How does drought intensity and duration impact hydroelectricity generation?
Abstract
Drought is a naturally occurring climatic phenomenon that influences human and environmental activities. Droughts have various economic, social, and environmental consequences and can be considered one of the most costly and pervasive natural disasters. Moreover, drought, as an extreme climate event, has severe negative impacts on hydroelectricity in diverse ways such as increasing evaporation from water surface and reducing effective generating capacity. While the water-energy nexus and interconnectedness of these two resources have been widely studied, the relationship between drought and hydroelectricity generation has been rarely studied. Therefore, in this study, we assess the impacts of conventional as well as flash drought on hydropower generation, which depends on water available at specific times to generate electricity. This study determines the spatiotemporal correlation between hydroelectricity generation and drought. Furthermore, by analyzing the interrelationship between these two variables, we map the spatial hydropower vulnerability of drought across the Contiguous United States. Therefore, regions where power plants are more susceptible to drought will be identified. Finally, an important consideration of this study is that we will quantify the impact of drought using financial analysis. In financial analysis, we will focus on economic damages and increased electricity costs caused by drought.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2022
- Bibcode:
- 2022AGUFM.H45Q1601M