Hydropower depends on the elevation head and water flow of a river. However, other factors must be considered, such as the risk associated with surface processes and environmental factors. The study aims to analyze a landscape’s dynamics and locate potential sites for small-scale hydropower systems (<10 MW) using a geographic information system, the curve number method, and the TopoToolbox with a digital elevation model and available spatial datasets. Across Bohol Island in the central Philippines, the study found 94 potential sites with hydraulic heads ranging from 20–62.4 m, river discharges between 0.02 to 9.71 m3/s, and a total hydropower capacity of 13.595 MW. The river profile analysis classified the sites to five levels of risk to geo-hazards, with three-fourths of the sites being at ‘high’ to ‘very high’ risk levels while more than 50% of the total power can be generated in ‘low’ risk areas. Land-use and population constraints reduced the sites to 25 and the hydropower capacity by 60%. Although limited to the table assessment phase of hydropower development, the study showed the potential of small-scale hydropower systems in the study area, their spatial distribution, and the risk associated with each site. The study results provided data-limited resource managers’ and energy planners’ insights in targeting potential locations and minimizing field investigation costs and time.
Topographic indices represent and simplify complex surficial processes fundamental to characterizing landform dynamics and to prioritizing river basin conservation and management goals. A method of characterizing landform dynamics integrating the steady-state river channel elevation and the hypsometric analysis is presented. The chi 2 (𝜒) metric, a proxy for the steady-state river channel elevation, gages the stability of drainage divides while hypsometric analysis quantifies the stages of basin geological development. Using a 30m SRTM DEM and the TopoToolbox tool in MATLAB, 𝜒values along stream networks are computed. At the channel heads of opposing stream networks of a divide section, equal 𝜒values indicate a stable divide while across difference in 𝜒 -values suggest unstable divide with a potential to migrate from low 𝜒 values towards the high 𝜒values side of the divide. To classify the degree of potential divide mobility, the quantity called mean chi difference (𝜒 𝑚𝑑 ) is proposed. The features of the aggressive and victim river streams are visually differentiated using their elevation profiles, map-view arrangement and pathways to discharge points. Hypsometric analysis examines the erosional stages of basins indicated by the hypsometric integrals (HI) and hypsometric curves. A basin and its subbasins show different levels of geologic development that the disaggregation of large basin into small hydrologic units enables the identification of areas of different erosional stages.The prioritization of subbasins considers the intersection of highly mobile divides and highly erosional areas. Over the study area, nine subbasins are identified which are all located at the headwaters of major basins in the island. A considerable earthquaketriggered landslide has been found in one of the identified subbasins. The study presents a new approach in the initial characterization of landforms in order to facilitate the identification and prioritization of highly erodible areas for high consideration especially at the local or village level.
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