Energy Policy 30 (2002) 12251230

The diversity of hydropower projects

Dominique Egre! a,*, Joseph C. Milewskib
a
Dominique Egr!e Consultants Inc., 926 Saint-Maurice Street, Suite 302, Montr!eal (Qu!ebec), Canada, H3C 1L7
b
Inter-American Development Bank, 1300 New York Ave. NW, Stop W0500, Washington, DC 20577, USA

Abstract

Hydropower is based on a simple process, taking advantage of the kinetic energy freed by falling water. In practice, this process is
applied in many different ways depending on the electrical services sought and the specic site conditions. Accordingly, there is a
wide variety of hydroelectric projects, each providing different types of services and generating environmental and social impacts of
different nature and magnitude. This article illustrates the necessity to evaluate each hydroelectric project in relation to the services it
provides and to compare electricity supply projects on the basis of equivalent services provided to society. The impoundment and
presence of a reservoir stand out as the most signicant sources of impacts. However, a reservoir also provides the highest level of
electricity supply services: it is the most efcient means of storing large amounts of energy and a hydroelectric plant has the capacity
of releasing this energy in quantities that can be adjusted instantly to electricity demand. Furthermore, a reservoir allows for many
other uses besides energy storage such as the cost-effective development of run-of-river plants downstream with little environmental
impacts. r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Hydropower; Environment; Impacts

1. Introduction society. The article rst describes the role of hydropower

Many hydropower plants built at the beginning of the
20th century are still operating today. The turbines
installed at that time are still running at very high
efciencies of 8090%. Indeed, hydropower is based on
a simple process, taking advantage of the kinetic energy
freed by falling water. In all hydroelectric generating
stations, the rushing water drives a turbine, which
converts the waters motion into mechanical and
electrical energy. This simple process makes it the most
efcient, reliable and versatile source of electricity. In
practice, this process is applied in many different ways
depending on the electrical services sought and the
specic site conditions. Accordingly, there are a wide
variety of hydroelectric projects, each providing differ-
ent types of services and generating environmental and
social impacts of different nature and magnitude.
The following summary review illustrates the neces-
sity to evaluate each hydroelectric project in relation to
the services it offers and to compare electricity supply
projects on the basis of equivalent services provided to
*Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: egrehoward@sympatico.ca (D. Egr!e), joseph-
m@iadb.org (J.C. Milewski).
in electricity supply. It then describes various types of
hydropower projects, with the specic electricity services
they provide and how they differ in terms of environ-
mental impacts.
2. Hydropower and electricity supply
Although electricity demand varies signicantly dur-
ing any given day and throughout the year, electricity
cannot be stored, unlike energy sources such as wood,
petrol, or gas. Electricity is thus characterized by the
fact that any change in demand for power must instantly
be matched by an equivalent adjustment in power
generation. If demand increases and supply is not able
to increase accordingly, then the voltage or pressure
of the electric current drops, which can generate
brownouts, stress on electric systems and power
outages. This can result in major impacts on economic
activities, basic services such as health, education, and
security.
In order to face the wide range of power demand,
utilities combine diverse power plants whose services
differ in terms of continuity of services. Some electricity
generating plants are better suited to be operated as base

0301-4215/02/$ - see front matter r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 3 0 1 - 4 2 1 5 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 8 3 - 6
1226 D. Egr!e, J.C. Milewski / Energy Policy 30 (2002) 12251230
plants, others as peaking plants. For example, nuclear
power plants run optimally at a stable output, making
them essentially base load generators. Hydropower
plants in contrast may, depending on their design,
provide electricity for base or for peak demand or both.
This exibility in energy supply is one of the specic
technical advantages of hydropower.
Hydropower, then, may fulll different electricity
services:
(1) Base load and peak load generation: In regions where
hydropower is very abundant, it satises both base
and peak loads. The base load is produced by large
or numerous reservoir-type projects, which store
sufcient energy to cover several seasons of
consumption and periods of dry weather, possibly
combined, if available, with run-of-river plants
(hydroplants which use the water ows in a river
but which do not have a reservoir). The electricity
needed to meet peak load is generated by installing
extra water turbines at some power plants. This
additional capacitythat functions only a few
hundred to a thousand hours per yearprovides
extra power when needed.
