Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Hoes, Olivier A C
• Meijer, Lourens J J
• van der Ent, Ruud J
• van de Giesen, Nick C
• Deng, Z. Daniel

Titel

Systematic high-resolution assessment of global hydropower potential

Ist Teil von

• PloS one, 2017-02, Vol.12 (2), p.e0171844-e0171844

Ort / Verlag

United States: Public Library of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2017

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Population growth, increasing energy demand and the depletion of fossil fuel reserves necessitate a search for sustainable alternatives for electricity generation. Hydropower could replace a large part of the contribution of gas and oil to the present energy mix. However, previous high-resolution estimates of hydropower potential have been local, and have yet to be applied on a global scale. This study is the first to formally present a detailed evaluation of the hydropower potential of each location, based on slope and discharge of each river in the world. The gross theoretical hydropower potential is approximately 52 PWh/year divided over 11.8 million locations. This 52 PWh/year is equal to 33% of the annually required energy, while the present energy production by hydropower plants is just 3% of the annually required energy. The results of this study: all potentially interesting locations for hydroelectric power plants, are available online.