Assessment of Hydropower Sustainability in River Habitats and Aquatic Biota
A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Biodiversity and Functionality of Aquatic Ecosystems".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2024) | Viewed by 5622
Special Issue Editor
Interests: freshwater fish; fish passage; hydropower; fish migration; connectivity; river restoration
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Hydropower is the leading renewable energy source, contributing two-thirds of global electricity generation from all renewable sources combined. This renewable source has a large potential role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and climate change impacts, being integral to the EU’s target of achieving at least 32 per cent of energy being from renewables by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050, as foreseen in the European Green Deal. Thus, hydropower can directly contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7: “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all”.
However, hydropower projects and the associated infrastructures have been outlined as emerging environmental threats to riverine ecosystems, causing severe declines in vertebrate populations, with a particular impact on migratory fish and their natural habitats, as a result of river fragmentation, the blockage of migratory routes, drifting, stranding, and the modification of natural flow and thermal regimes. Therefore, guaranteeing environmental hydropower sustainability requires an in-depth assessment of all these issues, taking into account that global warming will further stimulate conflicts in water use in a way that disturbs riverine ecosystems.
Science-based knowledge regarding the solutions necessary to counteract the environmental impacts of hydropower, and melding principles of aquatic ecology and engineering hydraulics, is thus urgently needed to assure hydropower sustainability.
This Special Issue aims to compile novel information on fundamental research and applications regarding the hydropower sustainability of river habitats and aquatic biota. Authors may contribute submissions that range from field studies to mesocosms and laboratory experiments that have application to real-world challenges.
Dr. José Maria Santos
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- small-scale/large-scale hydropower
- run-of-river/pumped storage hydropower
- hydropeaking
- habitat use and modelling
- physical and behavioural barriers
- fish passage and migration
- environmental flows
- fish-friendly turbines
- optimization of hydropower design and operations
- riparian vegetation management
- hydropower and interaction with other stressors
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