(2) Peak load generation: In regions where hydropower
is not so abundant, hydroelectric plants are used
mostly for peak load, allowing for the best use to be
made from other less exible electricity sources such
as nuclear, coal, or oil based power plants.
This second strategy is far more common than the
rst, due to the limitation in available water resources in
most parts of the world. This strategy also points at
another inherent technical advantage of hydropower:
the capacity to generate electricity practically instantly,
Table 1
Types of hydroelectric projects
Type of project Services provided
Reservoir type Energy and power
Run-of-river Base load with limited exibility
Pumped-storage Power only
Net consumer of energy
Cross-watershed diversion Energy only
In-stream diversion Energy and power
Upgrading Extends project life, sometimes with increased output
Multipurpose Hydropower and other water uses
in 1 min or less, from the moment the order has been
given to start production. Hydroelectricity is, from a
technical point of view, very complementary to other
sources of primary generation, supplying electricity on
demand. In addition, due to the simplicity of designno
combustion, no steam cycle, no radiation protection
maintenance of hydropower plants is simplied and
reliability is high.
3. Types of hydroelectric projects
Hydropower projects can be classied in a number of
ways, which are not mutually exclusive:
* by head (difference in height of the water level above
and below the dam) (high or low), setting the type of
hydraulic turbine to be used;
* by storage capacity (run-of-river or reservoir pro-
jects);
* by purpose (single or multipurpose);
* by size (large, small, micro), and so on.
The following sections aim to briey outline the
energy services and the sources of environmental
impacts produced by various types of projects. The
proposed classication system therefore focuses on
storage capacity, which mostly determines the extent
of environmental impacts, as demonstrated in Table 1.
Hence, we propose that hydroelectric projects be
categorized as follows:
* reservoir-type projects with signicant storage capa-
city;
* run-of-river projects with little or no storage capacity;
Main impact sources
Changes of habitat and social impacts due to reservoir
Modication of river ows
Limited ooding
River ows unchanged
Impacts related to upper storage pool
Reduction of ow downstream of diversion
Increase of ow in receiving stream
Reduction of ow downstream of diversion
Few additional impacts
Impacts mainly due to reservoir
Need to evaluate cumulative impacts of other water uses
 D. Egr!e, J.C. Milewski / Energy Policy 30 (2002) 12251230
* pumped-storage projects;
* river diversion projects;
* Small, mini and microprojects.
Since the upgrading of existing hydropower
schemes has environmental consequences and may
modify the energy service provided by the plant, this
issue is also discussed. Finally, multipurpose projects,
designed with several water uses in mind, are also
addressed.
3.1. Reservoir-type projects
Reservoir projects involve impounding water behind a
dam to enable ow regulation throughout the year
(on a daily or monthly basis) or even exceptionally on a
multi-annual basis for very large reservoirs. The
reservoir also provides a reserve of energy to satisfy
electricity demand during dry seasons and/or periods of
peak demand.
Reservoir schemes offer a much broader range of
potential energy benets than pure run-of-river schemes.
The storage of energy is a fundamental asset of these
projects as the production of the power plant can be
adjusted to uctuations of power demand, both for base
as well as for peak load. Furthermore, regulating a river
allows for the development of multiple run-of-river
power plants downstream, in effect re-using the same
water to produce additional electricity, thereby reducing
environmental and social impacts relative to power
production.
Regarding size, reservoirs vary in area by several
orders of magnitude, depending on the height of the
dam, local topography and the desired energy service
expected. Some reservoirs cover a few square kilometers,
others 5000 km2 or more (ICOLD, 1998). The latter
provide the largest storage volumes and therefore energy
security, but also, generally, the largest environmental
impacts and certainly the most controversy.
The environmental impacts of reservoir type projects
are best documented, and originate from:
* the construction activities involved in building the
dam, dikes, embankments and power plant;
* the presence of infrastructure (access roads, power
lines, substations, etc.);
* the changes in river ow patterns;
* the creation of a reservoir, possibly generating major
ecological changes from terrestrial and river environ-
ments to a lake-type environment, but also land use
transformations, such as resettlement of communities
and of production activities.
