TY - JOUR
T1 - Hydropower and seasonal pumped hydropower storage in the Indus basin:pros and cons
AU - Hunt, Julian David
AU - Falchetta, Giacomo
AU - Parkinson, Simon
AU - Vinca, Adriano
AU - Zakeri, Behnam
AU - Byers, Edward
AU - Jurasz, Jakub
AU - Quaranta, Emanuele
AU - Grenier, Emmanuel
AU - Pereira Junior, Amaro Olímpio
AU - Barbosa, Paulo Sergio Franco
AU - Brandão, Roberto
AU - de Castro, Nivalde José
AU - Schneider, Paulo Smith
AU - Vieira, Lara Werncke
AU - Nascimento, Andreas
AU - Wada, Yoshihide
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021
PY - 2021/9
Y1 - 2021/9
N2 - The Indus basin has a large hydropower untapped potential for electricity generation and to regulate the Indus river flow, which could reduce flooding events and provide water supply during drought periods. In this paper, a computational module is developed to localize potential sites for hydropower generation and seasonal pumped hydropower storage (SPHS). The levelized costs for hydropower generation in the basin with conventional dams are as low as 12 USD/MWh, the cost of energy storage is 1 USD/MWh. In case of SPHS plants, the cost of energy storage is 2 USD/MWh. It can be concluded that the conventional hydropower potential is, for the moment, less expensive than SPHS, but its potential in the Indus basin is limited to 26 GW with hydropower costs below 50 USD/MWh and its reservoirs have a short lifetime due to the high sedimentation rates of the basin. SPHS would be an interesting alternative to complement the hydropower potential adding long-term water and energy storage with fewer sediments, social and environmental impacts. Given that the region has the highest potential and lowest costs for SPHS in the world, it could become a major player on seasonal and pluri-annual energy storage in Asia and globally.
AB - The Indus basin has a large hydropower untapped potential for electricity generation and to regulate the Indus river flow, which could reduce flooding events and provide water supply during drought periods. In this paper, a computational module is developed to localize potential sites for hydropower generation and seasonal pumped hydropower storage (SPHS). The levelized costs for hydropower generation in the basin with conventional dams are as low as 12 USD/MWh, the cost of energy storage is 1 USD/MWh. In case of SPHS plants, the cost of energy storage is 2 USD/MWh. It can be concluded that the conventional hydropower potential is, for the moment, less expensive than SPHS, but its potential in the Indus basin is limited to 26 GW with hydropower costs below 50 USD/MWh and its reservoirs have a short lifetime due to the high sedimentation rates of the basin. SPHS would be an interesting alternative to complement the hydropower potential adding long-term water and energy storage with fewer sediments, social and environmental impacts. Given that the region has the highest potential and lowest costs for SPHS in the world, it could become a major player on seasonal and pluri-annual energy storage in Asia and globally.
KW - Energy Storage
KW - Hydropower
KW - Indus Basin
KW - Seasonal Pumped Hydropower Storage
KW - Water Management
U2 - 10.1016/j.est.2021.102916
DO - 10.1016/j.est.2021.102916
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85110455573
SN - 2352-152X
VL - 41
JO - Journal of Energy Storage
JF - Journal of Energy Storage
M1 - 102916
ER -