ReportsnReports - The Future of Small, Medium and Large Hydropower Technologies: Technology developments, key costs and the future outlook
The Future of Small, Medium and Large Hydropower Technologies: Technology developments, key costs and the future outlook
Hydropower is one of the earliest sources of power exploited by man with water wheels of various sorts being built for at least two thousand years to provide mechanical power for milling. At the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century it remains by a large margin the major source of renewable electricity in use. In addition, hydropower has a major role to play in the balancing of other renewable sources of electricity on grids and its flexibility is likely to make it become an increasingly valuable resource.
Since this is a result of rain falling at higher altitudes, and since rain comes from water evaporated from the earth's surface by the sun, hydropower is essentially a form of solar energy. The total amount of energy in rain, when taken across all the landmasses of the globe has been estimated to be over twice global electricity consumption in 2009. At least a quarter of this could be exploited economically today to provide electricity. While rainfall, and hence hydropower is not uniform across the globe, most regions excepting those that are primarily desert have access to the resource.
Large hydropower projects, generally categorized as those above 10MW in size though the definition varies, will be defined by the site at which they are to be built. Since all sites differ, both the plant layout and the components will be designed specifically for the site in question. In general high head sites offer the best potential since they provide more energy for a given volume of water. However very low head sites can also be exploited profitably. One of the principal choices at any site will be whether to build a dam and reservoir of whether simply to extract water from the flowing river, a scheme called a run-of-river plant. Small and medium hydropower encompasses plants with a range of capacities. These are generally further broken down in to micro, mini, small and medium hydropower though in some classifications the medium category does not exist. While the larger of these plants will be similar to large hydropower in their design and turbine technology, smaller plants may use different techniques to save costs.
Hydropower plants with a dam and reservoir can provide a degree of energy storage by regulating the rate at which water is allowed to pass through the plant turbines so that power is generated only when it is needed. A pumped storage hydropower plant is designed to operate entirely as a means of storing and then supplying electrical power.
Key features of this report
- Analysis of hydropower technologies concepts and components.
- Assessment of hydropower technologies power plant market.
- Insight relating to the most innovative technologies and potential areas of opportunity for manufacturers.
- Examination of the key technology introductions and innovations.
- Identification of the key trends shaping the market, as well as an evaluation of emerging trends that will drive innovation moving forward.
Key benefits from reading this report
- Realize up to date competitive intelligence through a comprehensive review of hydropower technologies concepts in electricity power generation markets.
- Assess the emerging trends in hydropower technologies – including small, medium and large hydropower technologies, and pumped storage hydropower and renewable balancing.
- Identify which key trends will offer the greatest growth potential and learn which technology trends are likely to allow greater market impact.
- Compare how manufacturers are developing new hydropower technologies
- Quantify costs of hydropower technologies, with comparisons against other forms of power generation technology, installation costs, and cost of electricity.
Key findings of this report
While the production of electricity from renewable sources other than hydropower has risen slowly in recent years, increasing from 1.8% in 2000 to 3.1% in 2008, the greater part still comes from hydropower.
Asia has the largest gross potential, estimated by the WEC to be over 16,300TWh/y, followed by North and Central America which together have gross potential of 8,054TWh/y.
Run-of-river plants can vary in size from 10MW to 1,000MW. In principle they could be larger than this but in practice individual plants are not. However a series of run-of-river plants on a single river might have a generating capacity of over 1,000MW. .
Small and medium hydropower projects are likely to cost from US$1m to US$100m, based on a typical capital cost of around US$2,000/kW.
The European Small Hydropower Association has estimated that within the 25 countries of the European Union the total installed capacity in 2004 was 10,800MW, slightly higher than the figure in Table 17, and that this capacity was provided by 14,488 individual small hydropower plants.
Key questions answered by this report
- What are the drivers shaping and influencing hydropower technology development in the electricity industry?
- What are the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of hydropower technologies?
- What does hydropower technology power generation cost? What will it cost?
- Which hydropower technology types will be the winners and which the losers in terms power generated, cost and viability?