The magnitude of impacts is a function of site
characteristics and the size of the project. These specic
elements are discussed in other articles of this journal.
1227
3.2. Run-of-river projects
This type of hydropower generation utilizes the ow
of water within the natural range of the river. Therefore
no or little reservoir impoundment takes place. They can
be designed with small head, generally on large rivers
with gentle gradients, or with high head, generally on
small rivers with steep gradients.
Run-of-river projects can use all the river ow or only
a fraction of it. In the former case, as river ow changes
throughout the year, inows into the plant change as
well. Consequently, the amount of power produced by
this type of run-of-river projects may vary considerably
throughout the year since it depends on the river
discharge. However, unless the period of higher ows
coincide with peak demand, expanding the plants
capacity is generally not cost-effective. Most run-of-
river plants are therefore conceived so as to provide the
same power output all year long for the base demand,
using only a fraction of the total river ow. A common
strategy to optimize the energy output of hydropower
plants on a river is to build a large storage reservoir in
the upper catchment, which will even out ows for
several run-of-river or smaller reservoir plants down-
stream.
In all run-of-river projects, the absence of any sizable
reservoir helps limit considerably both the social and the
environmental impacts, as the river is not transformed
into a lake. Furthermore, the ow pattern of the river
remains essentially unchanged, which reduces down-
stream impacts of the project.
3.3. Pumped-storage projects
Pumped-storage plants pump water into an upper
storage basin during off-peak hours by using surplus
electricity from base load power plants. They subse-
quently reverse ow to generate electricity during the
daily peak load period. They are considered to be one of
the most efcient technologies available for energy
storage.
The concept of pumping water back to the upper
reservoir during off-peak hours means that these plants
are net energy consumers: it takes more power to pump
water up to the top reservoir than is produced by the
plant when the water rushes down to the lower reservoir.
Generally, from 65% to 75% of the electricity required
by the pumping is recovered during the generation
phase. Developing pumped-storage plants is cost effec-
tive when other plants in the grid produce mainly base
energy with little exibility, such as coal power plants
and/or nuclear stations. In such cases the cost of peak
electricity can be twice as much or more than the cost of
off-peak electricity.
A small upper pool (often a few square kilometers or
less in size) which empties very quickly on short
1228 D. Egr!e, J.C. Milewski / Energy Policy 30 (2002) 12251230
intervalsonce or twice a weekcharacterizes pumped-
storage plants. The drawdown in the upper reservoir is
therefore very signicant. These pools are often man-
made and do not develop into a stable aquatic
environment. Pumped-storage plants sometimes can
use a river, a lake or an existing reservoir as the lower
reservoir. In other cases, a new lower reservoir must be
created whose characteristics (i.e. drawdown, size)
depend on the sites topographic and hydraulic condi-
tions.
The environmental issues associated with pumped-
storage plants are mostly related to the siting of the
upper pool, the powerhouse location (underground or
above ground) and the nature of the lower reservoir
ecosystem. These issues are essentially site-specic and
can be addressed during the design phase of the project.
3.4. River diversion projects
River diversion projects consist of:
(1) In-stream diversion: A river may be dammed and
diverted through tunnels into the mountain side to
discharge further downstream back in its riverbed.
(2) Cross-watershed diversion: This strategy will in-
crease the ow of the receiving river where the
power plant is located, and decrease the down-
stream ow of the diverted river.
With regards to in-stream diversions, the result is to
increase the head of the power plant, thereby increasing
available power and energy. For cross-watershed diver-
sions, the result is an increase in energy, this time by
increasing the ow of the receiving stream where the
power plant is located.
The specic environmental impact of diversion
projects is a severe or total reduction of ow immedi-
ately downstream of the diversion. This in turn may
affect downstream shore erosion, water temperature and
water quality. The magnitude of such impacts is a
function of ecosystems affected, particularly in terms of
aquatic biology, and the length of the river section with
diminished ow. In cross-watershed diversions, an
additional impact has to do with the increased ow in
the receiving river. There is also a risk of spreading
unwanted species, sh or plants, between catchments.
