Addressing Biogenic Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Hydropower in LCA

The
ability of hydropower to contribute to climate change mitigation
is sometimes questioned, citing emissions of methane and carbon dioxide
resulting from the degradation of biogenic carbon in hydropower reservoirs.
These emissions are, however, not always addressed in life cycle assessment,
leading to a bias in technology comparisons, and often misunderstood.
The objective of this paper is to review and analyze the generation
of greenhouse gas emissions from reservoirs for the purpose of technology
assessment, relating established emission measurements to power generation.
A literature review, data collection, and statistical analysis of
methane and CO2 emissions are conducted. In a sample of
82 measurements, methane emissions per kWh hydropower generated are
log-normally distributed, ranging from micrograms to 10s of kg. A
multivariate regression analysis shows that the reservoir area per
kWh electricity is the most important explanatory variable. Methane
emissions flux per reservoir area are correlated with the natural
net primary production of the area, the age of the power plant, and
the inclusion of bubbling emissions in the measurement. Even together,
these factors fail to explain most of the variation in the methane
flux. The global average emissions from hydropower are estimated to
be 85 gCO2/kWh and 3 gCH4/kWh, with a multiplicative
uncertainty factor of 2. GHG emissions from hydropower can be largely
avoided by ceasing to build hydropower plants with high land use per
unit of electricity generated.