Harnessing satellite technology for more strategic hydropower planning

Hydropower is a powerful tool in the battle against climate change, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contributing to energy supply security on the planet. A key consideration when new reservoirs are planned, or the long-term sustainability of existing reservoirs is evaluated, is sedimentation. Factors such as the reservoir’s lifetime or its storage capacity over time are directly connected to the amount of sediment transported and deposited in the reservoir.

According to a news item posted on the ‘International Water Power & Dam Construction’ website, “reservoir sedimentation results in annual losses estimated to be 0.5-1 % of the total storage volume. This loss of storage is higher than the increase in capacity made possible through the construction of new reservoirs, making sediment mitigation measures of vital importance for increasing the lifetime and enhancing the sustainability of existing reservoirs.”

To help hydropower managers, planners and decision-makers tackle such challenges, the EU-funded HYPOS project has developed an accessible online decision support tool that enables efficient sediment management. The tool – an Earth observation portal called HYPOS eoPortal – makes environmental and investment planning and monitoring possible thanks to cutting-edge satellite technologies. It complements hydrological modelling with available on-site data.More specifically, the portal offers easy access to key hydrological data (e.g. inflow and outflow volumes) and water quality parameters (e.g. turbidity) for selectable time periods, providing current, recent seasonal and historic data on demand. The satellite-derived analytics combined with in situ and model data enable the easy assessment of sediment transport and sedimentation rates in the portal. “Thus, at the click of a mouse, results such as total suspended solids in the water can be depicted instantaneously for the entire catchment by the software’s algorithms, provided satellite data is available,” the news item reports.

At a cost much lower than a field campaign, portal users are given access to spatially explicit data, Earth observation data taken every few days depending on cloud coverage, and daily updates of modelled flow and sediment concentrations. This simplifies many activities, such as identifying sediment baselines and seasonal trends, calculating sedimentation rates and flows, and monitoring sediment dynamics and algal bloom evolution in reservoirs. The HYPOS eoPortal currently includes the following satellite-based parameters: turbidity, total suspended solids, chlorophyll-a and Secchi disk depth for measuring water transparency.

The HYPOS (HYdro-POwer-Suite) solution is described as “a game changer for the industry, enabling strategic hydropower planning so rarely applied to-date on basin scales, despite studies demonstrating that the strategic planning and operation of dams can greatly improve trade-offs between dam impacts and benefits for sub-basins.” The portal has so far been tested on four reservoirs and rivers in Albania, Georgia and Switzerland. It will be officially launched in April 2022 with plans to go global within the year.

For more information, please see:

HYPOS project website