Ultimately, a new ecological equilibrium appears, with
colonization of the river edge by plants, shrubs and
terrestrial fauna in diminished ow rivers, and an
increase in water habitats in increased ow rivers.
The most effective mitigation measure, which is now
quite common, is to ensure a minimum ecological ow
downstream of a diversion, in order to maintain a river
habitat and existing land uses downstream (shing,
navigation, urban and industrial water supply, etc.). It
should be pointed out that the ow of most natural
rivers varies signicantly from season to season, and
some rivers dry up completely during parts of the year.
The ecosystem of each river has adjusted over time to
the ow pattern of the river. The design of an ecological
ow in a diverted river may be based on the habitats of
the most valued aquatic species in the river, in order to
minimize the losses of spawning grounds, for example.
In a river with reduced ow, small weirs can be built to
ensure a water level similar to pre-diversion conditions.
3.5. Small, mini and micro-projects
The denitions of small, mini and micro-hydropower
projects are relative and vary depending on the
circumstances of each country. Therefore, no denitions
exist which are generally accepted all over the world.
Here, small, mini and micro-hydropower are dened,
respectively, as output o10, 1 and 0.1 MW. Compared
to large projects, small-scale plants benet in terms of
ease of introduction, as the period for planning and
construction is shorter, investment is smaller and only
small areas need to be acquired.
A frequently used and accepted rule of thumb is that
environmental impacts are roughly proportional to area
inundated. It is generally assumed that the environ-
mental impacts of small, mini or micro-hydro projects
are limited, given the scale of the projects, the limited
intervention in terms of construction, and usually the
small water bodies that are affected by the projects.
There are also benets related to reduced safety risks
associated with small dams, and lesser population
displacement or land use issues. For example, this has
led the states of Maine and New Jersey to consider small
hydro, which is dened, respectively, as plants of 30 and
100 MW or less as renewable and large hydro as a non-
renewable energy resource.
The large dam versus small dam debate is still
unfolding. This debate has signicant energy policy
consequences (as mentioned above) and could also have
serious implications for future hydropower projects.
From an environmental standpoint, the distinction
between renewable small dams and non-renewable large
dams is somewhat arbitrary. It is not size that denes
whether a project is renewable and sustainable or not,
but the specic characteristics of the project and its
location.
Furthermore, when one compares small hydro with
large hydropower on the basis of equivalent electricity
production, the environmental advantage of small over
large hydro becomes much less obvious. What is less
damaging for the environment? One very large power
plant, on one river, with an installed capacity of
2000 MW, or 400 small hydropower plants of 5 MW
on a 100 rivers? Could the overall impact of a single
2000 MW project be less than the cumulative impact of
 D. Egr!e, J.C. Milewski / Energy Policy 30 (2002) 12251230
Table 2
Average size of hydro reservoir per unit of capacity
Size of plants Number of plants in Average size of
(MW) category reservoir per unit of
power (ha/MW)
300018,200 19 32
20002999 16 40
10001999 36 36
500999 25 80
250499 37 69
100249 33 96
299 33 249
Source: Goodland (1995).
400 small hydropower projects of 5 MW, because of the
number of rivers and tributaries which will be affected?
In addition, geometry demonstrates that a small
object has more surface area in proportion to its volume
than a large object; and the difference is quite
signicant: when doubling the sides of a cube, its
surface area is four times larger but its volume is eight
times larger. This implies that to obtain the same water
storage volume, the land mass inundated by 400 small
hydropower plants of 5 MW would probably be several
times larger than the land mass inundated by a single
2000 MW plant. This means several times the impacts
on habitats to provide the same storage volume of a
single very large reservoir. Table 2 gives an indication of
the land area inundated for different sizes of hydro-
power plants, sampled worldwide, per unit of capacity.
In summary, although it is obvious that a smaller
human intervention on a specic habitat has fewer
impacts than a very large intervention on the same
habitat, one should compare hydropower projects based
on the energy and power produced, that is to say, on the
service provided to society. From this standpoint, the
cumulative impacts of a multitude of small hydro
projects might be larger than those of a single project,
given the diversity of ecosystems that may be affected
and the much larger cumulative surface area to be
inundated for equivalent storage volume with small
projects.
