The role of glacier retreat for Swiss hydropower production

Schaefli, Bettina; Manso, Pedro; Fischer, Mauro Danilo; Huss, Matthias; Farinotti, Daniel (2019). The role of glacier retreat for Swiss hydropower production. Renewable energy, 132, pp. 615-627. Elsevier 10.1016/j.renene.2018.07.104

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High elevation or high latitude hydropower production (HP) strongly relies on water resources that are influenced by glacier melt and are thus highly sensitive to climate warming. Despite of the wide-spread glacier retreat since the development of HP infrastructure in the 20th century, little quantitative information is available about the role of glacier mass loss for HP. In this paper, we provide the first regional quantification for the share of Alpine hydropower production that directly relies on the waters released by glacier mass loss, i.e. on the depletion of long-term ice storage that cannot be replenished by precipitation in the coming decades. Based on the case of Switzerland (which produces over 50% of its electricity from hydropower), we show that since 1980, 3.0%–4.0% (1.0–1.4 TWh yr−1) of the country-scale hydropower production was directly provided by the net glacier mass loss and that this share is likely to reduce substantially by 2040–2060. For the period 2070–2090, a production reduction of about 1.0 TWh yr−1 is anticipated. The highlighted strong regional differences, both in terms of HP share from glacier mass loss and in terms of timing of production decline, emphasize the need for similar analyses in other Alpine or high latitude regions.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Physical Geography > Unit Hydrology
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Physical Geography

UniBE Contributor:

Schaefli, Bettina, Fischer, Mauro Danilo

Subjects:

900 History > 910 Geography & travel
500 Science

ISSN:

0960-1481

Publisher:

Elsevier

Language:

English

Submitter:

Bettina Schäfli

Date Deposited:

08 Apr 2020 16:10

Last Modified:

07 Feb 2024 08:20

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.renene.2018.07.104

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Hydrology Glacier mass balance Hydropower Climate change Alps

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.141972

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/141972

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