Small hydropower in the UK and Ireland: The impact of future climate change on water availability and power generation
Places of Climate Change (‘PloCC’)
Small-scale run-of-river hydropower is a growing sector in the UK and Ireland which plays a small but important role in decarbonising the grid, contributing to national emissions reduction targets, and providing local community benefit. However, future climate change threatens to alter streamflow volumes and timing, impacting the amount of water available for use by such schemes, and therefore their power generation potential. In addition, England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Ireland all have different rules for the amount of water that can be taken from a river for hydropower. These differences in national regulation further impact the timing and quantity of power generation, and will likely lead to variation in how schemes in different nations experience the impacts of climate change.
In this talk, Dr Richard Dallison will present work that quantifies the impact of future worst-case scenario climate change on water abstraction and hydropower generation at over 500 sites in the UK and Ireland. Using hydrological modelling and the latest UK climate change projections, national results will be presented and compared. Thoughts on how to best plan and design future run-of-river hydropower schemes for optimal power generation, while maintaining environmental protection will also be discussed.
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