📋 Tender Overview
By: Waldo Lavado and Danny SaavedraThe behavior of water and its link with energy will be increasingly decisive in a climate change scenario. Understanding how these systems would evolve in the future is not only a scientific challenge, but a necessity for development planning.
Along these lines, the National Meteorology and Hydrology Service of Peru (Senamhi), within the framework of the ENANDES project, has developed the Atlas of the water-energy relationship in Peru: a present evaluation and future projections, a research that integrates historical information and long-term climate scenarios.
Hydroelectric energy is the main source of renewable energy and the most viable for implementation in remote areas without access to conventional electrical networks. Therefore, knowledge of the current, potential and future perspectives of sustainable hydropower projects is decisive for their future viability.
This study estimates the current and future potential capacity of Perus hydroelectric system and potential small hydroelectric plants, specifically run-of-the-river type. Based on geospatial data and hydrological models, the current hydroelectric system and potential sites for hydroelectric projects were evaluated.
The results identified 11,965 potential sites for run-of-the-river plants based on hydrological simulations of historical daily flows (1981-2020) and energy indices for current and potential sites. It was determined that there is an installed capacity of 5.2 GW in the current hydroelectric system and a total potential capacity of 29.1 GW for run-of-the-river plants, distributed mainly in the northern and central Andes.
Future energy projections indicate that run-of-the-river hydroelectric plants will decrease between 0.5 and -5.4% (-7.2 and -2.2%) and between -9.2 and 3.8% (1.8 and -11.9%) for the horizons 2071-2100 (2036-2065). These results provide relevant information to support policy makers in solving sustainable development gaps in the coming decades and stakeholders involved in the implementation and mitigation of climate change impacts in hydroelectric projects in Peru.
All these results have been captured in a useful Atlas for different users, a product that seeks to strengthen climate resilience in countries in the Andean region by improving climate services based on applied scientific information, which promotes better preparation for the challenges of climate change.
With this contribution, Senamhi reaffirms its commitment to generating useful and accessible climate information, contributing to more informed decision-making and the sustainable development of the country.
Study link: Atlas of the water-energy relationship in Peru: a present evaluation and future projections
Scientific article link: Evaluation of run-of-the-river hydroelectric plants in Peru: current and potential locations, historical variability (1981-2020) and climate change projections (2035-2100)
Web portal link: Hydroenergy Portal
The ENANDES project Improving the adaptive capacity of Andean-Amazonian communities through climate services is an initiative of the World Meteorological Organization, financed by the Adaptation Fund, with Chile, Colombia and Peru as its scope of implementation. The objective of the project is to increase the resilience of communities to climate hazards by empowering local agents and institutions.
