Hydropower a regulatory perspective

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Hydropower a regulatory perspective

• Gideon Carpenter
• Hydrology Water Resources Management

2
EA position on Hydropower

• Supports Governments targets on renewable energy
• Recognises potential benefits to communities of
  small scale HEP
• Will take positive view of reasonable well
  designed proposals to agree sustainable projects.

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Agency Permitting

• Impounding licence
• Abstraction licence
• Flood defence consent
• Fisheries consents inc. fish pass approval

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Impoundment licence

• Structure that obstructs or impedes flow of
  inland water
• Examples dams, weirs.
• Not time limited

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Abstraction licence

• Required to remove or abstract water from
• - a surface source e.g. river, stream, canal
• - an underground source e.g. borehole.
• Threshold quantity of 20m3 or 4,400 gallons per
  day.
• Cost 135 application fee 400 - 900
  advertising fee.
• Less than 5MW no annual charge.

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Abstraction licence

• Self destruct condition 3 years
• Time limited normally 12 years
• Presumption of renewal
• Transferable
• Abstraction volumes
• Conditions flow measurement, screening etc.

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Environmental assessment

• gt 0.5MW Town Country Planning statutory
  Environmental Impact Assessment
• lt 0.5MW Environmental report to support
  application.

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Abstraction Regime

• How much water can be abstracted?
• How much water is there?
• What would the impacts of abstraction be?
• Environmental importance and sensitivity?

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Flow estimation
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Abstraction Regime

• Impacts on stream flow
• Flow depletion
• Flow variability
• Reduced in-river marginal habitat, flow
  barriers to fish passage

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Licensing policy

• Site specific but likely to include
• Minimum residual flow (Q95)
• Variable abstraction rate of 25 or 50 of
  available flow
• Considerations
• Turbine design and operating flows
• Length of depleted reach (high/low head scheme?)
• Environmental sensitivity

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Hydrology

• Hydrology flow duration curve.

Mean flow Q30
110 days
Low flow Q95
18 days
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Hydrograph natural flows
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Hydrograph Residual flow
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Depleted reaches
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Depleted reaches
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Hydrograph Variable abstraction
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Control structures
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Flow measurement
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Flood Defence Consents

• for works in, over, under or adjacent to main
  rivers (Water Resources Act 1991)
• to construct a culvert or flow control structure
  (such as a weir) on any ordinary watercourse
  (Land Drainage Act 1991)
• Application fee 50

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Fisheries

• Passage
• Screens
• Turbines

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Fish passage

• Fish passes
• For both upstream and downstream migration
• may involve retro-fit
• also likely to be costly

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Fish screens

• Physical
• wedge wire, mesh,bar
• design and flow velocities
• Behavioural
• acoustic, bubble, lighting
• Fish screens are expensive
• need maintenance
• Recent RD

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Turbines
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Fish friendly turbines?

• Crossflow
• Francis
• Kaplan
• Waterwheel
• Archimedean screw

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Low head - Archimedean screw
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To Summarise

• Impounding licence
• Abstraction licence
• Flood defence consent
• Fisheries consents inc. fish pass approval

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EA should

• Provide clear guidance on the licensing process
• Highlight key issues for environmental assessment
• Have an understanding of hydropower
• Be consistent
• Be positive and pragmatic
• Provide timely responses, with explanations

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EA should not

• collect and analyse supporting data
• carry out the environmental assessment
• accept inadequate data or assessments
• give a binding view based on incomplete
  information
• design the scheme
• contravene its statutory duties

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Applicants should

• know their site, its environment and their
  objectives for the scheme
• consider their proposals carefully
• consider options/alternatives
• make early contact with the Agency
• appreciate legislative constraints
• provide quality environmental assessments
• provide appropriately detailed plans

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My suggestions

• Establish the right key contact in EA
• Dont expect to do it on the cheap get
  professional advice
• Think ahead - field measurements for
  hydrological study or environmental monitoring
• Submit a professional, complete and well
  presented application with good scheme design.

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Hydropower Good Practice Guide

• Being developed by EA/Hydropower Working Group
• Aims to
• provide Agency/developers with a consistent
  approach, common language and practical advice
• clarify the Agency position and promote awareness
• But it wont
• answer all your day-to-day operational Hydropower
  issues
• Agency Hydropower Manual(2003) available on
  website