Renewable sources for power generation: Hydro

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Politics and Economics of International Energy

819 calificaciones

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Sciences Po

Politics and Economics of International Energy

819 calificaciones

Energy issues have always been important in international relations, but in recent years may have become even more important than in the past due to the widespread awareness of existing limits to energy sources and negative climate impacts. The course discusses global trends in energy consumption and production, various available scenarios for potential developments in the coming decades, the availability of oil reserves and the evolution of the oil industry. It then discusses natural gas and highlights the differences between oil and gas. It will also discuss renewable energy sources, nuclear energy and EU energy policy. The course aims at providing students whose main interest is in international relations a background on energy resources, technology and economic realities to allow them to correctly interpret the political impact of current developments. It also aims at providing students, who already have a technical background in energy science or engineering, with the broad global view of energy issues that will allow them to better understand the social, economic and political impact of their technical knowledge. ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR : Giacomo Luciani Scientific Advisor for the Master in International Energy at the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) Sciences Po, Giacomo Luciani is also Adjunct Professor at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva and Director of the Executive Master in International Oil and Gas Leadership. For the period 2010-13 he was appointed Princeton University Global Scholar, attached to the Woodrow Wilson School and the Department of Near Eastern Studies. His research focuses on the political economy of the Middle East and North Africa and on global energy issues. RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND : The course requires no special scientific, mathematical or economic background; all key concepts are clearly and elementarily explained. It is expected that it will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate students in schools where an equivalent course is not offered (this being the case for the vast majority of schools). USPC Sorbonne Paris Cité Supported by Université Sorbonne Paris Cité IDEX Investissements d'Avenir Funded by Investissements d'Avenir - 'ANR. Info : Course content : Licence Creative Commons BY NC SA

De la lección

Week#6 : Renewable energy sources

This module presents the Introduction to renewable energy, Types of renewable energy, Renewable energy integration, Energy efficiency

Renewable sources for power generation: Hydro7:44

Conoce a los instructores

Giacomo Luciani
Professor and Scientific Advisor for the Master in International Energy
Paris School of International Affairs

-Today, hydroelectricity is the most important

source of electricity from renewables.

It is likely to remain as such although its role will likely

progressively be reduced simply because we have already developed

a lot of the favorable sites for hydroelectricity.

So the potential for further expansion is limited.

It has several advantages.

Hydroelectricity is very flexible

because essentially it is always available.

If you wish to suddenly increase the production of electricity

you just simply open the tap and let more water flow

through the turbine and that increases the flow of electricity.

So it is very convenient in many ways as we shall explain

when we speak about the problems of the integration

of other renewables into the grid.

There are social and environmental concerns

because of the visual impact of hydro

and the fact that the creation of reservoirs displaces many people.

There are many large scale internationally significant

hydroelectric projects at the moment.

When I say internationally significant,

it means that they generate some degree of controversy internationally

because they affect many countries simultaneously.

One example is the GAP project in Turkey.

This project is to create a series of dams

to produce a large amount of electricity in the south of Turkey

but this affects the flow of 2 rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates,

affecting also Syria.

There is already a large dam in Syria and that has been controversial

because it has limited the run of water towards Iraq

and of course the water that is available in this country.

Another case in point is a large dam being built in Ethiopia these days

on the Blue Nile which will affect the flow of the Nile.

So of course Egypt and Sudan that lay downstream

are concerned that there might be a reduction in the amount of water

that will be available through the Nile.

So whenever you have rivers passing through many countries,

this creates a controversy

and the utilization of the energy contained in the river so to speak

may become controversial and needs to be subjected

to some kind of international agreement and understanding.

Another important project that is discussed from time to time

is in Zaire or Democratic Republic of Congo.

It is the Grand Inga Dam on the Zaire River.

It is a project that has been around and discussed for a long time

but has not yet come to fruition

and will probably not come to fruition any time soon

simply because it would produce so much electricity

that there is no market for it.

There are many important hydro projects being built in the world.

Many of those are in China.

China has a huge appetite for increased electricity production

and they are producing or installing new power plants of all sorts,

whether nuclear, hydro or traditional coal fuel.

So China is always number one for all of this.

The next chart is taken from the International Energy Agency

and it shows that today some countries are already highly dependent

on hydroelectricity and will presumably be more dependent

in the future.

In some cases, hydroelectricity will account for the bulk of renewables use

in that country.

For example, in the case of Brazil, 80% of renewable use

will consist in hydroelectricity.

But more important in this slide, you see how much of renewable sources

are used in power generation already today.

Again you look at Brazil and you realize that this country

already produces 80% of its electricity out of hydro today.

Brazil is a country that produces 90% of its electricity

out of renewable sources.

It really is a country that has no problem

in terms of substituting non renewable sources since it has done so.

All of its electricity comes from renewable sources.

It is not the only country of course.

Brazil is a very large country

but we can mention other cases.

Norway for example which is a major oil and gas producer

but it does not use any of that gas for power generation.

Mostly its power is supplied for by hydroelectricity.

If you talk about Alpine countries, Austria or Switzerland,

they have the opportunity of satisfying 40-50% of their electricity

with hydroelectricity, 55% in the case of Austria.

So these are countries that are blessed

with sources of renewable electricity

and therefore do not have much of a problem

in terms of making an effort to increase the role of renewables.

Elsewhere in the world this is not the case.

Because if you are in flat a country, that does not have mountains,

or if it is a dry or desert land,

you do not have a chance to implement hydro.

The incidence of renewables today and also in the future

will remain very much conditioned and linked to specific characteristics

of each country.

There are countries that are well positioned

to have more renewables and specifically hydro,

and others that are not.

This is something that will not easily change.

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