Reducing greenhouse gas emissions of Amazon hydropower with strategic dam planning

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 4281 - 9
• Main Authors: Almeida, Rafael M., Shi, Qinru, Gomes-Selman, Jonathan M., Wu, Xiaojian, Xue, Yexiang, Angarita, Hector, Barros, Nathan, Forsberg, Bruce R., García-Villacorta, Roosevelt, Hamilton, Stephen K., Melack, John M., Montoya, Mariana, Perez, Guillaume, Sethi, Suresh A., Gomes, Carla P., Flecker, Alexander S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 19-09-2019; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 704/172/4081; 704/47/4113; 706/4066/4076; Carbon; Clean energy; Dams; Electric power generation; Emissions; Emissions control; Fossil fuels; Greenhouse effect; Greenhouse gases; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hydroelectric power; Industrial plant emissions; multidisciplinary; Multiple objective analysis; Optimization; Power plants; Renewable energy sources; River basins; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Solar energy; Sustainable development; Sustainable energy; Wind power
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12179-5

Hundreds of dams have been proposed throughout the Amazon basin, one of the world’s largest untapped hydropower frontiers. While hydropower is a potentially clean source of renewable energy, some projects produce high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per unit electricity generated (carbon intensity). Here we show how carbon intensities of proposed Amazon upland dams (median = 39 kg CO
2
eq MWh
−1
, 100-year horizon) are often comparable with solar and wind energy, whereas some lowland dams (median = 133 kg CO
2
eq MWh
−1
) may exceed carbon intensities of fossil-fuel power plants. Based on 158 existing and 351 proposed dams, we present a multi-objective optimization framework showing that low-carbon expansion of Amazon hydropower relies on strategic planning, which is generally linked to placing dams in higher elevations and smaller streams. Ultimately, basin-scale dam planning that considers GHG emissions along with social and ecological externalities will be decisive for sustainable energy development where new hydropower is contemplated.
Some dams produce large amounts of GHGs and it is important to see whether future dams will satisfy sustainable energy goals. Here the authors estimate the range of GHG emission intensities expected for 351 proposed and 158 existing Amazon dams and find that existing Amazon hydropower reservoirs collectively emit 14 Tg CO
2
eq per year, and that if all proposed Amazon dams are built, annual emissions would increase 5-fold.