Case Study Of The Hydropower Energy

RUNNING HEAD: HYDROPOWER
THE HYDROPOWER ENERGY
Name
Institutional affiliation

Hydropower 2
INTRODUCTION
Developing countries all over the world are trying to amend their structure of energy to lower the
consumption of energy from fossil fuel by developing clean sources of energy. Hydro-power is
recognized globally as a renewable source of energy. It provides sixteen percent of the world’s
power and has benefits of lower costs of operation and flexible scheduling. The supply of
hydropower electricity is lower than fossil fuel but higher than combination of other renewable
sources of energy. Improvement of hydropower optimizes structures of energy, lower the
emission of greenhouse gases, and mitigate disaster and control.
Increased development of modern systems of energy is promoting sustainable development.
However, some dams prove that the building of reservoirs interferes with ecological status of the
aquatic ecosystem like lakes, wetlands, creeks and hydrological cycle. These currents occasion
has caused the development of renewable hydro-power to become emphases on human society
and today's ecosystem. To attain the goal of non-fossil development of energy in developing
countries sustainable development is guaranteed in national environment, society and economy.
This research proposal is about the methodology of hydropower (Ranganathan, 2010).
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The objective of the study is to research about hydropower in developing countries
LITERATURE REVIEW
Hydropower in developing countries

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Hydropower presently provides 16.5 per cent of the world electricity. Environmental regulation
like UNFCCC and Kyoto protocol is raising pressure for the governments to produce clean
energy or sustainable energy sources (Bohlinger, 2017). Hydropower generates less carbon
dioxide as compared to other sources of energy. In many undeveloped nations, electricity
consumption is extensive in city but less in rural areas since there are fewer investments in rural
and for that case many people uses batteries. With the present increase in population growth in
many developing countries, there is higher demand to produce electricity and also to supply it to
poor individuals so that they are not left behind in this era of development (Singh, 2011).
Hydropower scheme ranges from large to very small. The biggest scheme includes damming big
rivers and supply a large population and businesses with electricity (Weaver, Hydropower
Project Ventures, 2015). A dam built across the river creates artificial reservoirs and an
increase in the hydrostatic head. A powerhouse with generators and turbines is constructed at the
foot of reservoirs (Akpınar, 2013). Dams’ capacity of storage reduces the seasonal changes in
the river and allow regulations of release through the turbines. Hydropower plants harvest the
energy of falling water to produce electricity. The turbine changes the kinetic energy of falling
water to mechanical energy. The generator then changes the mechanical energy in the turbine to
electrical energy which is supplied to the consumers (Ge, 2019).
As estimated 3700 dams that generate more than 1MW are planned and under construction in the
developing countries (Li, 2014). It is not difficult to understand why hydropower represents the
largest source of renewable electricity and it is approximated that 22 per cent of the world
potential is exploited (Escudero, 2010). Increase in renewable energy use in the worldwide
energy mix by the year 2030 is one of the sustainable development goals. Development of
Hydropower is the global phenomena and multinational in its importance. Hydropower is

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affecting most of the significant river around the world including Congo, Amazon and Mekong
creating more disruptions in these important ecological regions (Wyatt, 2010). The financial
cost of the dams are immense and it is believed that the importance does not outweigh the cost.
The hydrological outcomes of reservoirs and dams of large scale are extensive but also has a
positive impact to the people and has fewer impacts on the environment (Fujino, 2011).
Sharp reduction and availability of freshwater because of dam construction drives seasonal
changes in the discharge of rivers and also loss of downstream freshwater habitats, floodplain,
and changes in salinity and coastal erosion (Kaygusuz, 2014). Negative impacts on ecosystem
composition and structure such as loss of aquatic, human fragmentation, terrestrial biodiversity
loss, reduction in functions such as primary production and nutrient recycling and flow
(Kilmartin, 2011). Reservoirs can also be sources of greenhouse gases such as methane and
their construction may cause a reduction in the flow of the river and increase in the concentration
of pollutants. The behaviour, social, economic, cultural and political disruption that people near
dams experience are underestimated (Bélanger, 2015). For fishermen relying on resources of
fishing for their living, changes of the ecological system, caused by the construction of big dams
for hydropower generation alter their way of living negatively (Briscoe, 2012).
Move toward sustainable development of hydropower need to give attention to climate change
and how it affects production and generation of hydropower and make more effort to lower the
social, environmental costs experienced by the individuals near the dams (Yuksel, 2013).
METHODOLOGY
The methods used in this research proposal on hydropower are explained in this section. The
researcher will find out how an individual accepted hydropower technology as a way of