Socio-Environmental Impacts of Hydro Power Technology- a Review

Abstract

Renewable energy, is the primary load bearer of a sustainable circular economy and hydropower being one of the earliest forms of it, has a wide application base. With unprecedented situations being faced by the people every day, power consumption patterns and requirements are changing and so are the faces of the leading economies. However, like other renewable strategies it is assayed based on the greenhouse gas emissions during its operation. This unfortunately presents a true but blurry picture. Some of the long-term issues with creating a dam, are soil quality degradation in downstream regions, loss of aquatic life due to high-speed turbine blades, disbalance in the nutrient cycle of aquatic systems, water contamination with machinery oils, displacement of local communities, loss of soil fertility near the site due to drilling and tunnelling, landslides and seismic issues due to excavation of land which loosens the nearby soil cover. Therefore, our goal is to analyze and compile various case studies of hydro power projects throughout the globe which caused some environmental or social disruption in their respective regions and the various steps that were taken by the government or the locals to tackle these problems. Many areas faced seismic problems, environmental degradation, water profile alterations and social displacement. But, by opting for new turbine technologies, fish friendly channel designs and landscaping procedures featuring indigenous vegetation to restore surrounding ecology, those regions were able to amend the problems with their hydropower project.

Who, How and How Far? Renewable Energy Transitions in Industrialized and Emerging Countries

“…In China, as in the US, the percentage of hydropower has decreased during the decade, while those of wind and solar energy have grown, although not so significantly (figure 1). These trends are explained by the last century's commitment to large dams, led in the US by the Hoover Dam (Nevada), with its 8.95 cubic miles of retained water, the Glen Canyon Dam (Arizona), and the Garrison Dam (North Dakota), among several others; this strategy eventually proved unattractive not only due to the evidence of the negative environmental and social impacts that large dams entail [10][11][12][13], but also to the advantages and innovations offered by solar technology [14,15] and wind energy [16][17][18].…”