The carbon footprint of large- and mid-scale hydropower in China: Synthesis from five China's largest hydro-project

Abstract

The past two decades have witnessed growing global concern about excessive greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by reservoirs and the development of hydropower. Literature review showed that life cycle GHG emissions per energy production of collected global dataset ranged from 0.04 to 237.0 gCO_2eq/kW⋅h, with a mean of 25.8 ± 3.0 gCO_2eq/kW⋅h. Synthesis from the China's five largest hydro-projects and other publications estimated that the large- and mid-scale hydro-projects in China had a carbon footprint between 6.2 gCO2eq/kWh and 34.6 gCO_2eq/kWh, with a mean value of 19.2 ± 6.8 gCO_2eq/kWh (mean ± sd.). Over 80% of the carbon footprint of the hydro-projects could be conservatively allocated to hydroelectricity generation, while the rest could then be allocated to flood control services. In the Three Gorges Dam Project, the allocated life cycle GHG emissions per energy production of its hydroelectricity production was estimated to be 17.8 gCO_2eq/kW⋅h. GHG emissions from reservoir sediments and in the phase of operation and maintenance were still uncertain. There is still a need of in-depth research on reservoir carbon cycling to quantify net reservoir GHG emissions.

Keywords: Allocation; Life cycle inventories; Pre-impoundment clearance; Reservoir net GHG emissions; River-valley dammed; Uncertainty analysis.