Abstract
Releasing environmental flows is a valuable strategy for mitigating negative impacts of small-scale hydropower projects on river and riparian ecosystems. However, maintaining environmental flows has faced considerable resistance from different stakeholders, and previous studies have failed to appropriately investigate solutions. Here, online questionnaires and interviews were conducted among small-scale hydropower project owners, government administrators, and the public in Fujian Province, China. The results showed that the major hindrance to implementing environmental flows was the potential economic loss resulting from reductions in electricity production, stakeholders’ skepticism, technical difficulties, and a lack of the government supervision. Diversion-type projects pose the largest losses of electricity production after the release of environmental flows, and by adopting a 10% of mean annual flow as minimum target, most small-scale hydropower projects obtain low marginal profits without compensation. Here, we proposed an appropriate payment for ecosystem services by introducing an economic compensation program for different types of small-scale hydropower projects scaled by potential losses in electricity generation. Under such a scheme, economic losses from a reduction in electricity production are covered by the government, hydropower project owners, and electricity consumers. Our study offers recommendations for policymakers, officials, and researchers for conflict mitigation when implementing environmental flows.
Highlights
Hydropower is the most common renewable energy source for electricity production.Small-scale hydropower projects (SHPs) play an important role in generating electricity and have been established in 166 countries [1], of which China had ranked first with over 47,498 SHPs by the end of 2017
The results from the questionnaires showed that 20% of government administrators had once received letters of complaint related to dry watercourses caused by SHPs from local residents
Data collected from the Fujian Provincial Department of Water Resources show an average SHP spacing of 13 km on 65 rivers with a drainage area > 500 km2, which has resulted in large decreases in discharge and flow velocity, which is conducive to algae growth
Summary
Hydropower is the most common renewable energy source for electricity production.Small-scale hydropower projects (SHPs) play an important role in generating electricity and have been established in 166 countries [1], of which China had ranked first with over 47,498 SHPs by the end of 2017. The Chinese government encourages the development of renewable energy, such as hydropower and wind power, from which all electricity is purchased by grid companies. One important impact is the alteration in natural flow regimes, including river flow depletion [14], which has been proven to be related to the type of hydropower [15,16,17]. SHPs were grouped into three categories, namely diversion-type, barrier-type, and mixed-type projects. Both diversion-type and mixed-type projects transfer flow away from natural watercourses through channels or pipelines [18]. Diversion-type projects are most likely to dry up flows, especially during the dry season [19,20]
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