Potential contribution of hydro power plants to the energy consumption of East Asian islands

Population growth, increasing energy demand and depleting fossil fuel resei-ves put a pressure on conventional methods of electricity generation. Hydropower is an alternative energy source that is known to have a large capacity potential. However, previous estimations of the potential capacity have been inconsistent and incomplete. In this study we identified all locations on East Asian islands (from Japan, Taiwan Phillipines to Indonesia) which are suitable for hydropower. For this we combined USGS's HydroSHEDS elevation data with Global Runoff data from the Global Runoff Data Centre. Such large spatially data gives especially unique information which was not available before. We computed that the total gross hydropower capacity potential is about 2885 TWh per year. Large hydropower accounts for over 27% of this potential, around 39% by small plants, 28% by mini hydropower plants, while micro hydropower only accounts for 6 % of the total potential capacity. Overall this study provides spatially detailed global data that allows both a quick comparison of hydropower potential between regions as well as detailed information on specific hydropower locations, which is especially unique new information for micro hydropower.