industry and Trade and the World Bank jointly
initiated the study on cumulative impacts and joint
operation of small-scale hydropower cascades Supported by
the Renewable Energy Development Program (REDP) in Vietnam.
Chapter two provides a brief background on the small-scale
hydropower development in Vietnam including its current
planning procedures, while Chapter three provides a
description of the six studied river basins. Chapter four
describes the approach, methods and definitions of the
study. During the first phase of the study all six rivers
were screened for potential significant cumulative impacts.
The results of this screening were presented in a separate
report, of which the summary is given in chapter five. This
screening showed that for four of the rivers significant
cumulative impacts can be expected, which merited further
detailed analysis. These four rivers are Ngoi Xan, Nam Tha,
Nam Chien and Sap. For each of the four detailed study cases
a description of the river basin and hydropower cascade has
been made, the hydrological and environmental impacts were
assessed and opportunities for joint operations quantified.
This report presents summaries of the cumulative impact
analyses (chapter six) and draws general conclusions with
respect to present and future environmental conditions
(chapter seven). It also summarizes the results of the
optimization modeling for each cascade (chapter eight) and
provides recommendations for future planning and cascade
operation (chapter nine). |
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