Offsetting the greenhouse gas footprint of hydropower with floating solar photovoltaics

Authors

Rafael M. Almeida, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Areefin-Ul-Hassan Chowdhury
Hansapani Rodrigo, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Mingxu Li
Rafael J. P. Schmitt

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-26-2024

Abstract

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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Recommended Citation

Almeida, R.M., Chowdhury, AUH., Rodrigo, H. et al. Offsetting the greenhouse gas footprint of hydropower with floating solar photovoltaics. Nat Sustain (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01384-w

Publication Title

Nature Sustainability

DOI

10.1038/s41893-024-01384-w