CARLY CASSELLA
31 AUG 2019
If all the hydro-power dams in the United States were removed and replaced with solar panels, it would take up a fraction of the land and produce substantially more electricity, according to a new analysis.
The idea is ambitious, and for now, it’s really just a thought experiment. Today, hydropower is a significant source of renewable energy in the US, accounting for roughly six percent of the country’s total electricity output.
Removing all 2,603 hydro dams in America would leave a huge energy void behind, but it could also provide room for greener opportunities.
While it’s true that hydropower dams are a renewable source of energy, they still produce large amounts of greenhouse gases and can be environmentally destructive and costly to maintain in the long term.
In recent years, these criticisms have led to a growing dam removal movement. And although it’s theoretical, a massive investment in solar power might be able to cushion that loss.
To cover for all the hydro dams currently in use, scientists estimate we would need nearly 530,000 hectares of photovoltaics (PV). While this sounds like a lot, it’s a “surprisingly modest” amount compared to the combined size of most reservoirs, which cover nearly 4 million hectares nationwide.
In fact, the new analysis suggests that substitute solar panels could match the total energy output from hydro dams while using just 13 percent of the same land.
“I think that’s pretty astonishing and tantalising too,” John Waldman, an aquatic conservation biologist from the City University of New York, told Carbon Brief.
“I’m hoping this presents a different mindset for people who think about our energy futures.”
The potential land sitting under reservoirs right now is immense, and if only 50 percent of that surface is drained and used for solar panels, it could greatly improve energy efficiency, producing nearly three-and-a-half times the amount of energy hydropower currently generates.
Even in a more conservative hypothetical, where only a quarter of that drained land is used for solar farms, Waldman and his colleagues calculate energy production could increase 1.7 fold.
In some states, this has the potential to free up huge swathes of land for other purposes, including wildlife habitat, recreation, and agriculture. In Florida, for instance, scientists calculated a solar farm the size of New York’s Central Park (341 hectares) could replace 26,520 hectares of the state’s hydro dams.
The new analysis focused on solar power because it is easily scalable, but the authors argue the same logic can also be applied to wind power on a reservoir’s surrounding ridges and hydrokinetic turbines in a newly-flowing river.
“Also, potentially expensive and difficult-to-permit electrical lines that transmitted the hydropower already exist at these locations and could potentially be repurposed to carry electricity from alternative sources,” the authors argue.
Published findings in Nature Sustainability here.
HT/ozspeaksup
This is next to the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard with renewables in general being #1.
In what part of America would solar work at night?
‘producing nearly three-and-a-half times the amount of energy hydropower currently generates’
Double-ought zero times at night. Are people really this ignorant? It doesn’t seem possible.
This idea reminds me of a movie title: Dumb and Dumberer.
Out in the southwestern USA, summers are extremely dry, and dams are necessary to collect winter snow and spring runoff from mountains to provide fresh water for irrigation and human consumption during the summer and early autumn. Without dams to hold water from the wet season, many rivers would be completely dry during the summer.
Hydroelectric power is basically a fringe benefit from the dams, whose true purpose is to distribute the availability of fresh water year-round. If the greenies want solar panels, let them put them in the desert, to capture the summer sun, but leave the dams alone, so that people have water to drink all summer!
Water makes a much better surface for laying out solar panels than an uneven mud-pit…
But I guess draining the huge lakes would be the only way to get rid of the thousands of fishing boats, ski boats, house-boats, and the millions of recreational users who would otherwise be shouting:
“Put those damned things out in that thousand times larger empty desert next door and get them off of our precious WATER.”
Of course it is tantalizing. Water is as essential to human prosperity as fossil fuels. The fraudulent “fossil fuels are killing the planet” alarm is really about trying to curtail PEOPLE, for which purpose getting rid of water would serve just as well.
This was just “The Next Stupid Idea” to take your mind off solar powered roads, which was never going to work, while other madmen do away with the private ownership of cars and land
The thought of getting rid of any fresh water source however its used is absolute stupidity. Stick ya solar panels in the desert /where ever .Besides I’ll bet those dams not only provide power ,but recreational dollars for the surrounding communities through camping,boating and fishing etc. Although its a thought experiment about area efficiency ,it is flawed only considering one product ,rather than total land use efficiency for the community .
“I think that’s pretty astonishing and tantalising too,” John Waldman, an aquatic conservation biologist from the City University of New York, told Carbon Brief.
Apart from the fact this is one of the silliest ideas ever even on the face of it, some of these dams have been around for a very long time and their ecosystems are stable. This “aquatic conservation biologist” apparently wants to destroy those environments.
I think there should be a minimum IQ required before one can call oneself a scientist. Over 100 would be nice.
Whomever suggested this, even thought of it, must be brainless. One only needs to look at the several countries that have a large percentage amount of hydro power and the ease at which these countries have Incorporated wind and solar to realize that we need more hydro not ZERO hydro.