Life Stage-Specific Hydropeaking Flow Rules
Peak-operating hydropower plants are usually the energy grid’s backbone by providing flexible energy production. At the same time, hydropeaking operations are considered one of the most adverse impacts on rivers, whereby aquatic organisms and their life-history stages can be affected in many ways. T...
Published in: | Sustainability |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
2019
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3390/su11061547 |
id |
ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2071-1050/11/6/1547/ |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2071-1050/11/6/1547/ 2023-08-20T04:09:31+02:00 Life Stage-Specific Hydropeaking Flow Rules Daniel Hayes Miguel Moreira Isabel Boavida Melanie Haslauer Günther Unfer Bernhard Zeiringer Franz Greimel Stefan Auer Teresa Ferreira Stefan Schmutz agris 2019-03-14 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/su11061547 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Environmental Sustainability and Applications https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su11061547 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Sustainability; Volume 11; Issue 6; Pages: 1547 sustainable hydropower sub-daily flow fluctuations peak-load energy production pulsed flows environmental flow biologically sensitive periods salmonids Salmo salar Salmo trutta Thymallus thymallus Text 2019 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/su11061547 2023-07-31T22:06:52Z Peak-operating hydropower plants are usually the energy grid’s backbone by providing flexible energy production. At the same time, hydropeaking operations are considered one of the most adverse impacts on rivers, whereby aquatic organisms and their life-history stages can be affected in many ways. Therefore, we propose specific seasonal regulations to protect ecologically sensitive life cycle stages. By reviewing hydropeaking literature, we establish a framework for hydrological mitigation based on life-history stages of salmonid fish and their relationship with key parameters of the hydrograph. During migration and spawning, flows should be kept relatively stable, and a flow cap should be implemented to prevent the dewatering of spawning grounds during intragravel life stages. While eggs may be comparably tolerant to dewatering, post-hatch stages are very vulnerable, which calls for minimizing or eliminating the duration of drawdown situations and providing adequate minimum flows. Especially emerging fry are extremely sensitive to flow fluctuations. As fish then grow in size, they become less vulnerable. Therefore, an ‘emergence window’, where stringent thresholds on ramping rates are enforced, is proposed. Furthermore, time of day, morphology, and temperature changes must be considered as they may interact with hydropeaking. We conclude that the presented mitigation framework can aid the environmental enhancement of hydropeaking rivers while maintaining flexible energy production. Text Salmo salar MDPI Open Access Publishing Sustainability 11 6 1547 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
MDPI Open Access Publishing |
op_collection_id |
ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
sustainable hydropower sub-daily flow fluctuations peak-load energy production pulsed flows environmental flow biologically sensitive periods salmonids Salmo salar Salmo trutta Thymallus thymallus |
spellingShingle |
sustainable hydropower sub-daily flow fluctuations peak-load energy production pulsed flows environmental flow biologically sensitive periods salmonids Salmo salar Salmo trutta Thymallus thymallus Daniel Hayes Miguel Moreira Isabel Boavida Melanie Haslauer Günther Unfer Bernhard Zeiringer Franz Greimel Stefan Auer Teresa Ferreira Stefan Schmutz Life Stage-Specific Hydropeaking Flow Rules |
topic_facet |
sustainable hydropower sub-daily flow fluctuations peak-load energy production pulsed flows environmental flow biologically sensitive periods salmonids Salmo salar Salmo trutta Thymallus thymallus |
description |
Peak-operating hydropower plants are usually the energy grid’s backbone by providing flexible energy production. At the same time, hydropeaking operations are considered one of the most adverse impacts on rivers, whereby aquatic organisms and their life-history stages can be affected in many ways. Therefore, we propose specific seasonal regulations to protect ecologically sensitive life cycle stages. By reviewing hydropeaking literature, we establish a framework for hydrological mitigation based on life-history stages of salmonid fish and their relationship with key parameters of the hydrograph. During migration and spawning, flows should be kept relatively stable, and a flow cap should be implemented to prevent the dewatering of spawning grounds during intragravel life stages. While eggs may be comparably tolerant to dewatering, post-hatch stages are very vulnerable, which calls for minimizing or eliminating the duration of drawdown situations and providing adequate minimum flows. Especially emerging fry are extremely sensitive to flow fluctuations. As fish then grow in size, they become less vulnerable. Therefore, an ‘emergence window’, where stringent thresholds on ramping rates are enforced, is proposed. Furthermore, time of day, morphology, and temperature changes must be considered as they may interact with hydropeaking. We conclude that the presented mitigation framework can aid the environmental enhancement of hydropeaking rivers while maintaining flexible energy production. |
format |
Text |
author |
Daniel Hayes Miguel Moreira Isabel Boavida Melanie Haslauer Günther Unfer Bernhard Zeiringer Franz Greimel Stefan Auer Teresa Ferreira Stefan Schmutz |
author_facet |
Daniel Hayes Miguel Moreira Isabel Boavida Melanie Haslauer Günther Unfer Bernhard Zeiringer Franz Greimel Stefan Auer Teresa Ferreira Stefan Schmutz |
author_sort |
Daniel Hayes |
title |
Life Stage-Specific Hydropeaking Flow Rules |
title_short |
Life Stage-Specific Hydropeaking Flow Rules |
title_full |
Life Stage-Specific Hydropeaking Flow Rules |
title_fullStr |
Life Stage-Specific Hydropeaking Flow Rules |
title_full_unstemmed |
Life Stage-Specific Hydropeaking Flow Rules |
title_sort |
life stage-specific hydropeaking flow rules |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/su11061547 |
op_coverage |
agris |
genre |
Salmo salar |
genre_facet |
Salmo salar |
op_source |
Sustainability; Volume 11; Issue 6; Pages: 1547 |
op_relation |
Environmental Sustainability and Applications https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su11061547 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/su11061547 |
container_title |
Sustainability |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
1547 |
_version_ |
1774722527002624000 |