Beyond the small versus large dam debate,
specic site conditions and energy supply requirements
are what determine the nature and amplitude of
environmental impacts.
3.6. Upgrading projects
As hydropower projects are designed for a relatively
long life span, there is signicant interest by power
utilities in maintaining the outputs of their older
hydroelectric stations since they are a source of cheap,
exible and often ecologically sound power. Indeed,
upgrading capitalizes on existing facilities, costing less
1229
than new projects. The options for extending plant life
range from continued maintenance through various
stages of upgrading, which may involve refurbishment,
modernization or uprating.
* Refurbishment: is generally aimed at returning the
plant to close to its initial state and performance with
a view to reducing ongoing maintenance costs and
extending plant life by a specied period, typically
2550 years.
* Modernization: aims furthermore to improve plant
availability through the use of more modern materi-
als and technologies. This may provide greater
operational efciency and therefore increased pro-
ductivity.
* Uprating: aims at expanding the plants hydraulic
capacity as well as the nominal power output
measured in terms of megawatts (MW) installed.
Optimizing the capacity of existing facilities generates
much less environmental impacts than building a new
project, mainly because the infrastructure is already
present and available. The nature of environmental
impacts related to upgrading activities is generally
concentrated in space and in time as there is a strong
economic incentive to minimize the length of any
planned outages. When the context requires a signicant
addition of power output, uprating projects may be
combined with a river diversion development. From an
environmental perspective, this solution may be more
desirable than building a new hydropower scheme
elsewhere.
3.7. Multipurpose projects
As hydropower does not consume the water that
drives the turbines, this renewable resource is available
for various other uses essential for human subsistence.
In fact, a signicant proportion of hydropower projects
are designed for multiple purposes. According to
Lecornu (1998) about a third of all hydropower projects
take on various other functions aside from generating
electricity. They can prevent or mitigate oods and
droughts, they may provide irrigation, supply water for
domestic, municipal and industrial use, as well as
improve conditions for navigation, shing, tourism or
leisure activities. These different water uses impose
conicting demands on water utilization and require
trade-offs. These trade-offs are discussed in another
article of this journal.
One aspect often overlooked when addressing hydro-
power and the multiple uses of water is that the power
plant, as a revenue generator, in some cases pays for the
facilities required to develop other water uses.
The primary environmental characteristics of multiple
use projects is the requirement to consider not only the
environmental impacts of the hydropower project but
1230 D. Egr!e, J.C. Milewski / Energy Policy 30 (2002) 12251230
also the cumulative impacts of all the other intended
water uses. Multipurpose developments makes planning
and operating of hydropower more complex as it
requires adequate coordination efforts with the various
user groups and a sustainable water resource allocation.
In fact, increased planning efforts may avoid a lot of
problems caused by future unregulated uses of water.
An integrated Water Resource Management Plan for
the whole watershed must therefore be considered
whenever multipurpose projects are foreseen.
4. Conclusion
This summary review illustrates the necessity to
evaluate each hydroelectric project in relation to the
services it offers and to compare electricity supply
projects on the basis of equivalent services provided to
society. Hydropower covers a wide variety of projects of
different sizes, functions and designs. This in turn leads
to widely different impacts on and benets for the
natural and social environments.
The impoundment and presence of a reservoir stand
out as the most signicant sources of impacts. However,
a reservoir also provides the highest level of electricity
supply services: it is the most efcient means of storing
large amounts of energy and a hydroelectric plant has
the capacity of releasing this energy in quantities that
can be adjusted instantly to electricity demand.
Furthermore, a reservoir allows for many other uses
besides energy storage such as the cost-effective devel-
opment of run-of-river plants downstream with little
environmental impacts.
References
Goodland, R., 1995. How to distinguish better hydros from worse: the
environmental sustainability challenge for the hydro industry, The
World Bank.
ICOLD, 1998. World register of Dams.
Lecornu, J., 1998. Dams and water management paper presented to
the Conf!erence Internationale Eau et D!eveloppement Durable,
Paris. http://genepi.louis-jean.com/cigb/article-barrages-an.html.