TY - JOUR
T1 - A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Bakhtiari Hydropower Dam Considering the Nexus between Energy and Water
AU - Tajziehchi, Sanaz
AU - Karbassi, Abdolreza
AU - Nabi, Gholamreza
AU - Yoo, Changkyoo
AU - Ifaei, Pouya
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funded by Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) with Grant number of 95000703, and Brain Pool program by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) that was funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (2019H1D3A1A02071051).
Funding Information:
This research was funded by Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) with Grant number of 95000703, and Brain Pool program by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) that was funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (2019H1D3A1A02071051).This research project was supported by Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) with Grant number of 95000703, and Brain Pool program by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) that was funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (2019H1D3A1A02071051). We would like to thank the authorities from MOSHANIR Co. for providing us with data on Bakhtiari Hydropower Dam, and Parviz Tajziehchi for his very fruitful and constructive comments.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/2/1
Y1 - 2022/2/1
N2 - Hydropower stations have supplied most of the green electricity in various parts of the world. Nonetheless, the economic profit of hydro-electricity lies beyond its social costs in many cases. Despite the short-term economic benefits of large dams, their sustainable pros and cons are doubted. This study aims to investigate the long-term profitability of large hydropower stations by considering the nexus between the environmental, economic, and social aspects. Much progress has been made in simplifying feasibility studies of hydropower stations by developing comprehensive software and models according to the United Nations Sustainable development goals. Developed by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the SimPacts has become one of the most frequentlyused simple models to estimate the external costs of electricity generation since 2003. Hydropower’s Environmental Costs Analysis Model (HECAM) is a popular user-friendly version of the model that includes more details for benefits estimation. In the present investigation, sedimentation and evaporation effects of constructing hydropower dams are added to previous cost estimation factors to upgrade the HECAM model to HECAM II. Bakhtiari hydropower dam (located in Lorestan province in Iran) is employed as a case study to verify the new model. The results showed that the total cost and revenue, as well as the benefit to cost ratio, were 79.13 US$/MWh, 203 US$/MWh, and 2.57, respectively. The new HECAM II model showed that the operation of Bakhtiari Dam would alleviate the socio-environmental doubts through a long-term plan in the region.
AB - Hydropower stations have supplied most of the green electricity in various parts of the world. Nonetheless, the economic profit of hydro-electricity lies beyond its social costs in many cases. Despite the short-term economic benefits of large dams, their sustainable pros and cons are doubted. This study aims to investigate the long-term profitability of large hydropower stations by considering the nexus between the environmental, economic, and social aspects. Much progress has been made in simplifying feasibility studies of hydropower stations by developing comprehensive software and models according to the United Nations Sustainable development goals. Developed by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the SimPacts has become one of the most frequentlyused simple models to estimate the external costs of electricity generation since 2003. Hydropower’s Environmental Costs Analysis Model (HECAM) is a popular user-friendly version of the model that includes more details for benefits estimation. In the present investigation, sedimentation and evaporation effects of constructing hydropower dams are added to previous cost estimation factors to upgrade the HECAM model to HECAM II. Bakhtiari hydropower dam (located in Lorestan province in Iran) is employed as a case study to verify the new model. The results showed that the total cost and revenue, as well as the benefit to cost ratio, were 79.13 US$/MWh, 203 US$/MWh, and 2.57, respectively. The new HECAM II model showed that the operation of Bakhtiari Dam would alleviate the socio-environmental doubts through a long-term plan in the region.
KW - Bakhtiari Dam
KW - Environmental impact assessment
KW - Hydro project
KW - Social-economic feasibility
KW - Water-energy-food nexus
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85123556084&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/en15030871
DO - 10.3390/en15030871
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85123556084
VL - 15
JO - Energies
JF - Energies
SN - 1996-1073
IS - 3
M1 - 871
ER -