- Which hydropower technology types are likely to find favour with manufacturers moving forward?
- Which emerging technologies are gaining in popularity and why?
Table of Contents
Dr Paul Breeze 2
Disclaimer 2
Executive summary 10
Introduction 10
The hydropower resource 10
Large hydropower 11
Small and medium hydropower 11
Pumped storage hydropower and renewable balancing 11
The environmental impact of hydropower 12
Hydropower economics 12
The prospects for hydropower 13
Chapter 1 Introduction to hydropower 14
Summary 14
Introduction 14
The structure of the report 18
Chapter 2 The hydropower resource 19
Summary 19
Introduction 19
Estimating hydropower potential 20
Regional hydropower potential 21
Global hydropower production 27
Hydropower exploitation levels 30
Developing hydropower resources 32
Chapter 3 Large hydropower 34
Summary 34
Introduction 34
Hydropower plant categories 35
Types of large hydropower plant 36
Run-of-river hydropower plants 37
Dam and reservoir hydropower plants 38
Types of dam 39
Additional dam structural components 42
Turbines 43
Impulse turbines 44
Reaction turbines 45
Francis turbines 46
Propeller turbines 46
Kaplan turbine 47
Deriaz turbine 47
Turbine selection 48
Generators 48
Large hydropower plants in operation 49
Chapter 4 Small and medium hydropower 52
Summary 52
Introduction 52
Terminology considerations 53
Small hydropower and renewable generation 54
Head heights 55
Site assessment and feasibility studies 56
Permanent structures 58
Turbines 59
Alternative turbine types 63
Generators 64
Small hydropower generating capacity 66
Chapter 5 Pumped storage hydropower and renewable balancing 68
Summary 68
Introduction 68
Energy storage 69
Pumped storage hydropower fundamentals 70
Pumped storage technology 71
Variable speed pump turbines 72
Site selection 73
Performance 74
Operating plants 75
Hydropower and renewable support 78
Economics 79
Chapter 6 The environmental impact of hydropower 80
Summary 80
Introduction 80
General environmental considerations 81
Resettlement 82
Further consequences of inundation 84
Biodiversity 85
Increased seismic activity 86
Loss of cultural and religious sites 87
Methane production 87
Lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions 88
Sedimentation 90
Downstream effects 91
Cross-border disputes 92
Chapter 7 Hydropower economics 93
Summary 93
Introduction 93
Capital cost 95
Pumped storage capital costs 100
Cost of generation 101
Chapter 8 The prospects for hydropower 105
Summary 105
Introduction 105
Hydropower consumption 106
Hydropower growth 109
Global warming scenarios 115
Hydropower prospects 116
Appendix 122
References 122
Listof figures
Figure 1: Annual hydropower output as percentage of total global electricity production (%), 2010 16
Figure 2: Global hydropower potential by region (TWh/y), 2010 23
Figure 3: Economically exploitable hydropower potential by region (TWh/y) 25
Figure 4: Exploitable hydropower potential by region (TWh/y) 26
Figure 5: Annual global hydropower consumption by region (TWh), 2010 28
Figure 6: Level of hydropower exploitation by region (TWh/y), 2007 31
Figure 7: The world's largest hydropower plants (MW), 2010 51
Figure 8: Head height classifications for small hydropower (meters) 56
Figure 9: Turbine types for different heads (meters) 60
Figure 10: Small hydro turbine efficiencies (%) 63
Figure 11: Global small hydropower capacity (MW), 2007 67
Figure 12: National pumped storage hydropower capacities (MW) 77
Figure 13: Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions from power generating technologies (kg/MWh) 2008 89
Figure 14: Capital cost of US power generating plants, 2010 97
Figure 15: Capital cost of hydropower plants in Hawaii, 2009 99
Figure 16: Comparison of costs of plants entering service in US between 1990 and 1994 104
Figure 17: Hydroelectricity consumption in 2009 by region (TWh), 2010 107
Figure 18: Consumption of hydroelectricity for selected countries (TWh), 2009 109
