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Nature Sustainability volume 7, pages 1102–1106 (2024 )Cite this article greenhouse and base
Hydropower is typically considered a low-carbon energy source. Yet, because of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from their reservoirs, some hydropower facilities exhibit high GHG intensities (that is, emissions per unit of electricity generated). Here we assess the potential for offsetting GHG intensities by combining reservoir-based hydropower with floating solar photovoltaics (FPV), a burgeoning renewable energy technology. We find that technically feasible FPV–hydropower integrations could enable over 50% of the world’s GHG-intensive hydropower plants to achieve low-GHG energy benchmarks. These findings have implications for both project-level hydropower management and broader climate change mitigation strategies.
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The GHG intensity data were taken from Li and He2. Global photovoltaic power potential data are from the Global Solar Atlas (https://globalsolaratlas.info/download)20, a free, web-based application developed and operated by the company Solargis s.r.o. on behalf of the World Bank Group, utilizing Solargis data, with funding provided by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program. All data supporting the findings of this study are available at https://github.com/rafamalmeida/ghg-hp-fpv.
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R.M.A. acknowledges funding from a University of Texas System Rising STARs award and a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture seed grant (no. 2023-67020-39704).
Present address: O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX, USA
Rafael M. Almeida & Areefin-Ul-Hassan Chowdhury
School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX, USA
Areefin-Ul-Hassan Chowdhury & Hansapani Rodrigo
Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Natural Capital Project, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Doerr School of Sustainability, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
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R.M.A. and R.J.P.S. designed the study. M.L. supplied the GHG datasets. R.M.A., A.-U.-H.C. and H.R. compiled additional data and conducted the analyses. R.M.A. and R.J.P.S. interpreted the data. R.M.A. wrote the initial draft, with additional input from R.J.P.S.
Correspondence to Rafael M. Almeida.
The authors declare no competing interests.
Nature Sustainability thanks Bridget Deemer, Brandi McKuin, Giuseppe Marco Tina and Gregory Thomas for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
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Almeida, R.M., Chowdhury, AUH., Rodrigo, H. et al. Offsetting the greenhouse gas footprint of hydropower with floating solar photovoltaics. Nat Sustain 7, 1102–1106 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01384-w
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01384-w
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