Social Acceptance and Mitigation of Environmental Impact
About
Increased operating flexibility of hydropower plants will cause adverse effects on downstream water courses unless mitigation measures are taken. Work Package 5 focuses on the mitigation of environmental impact through (1) developing a new concept named Air Cushion Underground Reservoir (ACUR), (2) flow scenario modelling in order to derive the impact of 30 starts and stops per day on water levels, temperatures and velocities in the river (with and without ACUR), and (3) evaluate the efficiency of the mitigation technology on fish population. Further, work package 5 addresses the social acceptance of flexible hydropower.
©Bjørn Barlaup/Uni Research Miljø
Objectives
Work package 5 aims to assess social acceptance and test innovative methods to mitigate environmental impacts of flexible hydropower.
- Develop technology for active storage of water that will enable high ramping rates and minimize the negative effects from the discharge into the downstream river
- Utilise existing data and model setups for the given cases to investigate the influence on river ecosystems subjected to 30 start-stops per day with and without mitigation
- Investigate socioeconomic and environmental aspects of use groups/stakeholders from high ramping rates, through a survey of public resistance and acceptance to 30 start-stops per day
