Hydrokinetic energy conversion: A global riverine perspective
Free-flowing rivers have been impacted by anthropogenic activity and extensive hydropower development. Despite this, many opportunities exist for context-specific energy extraction, at locations deemed undesirable for conventional hydropower plants, in ways that reduce the scale of operation and imp...
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craippubl:10.1063/5.0092215 2024-02-11T09:58:13+01:00 Hydrokinetic energy conversion: A global riverine perspective Ridgill, Michael Lewis, Matt J. Robins, Peter E. Patil, Sopan D. Neill, Simon P. European Social Fund European Regional Development Fund 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0092215 https://pubs.aip.org/aip/jrse/article-pdf/doi/10.1063/5.0092215/16574668/044501_1_online.pdf en eng AIP Publishing Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy volume 14, issue 4 ISSN 1941-7012 Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment journal-article 2022 craippubl https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0092215 2024-01-26T09:45:25Z Free-flowing rivers have been impacted by anthropogenic activity and extensive hydropower development. Despite this, many opportunities exist for context-specific energy extraction, at locations deemed undesirable for conventional hydropower plants, in ways that reduce the scale of operation and impact. Hydrokinetic energy conversion is a renewable energy technology that requires accurate resource assessment to support deployment in rivers. We use global-scale modeled river discharge data, combined with a high-resolution vectorized representation of river networks, to estimate channel form, flow velocities, and, hence, global hydrokinetic potential. Our approach is based directly on the transfer of kinetic energy through the river network, rather than conventional, yet less realistic, assessments that are based on conversion from gravitational potential energy. We show that this new approach provides a more accurate global distribution of the hydrokinetic resource, highlighting the importance of the lower-courses of major rivers. The resource is shown to have great potential on the continents of South America, Asia, and Africa. We calculate that the mean hydrokinetic energy of global rivers (excluding Greenland and Antarctica) is 5.911 ± 0.009 PJ (1.642 ± 0.003 TWh). Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Greenland AIP Publishing Greenland Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy |
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language |
English |
topic |
Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment |
spellingShingle |
Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment Ridgill, Michael Lewis, Matt J. Robins, Peter E. Patil, Sopan D. Neill, Simon P. Hydrokinetic energy conversion: A global riverine perspective |
topic_facet |
Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment |
description |
Free-flowing rivers have been impacted by anthropogenic activity and extensive hydropower development. Despite this, many opportunities exist for context-specific energy extraction, at locations deemed undesirable for conventional hydropower plants, in ways that reduce the scale of operation and impact. Hydrokinetic energy conversion is a renewable energy technology that requires accurate resource assessment to support deployment in rivers. We use global-scale modeled river discharge data, combined with a high-resolution vectorized representation of river networks, to estimate channel form, flow velocities, and, hence, global hydrokinetic potential. Our approach is based directly on the transfer of kinetic energy through the river network, rather than conventional, yet less realistic, assessments that are based on conversion from gravitational potential energy. We show that this new approach provides a more accurate global distribution of the hydrokinetic resource, highlighting the importance of the lower-courses of major rivers. The resource is shown to have great potential on the continents of South America, Asia, and Africa. We calculate that the mean hydrokinetic energy of global rivers (excluding Greenland and Antarctica) is 5.911 ± 0.009 PJ (1.642 ± 0.003 TWh). |
author2 |
European Social Fund European Regional Development Fund |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ridgill, Michael Lewis, Matt J. Robins, Peter E. Patil, Sopan D. Neill, Simon P. |
author_facet |
Ridgill, Michael Lewis, Matt J. Robins, Peter E. Patil, Sopan D. Neill, Simon P. |
author_sort |
Ridgill, Michael |
title |
Hydrokinetic energy conversion: A global riverine perspective |
title_short |
Hydrokinetic energy conversion: A global riverine perspective |
title_full |
Hydrokinetic energy conversion: A global riverine perspective |
title_fullStr |
Hydrokinetic energy conversion: A global riverine perspective |
title_full_unstemmed |
Hydrokinetic energy conversion: A global riverine perspective |
title_sort |
hydrokinetic energy conversion: a global riverine perspective |
publisher |
AIP Publishing |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0092215 https://pubs.aip.org/aip/jrse/article-pdf/doi/10.1063/5.0092215/16574668/044501_1_online.pdf |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Greenland |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Greenland |
op_source |
Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy volume 14, issue 4 ISSN 1941-7012 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0092215 |
container_title |
Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy |
_version_ |
1790593825194901504 |