1. Modelling pumped-storage effects on thermal structure, ice cover and water quality of lakes and reservoirs in a changing climate
- Author
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Kobler, Ulrike, Wüest, Alfred Johny, and Schmid, Martin
- Subjects
hydropower ,lake ice ,CE-QUAL-W2 ,climate scenarios ,lake stratification ,Reservoir modelling ,lake stability ,Simstrat ,weather generator ,GLM ,recommissioning pumped-storage operations ,MyLake - Abstract
New renewable electricity is nowadays often generated by photovoltaics and wind. Yet, their intermittent nature calls for energy storage, which is today still provided to ~95% by pumped-storage (PS) hydropower plants. However, PS is known to affect abiotic and biotic characteristics of the two connected water bodies. Thus, a two-dimensional laterally-averaged hydrodynamic and water quality model was set up to assess the impacts on water quality and temperature in a first step. Then, this analysis was extended to evaluate the additional effect of climate change, which also modifies abiotic and biotic characteristics. For this purpose, 150-years long synthetic time series of meteorological conditions for current (1998-2012) and future climate (2078-2092) were generated with a weather generator. To assess the robustness of projected impacts on the ice cover of the upper reservoir (Sihlsee) three one-dimensional, vertical hydrodynamic models were additionally set up. To attribute effects to either the PS flows or to water withdrawal from the hypolimnion, two reference scenarios were defined: one with deep-water withdrawal (NoPS) and another one with surface outflow (QNat). While the hypolimnetic temperature differs by
- Published
- 2019
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