A new paper on hydropeaking was recently published in NATURE Scientific Report: “Changes in short term river flow regulation and hydropeaking in Nordic rivers”. The main author is Biowater PhD-student Faisal Bin Ashraf, who studies at the University of Oulu.
In a future with more focus on renewable energy, it is likely that the role of hydropower as a load balancing power source will increase. This may again increase hydropeaking levels in Nordic river systems, creating challenges for the river ecology.
Hydropeaking is a form of flow regulation that results in frequent, short duration, artificial flow events in the regulated rivers. The need for hydropeaking is generated by rapidly changing energy markets at sub-daily scales, which then cause corresponding changes in regulated river flow. The quantification of these short-term changes in river flow is important for the understanding the environmental impacts of hydropower generation.
The study examined driving forces for hydropeaking in Nordic rivers using extensive datasets from 150 sites, and also investigated the influence of increased wind power production on hydropeaking.
The data reveal that hydropeaking in Nordic rivers has increased over the last decade and especially over the past few years.
Faisal Bin Ashraf, Ali Torabi Haghighi, Joakim Riml, Knut Alfredsen, Jarkko J. Koskela, Bjørn Kløve & Hannu Marttila. 2018. Changes in short term river flow regulation and hydropeaking in Nordic rivers. NATURE, Scientific Reports volume 8, Article number: 17232.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-35406-3
Feature photo: Regulated river Numedalslågen in Norway. Photo: Eva Skarbøvik.