ISE 2016* Environmental Design of Hydropower (#68)
Centre for Environmental Design of Renewable Energy (CEDREN) is a research centre focusing on hydropower production and environmental impacts of hydropower. The main objective of CEDREN is to develop and communicate design solutions for renewable energy production that address environmental and societal challenges at local, regional, national and global levels. Environmental design means that planning, building and operation have to include technical, economic, environmental and social aspects from the beginning. Methods and tools to ensure environmental design are developed in CEDREN and applied to some case studies. These method and tools focus on finding bottlenecks for affected species and ecosystems by mapping, modelling and analysis of both physical conditions and ecological status. CEDREN propose different measures, tools and methods to improve the environmental conditions as well as how to maintain or increase the power production.
Key research findings used to develop relationships between physical factors like flow, flow fluctuations, water temperature, water velocity, water depth and water-covered area and biological performance will be shown. Examples of methods and tools for environmental design of hydropower will be given for several regulated rivers in Norway and abroad.
