LAPSE:2019.0010
Published Article
LAPSE:2019.0010
Hydropower Production in Future Climate Scenarios; the Case for the Zambezi River
Byman H. Hamududu, Ånund Killingtveit
January 7, 2019
Climate change remains a threat to water resources projects in southern Africa where impacts resulting from changes in climate are projected to be negative and worse than in most other regions of the world. This work presents an assessment of the impacts of climate change on water resources and hydropower production potential in the Zambezi River Basin. Future climate scenarios projected through the five General Circulation Model (GCM) outputs are used as input in the impact assessment. The future projected climate scenarios are downscaled to find local and regional changes, and used in the Hydrologiska Byråns Vattenbalansavdelning (HBV) hydrological model to assess climate change impacts on water resources in the river basin. According to the simulations, air temperature and potential evaporation are projected to increase, while rainfall is projected to decrease. The Zambezi hydropower system is likely to be affected negatively as a result of future climate changes. Increasing air temperature leading to increased evaporation, and reduced rainfall, both contribute to a decrease in resulting river flows and increased reservoir evaporation. Consequently, the decrease in water resources will lead to decreased hydropower production potential, by 9% in 2020s, 18% in 2050s and 28% in 2080s in the hydropower system, for a medium emission scenario, A1B.
Keywords
Africa, climate change, hydrology, hydropower production, impacts, Malawi, Mozambique, water resources, Zambezi, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Suggested Citation
Hamududu BH, Killingtveit ?. Hydropower Production in Future Climate Scenarios; the Case for the Zambezi River. (2019). LAPSE:2019.0010
Author Affiliations
Hamududu BH: Hydrology Department, Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), N-0301 Oslo, Norway [ORCID]
Killingtveit ?: Department of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), S.P. Andersens Vei 5, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway
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Journal Name
Energies
Volume
9
Issue
7
Article Number
E502
Year
2016
Publication Date
2016-06-30
Published Version
ISSN
1996-1073
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Original Submission
Other Meta
PII: en9070502, Publication Type: Journal Article
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LAPSE:2019.0010
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doi:10.3390/en9070502
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Jan 7, 2019
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CC BY 4.0
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Jan 7, 2019
 
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Original Submitter
Calvin Tsay
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