ECONOMIC VIABILITY OF THE HYDROPOWER PLANTS OF THE FUTURE

Abstract

The impact of hydropower plants on the environment varies greatly, depending on site-specific mitigation measures and production strategies: if badly managed, hydropower production can reduce biodiversity and can significantly degrade fluvial ecosystems and associated ecosystem services.Ocean waves are an immense, unused source of energy. Since global attention is nowadays constantly being drawn to the fact that the level of CO2 is rising, creating the so called “greenhouse effect”, and influencing further climate changes, the focus on generating electricity from renewable sources forces itself as an important area of future research. The possibility to exploit the energy potential created by sea waves indisputably exists. Various researches conducted in the field of unused energy sources prove the necessity of seriously considering this potential of sea waves. The illustration of this point in noted in a recently performed estimation that up to 15 per cent of current UK electricity demand could be met by wave energy, and when this is combined with tidal stream generation, even up to 20 per cent of the UK demand for electrical power could be met. This paper introduces the readers to the topic of water power, as a natural source of renewable energy, investigating the possibility of using power of waves as one of the technically and ecologically appropriate solutions of exploiting this renewable natural source. It is a fact widely acknowledged that climate change and global warming are the number-one challenge of the contemporary world; practically every available research predicts that with the current rate of development the world is heading for at least 2, and even more likely 3-4, degrees warmer climate by the end of this century. As energy production and use account for two-thirds of global greenhouse-gas emissions, the energy industry is in a key role to cut emissions – while powering economic growth, boosting energy security and increasing energy access. In view of this, hydropower can make a major contribution to climate change mitigation. Not only is hydropower practically CO₂-free, thus eliminating its possible contribution to the greenhouse effect, but it is also both more efficient and flexible compared with existing fossil alternatives for base load and balancing power. Even though the world is aware of the potential of hydropower, and despite the fact that many wave energy devices are nowadays being investigated, most of these are currently at the research and development stage, with only a small range of devices having been tested at large scale, deployed in the oceans. Thus, one of the goals of this paper would be to present the technology used to turn the power of waves unto electric power, as well as the various types of turbines and devices which represent the latest technological achievements in this area. The goal of this paper is also to present the existing devices, their manner of functioning, and their efficiency and safety from the environmental aspect. It is also important to note that hydropower’s own overall environmental impact is limited, thus making hydropower more benevolent to the environment than other energy sources that have been exploited so far.