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The prospects for Small Hydropower in Colombia

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  • Arias-Gaviria, Jessica
  • van der Zwaan, Bob
  • Kober, Tom
  • Arango-Aramburo, Santiago
Abstract
Small hydropower (SHP) has existed for more than a century in Colombia, and is gaining reserved interest as an option to mitigating climate change. In this paper we investigate the prospects for SHP in Colombia based on an analysis of economies-of-scale and learning-by-doing effects. We created an inventory of SHP plants realized in Colombia between 1900 and 2013, and focused on grid-connected SHP stations only. In the economies-of-scale part of our analysis we considered all SHP plants with a capacity lower than 20 MW. However, we exclude plants with a capacity lower than 0.1 MW from the learning-by-doing analysis, given that their cumulative capacity is still too small for a meaningful learning curve estimation. We used an Ordinary Least Squares analysis for estimating the parameters of our economies-of-scale and learning-by-doing models, and observed that infrastructure costs and total costs are mainly driven by economies-of-scale, while equipment costs can also be influenced by learning-by-doing. Our findings suggest that equipment costs for SHP plants with capacities between 0.1 and 20 MW have declined at an average learning rate of 21%. We conclude that both the public and private sectors can benefit from scaling effects for hydropower plants.

Suggested Citation

  • Arias-Gaviria, Jessica & van der Zwaan, Bob & Kober, Tom & Arango-Aramburo, Santiago, 2017. "The prospects for Small Hydropower in Colombia," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 204-214.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:107:y:2017:i:c:p:204-214
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2017.01.054
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    Cited by:

    1. Malerba, Daniele, 2020. "Poverty alleviation and local environmental degradation: An empirical analysis in Colombia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    2. Juan Jose Cabello Eras & Milen Balbis Morej n & Alexis Sagastume Guti rrez & Aldo Pardo Garc a & Mario Cabello Ulloa & Francisco Javier Rey Mart nez & Juan Gabriel Rueda-Bayona, 2019. "A look to the Electricity Generation from Non-Conventional Renewable Energy Sources in Colombia," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 9(1), pages 15-25.
    3. Zhou, Yanlai & Guo, Shenglian & Chang, Fi-John & Liu, Pan & Chen, Alexander B., 2018. "Methodology that improves water utilization and hydropower generation without increasing flood risk in mega cascade reservoirs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 785-796.
    4. Zhou, Yanlai & Chang, Li-Chiu & Uen, Tin-Shuan & Guo, Shenglian & Xu, Chong-Yu & Chang, Fi-John, 2019. "Prospect for small-hydropower installation settled upon optimal water allocation: An action to stimulate synergies of water-food-energy nexus," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(C), pages 668-682.
    5. Gómez-Navarro, Tomás & Ribó-Pérez, David, 2018. "Assessing the obstacles to the participation of renewable energy sources in the electricity market of Colombia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 131-141.
    6. Thomassen, Gwenny & Van Passel, Steven & Dewulf, Jo, 2020. "A review on learning effects in prospective technology assessment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    7. Arango-Aramburo, Santiago & Turner, Sean W.D. & Daenzer, Kathryn & Ríos-Ocampo, Juan Pablo & Hejazi, Mohamad I. & Kober, Tom & Álvarez-Espinosa, Andrés C. & Romero-Otalora, Germán D. & van der Zwaan, , 2019. "Climate impacts on hydropower in Colombia: A multi-model assessment of power sector adaptation pathways," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 179-188.
    8. Arias-Gaviria, Jessica & Larsen, Erik R. & Arango-Aramburo, Santiago, 2018. "Understanding the future of Seawater Air Conditioning in the Caribbean: A simulation approach," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 73-83.
    9. Arango-Aramburo, S. & Ríos-Ocampo, J.P. & Larsen, E.R., 2020. "Examining the decreasing share of renewable energy amid growing thermal capacity: The case of South America," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    10. Román-Collado, Rocío & Cansino, José M. & Botia, Camilo, 2018. "How far is Colombia from decoupling? Two-level decomposition analysis of energy consumption changes," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 687-700.

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