Figure 19: Growth in global installed hydropower capacity by region (GW), 2010 112
Figure 20: Predicted hydropower growth for selected countries to 2035 (GW), 2010 114
Figure 21: IEA global power generation scenarios, 2008 116
Figure 22: Small hydro growth potential (GW), 2010 120
Listof Tables
Table 1: Annual hydropower output as percentage of total global electricity production (%), 2010 15
Table 2: Global hydropower potential by region (TWh/y), 2010 22
Table 3: Economically exploitable hydropower potential by region (TWh/y) 24
Table 4: Exploitable hydropower potential by region (TWh/y) 26
Table 5: Annual global hydropower consumption by region (TWh), 2010 28
Table 6: Level of hydropower exploitation by region (TWh/y), 2007 30
Table 7: Hydropower plant categories 36
Table 8: Types of large hydropower plant, 2010 37
Table 9: Types of hydropower dam, 2010 40
Table 10: Types of hydropower turbine, 2010 43
Table 11: The world's largest hydropower plants (MW), 2010 50
Table 12: Some national small hydropower limits (MW), 2007 54
Table 13: Head height classifications for small hydropower (meters) 55
Table 14: Turbine types for different heads (meters) 60
Table 15: Small hydro turbine efficiencies (%) 62
Table 16: Typical asynchronous generator efficiencies for small hydro projects (%) 65
Table 17: Global small hydropower capacity (MW), 2007 66
Table 18: Characteristics of a pumped storage hydropower plant, 2009 71
Table 19: National pumped storage hydropower capacities (MW), 2010 76
Table 20: Parameters indicating the environmental effect of hydropower developments (MW)84
Table 21: Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions from power generating technologies (kg/MWh), 2008 89
Table 22: Hydropower project costs, 2010 96
Table 23: Capital cost of US power generating plants, 2010 97
Table 24: Capital cost of hydropower plants in Hawaii, 2009 99
Table 25: Small hydro costs for 100kW hydropower plant in UK, 2009 100
Table 26: Pumped storage capital costs, 2009 101
Table 27: Levelized cost of electricity from US plants entering service in 2016 (US$/MWh) 102
Table 28: Comparison of costs of plants entering service in US between 1990 and 1994 103
Table 29: Hydroelectricity consumption in 2009 by region (TWh), 2010 107
Table 30: Consumption of hydroelectricity for selected countries (TWh), 2009 108
Table 31: Growth in global installed hydropower capacity by region (GW), 2010 111
Table 32: Predicted hydropower growth for selected countries to 2035 (GW), 2010 113
Table 33: IEA global power generation scenarios, 2008 115
Table 34: Hydropower development prospects in Western Canada and Western US (MW), 2008 117
Table 35: Small hydro growth potential (GW), 2010 119
Related Market Research Reports:
- Convenience Store Foodservice Trends in the U.S.
- The Latino Household Products Shopper
- Omega-3: Global Product Trends and Opportunities
- Sugar, Sugar Substitute, and Sweetener Trends in the U.S., 3rd Edition
- Mobile Commerce in LTE: The Future of Commerce in 4G and Beyond
- Global Fetal (Labor & Delivery) and Neonatal Care Equipment Market (2011-2016)
- WiMAX-TDD/FDD Spectrum Analysis and Global Forecast (2011-2016)
- Global and China PV Ribbon Industry ( 2011 Deep Research Report )
- Publishing for the PreK-12 Market 2011-2012
- Remote and Wireless Patient Monitoring Markets
- Medical Imaging Markets: Image-Guided Surgery
- Trends in Trade Book Retailing 2011
About Us:
ReportsnReports is an online library of over 75,000 market research reports and in-depth market research studies & analysis of over 5000 micro markets. We provide 24/7 online and offline support to our customers. Get in touch with us for your needs of market research reports.
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/marketsreports
Our Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/ReportsnReports/191441427571689
Contact:
Mr. Priyank
7557 Rambler road,
Suite 727, Dallas, TX 75231
Tel: +1-888-989-8004 EXT 106
E-mail: sales@reportsandreports.com