Reducing greenhouse gas emissions of Amazon hydropower with strategic dam planning

Rafael M Almeida; Qinru Shi; Jonathan M Gomes-Selman; Xiaojian Wu; Yexiang Xue; Hector Angarita; Nathan Barros; Bruce R Forsberg; Roosevelt García-Villacorta; Stephen K Hamilton; John M Melack; Mariana Montoya; Guillaume Perez; Suresh A Sethi; Carla P Gomes; Alexander S Flecker

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-12179-5

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions of Amazon hydropower with strategic dam planning

Nat Commun. 2019 Sep 19;10(1):4281. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-12179-5.

Authors

Rafael M Almeida¹, Qinru Shi², Jonathan M Gomes-Selman³, Xiaojian Wu^{2

4}, Yexiang Xue^{2

5}, Hector Angarita⁶, Nathan Barros⁷, Bruce R Forsberg⁸, Roosevelt García-Villacorta⁹, Stephen K Hamilton^{10

11}, John M Melack¹², Mariana Montoya¹³, Guillaume Perez², Suresh A Sethi¹⁴, Carla P Gomes¹⁵, Alexander S Flecker¹⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA. rafaelmalmeida2@gmail.com.
² Cornell University, Institute for Computational Sustainability, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
³ Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, 94305, USA.
⁴ Microsoft AI & Research, Sunnyvale, CA, USA.
⁵ Department of Computer Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
⁶ Stockholm Environment Institute Latin America, Bogota, 110231, Colombia.
⁷ Department of Biology, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, 36036-900, Brazil.
⁸ National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA), Manaus, 69060-001, Brazil.
⁹ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
¹⁰ W.K. Kellogg Biological Station and Department of Integrative Biology, Michigan State University, Hickory Corners, MI, 49060, USA.
¹¹ Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY, 12545, USA.
¹² Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA.
¹³ Wildlife Conservation Society Peru, Lima, 15048, Peru.
¹⁴ USGS New York Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
¹⁵ Cornell University, Institute for Computational Sustainability, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA. gomes@cs.cornell.edu.
¹⁶ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA. asf3@cornell.edu.

Abstract

Hundreds of dams have been proposed throughout the Amazon basin, one of the world's largest untapped hydropower frontiers. While hydropower is a potentially clean source of renewable energy, some projects produce high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per unit electricity generated (carbon intensity). Here we show how carbon intensities of proposed Amazon upland dams (median = 39 kg CO₂eq MWh^-1, 100-year horizon) are often comparable with solar and wind energy, whereas some lowland dams (median = 133 kg CO₂eq MWh^-1) may exceed carbon intensities of fossil-fuel power plants. Based on 158 existing and 351 proposed dams, we present a multi-objective optimization framework showing that low-carbon expansion of Amazon hydropower relies on strategic planning, which is generally linked to placing dams in higher elevations and smaller streams. Ultimately, basin-scale dam planning that considers GHG emissions along with social and ecological externalities will be decisive for sustainable energy development where new hydropower is contemplated.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.