Green hydropower: A new assessment procedure for river management

Hydropower is the most important renewable electricity source worldwide. It shows clear advantages for the global CO₂ balance but creates serious ecological impacts on a local scale. As a consequence, concern for the conservation of natural river ecosystems is growing within society and more people are willing to pay extra for so-called 'green electricity'. The definition of 'green', however, is not straightforward and customers cannot directly examine the quality of electricity products. Therefore, credible certification of high ecological standards is essential for successful green electricity marketing. In this paper we introduce a new assessment procedure for evaluating environmentally compatible hydropower production. This so-called 'Green Hydro' concept was developed in the context of a multidisciplinary case study on a 400 MW hydropower scheme in the Southern Alps of Switzerland. The concept guarantees both general standards for different schemes operating in different types of watersheds and flexibility for local particularities. We developed an environmental management matrix that considers basic criteria and eco-investments and covers five environmental areas of concern (i.e. hydrological character, connectivity, morphology, landscape, and biological communities). The ecological perspective is complemented by five management domains (i.e. instream flow regimes, hydropeaking, reservoir and bedload management, and power plant structures). Applying assessment and modelling tools for the Green Hydro procedure showed that dynamic habitat models allowed quantification of the effects of different instream flow regulations at morphologically distinct sites. In this case, morphological restoration could be more beneficial than increasing the minimum flow. The first experience with the Green Hydro certification is encouraging. So far, 13 facilities have successfully passed the certification procedure. They produce a total of 186 GWh green electricity per year, which is sufficient for the supply of almost 40 000 households in Switzerland.