Last modified: 2014-09-11
Abstract
Chile, amounting to 2,750 MW, with a total flooding area nearly 6,000 ha.
Given the relatively pristine ecosystem in Chilean Patagonia, where these
plants are to be located, potential environmental impacts associated with
this project have led to considerable public concern. This paper presents
results of the life cycle inventory related to the dam construction stage.
Hydroelectric dams require significant amounts of energy and building
materials during construction. Data was obtained from environmental
impact assessment official documents mainly, and the system boundaries
include cements, steel, and materials transport from production plants to
building sites. Results show that the flooding area does not correlate with
the installed power, and LCIs are highly dependent on topographic features,
and transport distances.
Keywords
References
Alexandre Kemenes. Bruce Forsberg. John Melack. (2011). CO2 emissions from a tropical hydroelectric reservoir (Balbina, Brazil). Journal of Geophysical Research, 116, G03004.
Alexandre Kemenes. Bruce Forsberg. John Melack. (2011). Methane release below a tropical hydroelectric dam. Geophysical Research Letters, 34, L12809.
Center for economic load dispatch of Central Interconnected System, CDEC-SIC. (2011). Annual Report Statistic and Operation, Chile. http://www.cdec-sic.cl/datos/anuario2012/espanol/index.html
Centrales Hidroeléctricas de Aysen S.A. (2008). Environmental Impact Study “Aysen Hydroelectric Project”, Chile.
http://infofirma.sea.gob.cl/DocumentosSEA/MostrarDocumento?docId=e8/03/92eaee0642bbba32b4c1a28aeec61da6e66d
David Bastviken. Lars Tranvik. John Downing. Patrick Crill. Alex Enrich-Prast. (2011). Freshwater methane emissions offset the continental carbon sink. Science, vol. 331, N° 6013, p.50.
Flávio de Miranda Ribeiro. Gil Anderi da Silva. (2010). Life-cycle inventory for hydroelectric generation: a Brazilian case study. Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 18, p. 44-54.
Jari Huttunene. Tero Väisänen. Seppo Hellsten. Mirja Heikkinen. Hannu Hykänen. Högne Jungner. Arto Niskanen. Markku Virtanen. Ossi Lindqvist. Olli Nenonen. Pertti Martikainen. (2002). Fluxes of CH4, CO2, and N2O in hydroelectric reservoirs Lokka and Porttipahta in the northern boreal zone in Finland. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, vol 16, N°1, 1003.
Luiz Rosa. M. A. dos Santos. B. Matvienko. E. Sikar. E. Oliveira dos Santos. (2006). Scientific errors in the Fearnside comments on the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from hydroelectric dams and response to his political claiming. Climatic Change, vol. 75, Issue 1-2, p. 91-102.
Luiz Rosa. M. A. dos Santos. B. Matvienko. E. Oliveira dos Santos. E. Sikar. (2004). Greenhouse gas emissions from hydroelectric reservoirs in Tropical Regions. Climatic Change, 66:9-21
M. Demarty. J. Bastien. (2011). GHG emissions from hydroelectric reservoirs in tropical and equatorial regions: Review of 20 years of CH4 emission measurement. Energy Policy, 39:4197-4206.
Nathan Barros. Jonathan Cole. Lars Tranvik. Yves Prairie. David Bastviken. Vera Huszar. Paul di Giorgio. Fábio Roland. (2011). Carbon emissions from hydroelectric reservoirs linked to reservoirs age and latitude. Nature Geoscience Letters, Published online 31 July 2011.
Philip Fearnside. (2006). Greenhouse gas emissions from hydroelectric dams: reply to Rosa et al. Climatic Change, vol. 75, p.103-109.