A Review of the Impact of Impounded Rivers in KSA and as an Assessment of their Potential for Hydroelectric Power Generation

As an alternative to fossil fuels-based power generation, hydropower offers cheap operating and maintenance costs, a clean, and sustainable domestic energy source. Currently, hydro resources account for about more than 15% of the global electricity, with renewables accounting for 70% of the total. While 150 countries produce hydropower, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has around 559 dams that could have the capacity for hydropower energy production. KSA can meet its internal demand, produce an excess for export, and create jobs for its people by utilising its renewable resource. Therefore, this paper reviews KSA’s current dams and assesses their environmental and socioeconomic impacts and then, it is conducted out technical feasibility study if is sustainable to retrofit Hydroelectric Power (HEP) to existing dams.