Countries with large hydropower potential. Hydropower potential of the countries richest in hydropower and the extent of its use. Objectives of using water energy

Rivers are also used to obtain hydraulic energy. The theoretical (gross) hydropower potential of the world's rivers is estimated at 30-50 trillion. kWh of possible electricity generation. Currently, the production of hydropower in the amount of 10 trillion is economically justified. kWh per year. Of the individual large regions of the Earth, Asia and Latin America have the greatest hydroelectric potential. Among the countries of the world in terms of the scale of hydropower potential, the leaders are China, Russia, the USA, Zaire, Canada, and Brazil. The use of the energy potential of rivers also varies by region. In Europe, this potential has already been used by 70%, while in Asia - by 14%, and in Africa - by only 3% (Table 5).

Table 5

World economic hydro potential and its use

Forest resources

World forest resources are characterized by indicators forest cover, forest area And standing timber stock. The corresponding figures for the world and major regions are shown in Table 6.

Table 6

World forest resources

Regions	Forest cover, %	Lesnaya Square	Total timber reserves, billion cubic meters. m
Total, million hectares	Per capita, in hectares
CIS			3,0
Foreign Europe			0,3
Foreign Asia			0,2
Africa			1,3
North America			2,5
Latin America			2,2
Australia, Oceania			6,4
The whole world	30,0		0,8

The largest forested areas among the countries of the world are in Russia (700 million hectares), Brazil (300), and Canada (260). Russia is the leader in terms of coniferous wood reserves, and Brazil is the leader in deciduous wood reserves. See fig. 5-010.

Two forest belts are clearly visible on the planet. Northern forest belt is located in a zone of temperate and partly subtropical climate, it is dominated by coniferous trees. The most forested countries within this belt are Russia, Canada, USA, Finland, Sweden. Southern forest belt is located mainly in the tropical and equatorial climate zone. Forests, characterized by extreme diversity of species composition, are concentrated mainly in three areas: Amazonia, Congo Basin And South-East Asia. In recent decades, there has been a catastrophically rapid destruction of precisely these forests, called “the lungs of the planet.” They are under threat of complete destruction. Over the past 200 years, the world's forest area has halved; Every year the forest area decreases by 25 million hectares. See fig. 4-5. Tropical forest ecosystems are the most vulnerable; their area is reduced by 11 million hectares every year. The most intensive deforestation occurs in the Amazon and Indonesia. Forests in Africa may soon disappear completely. Destruction of forests at such a rate has catastrophic consequences for the whole world: the supply of oxygen to the atmosphere is reduced, the “greenhouse effect” is intensified, and the climate is changing.

The main cause of forest loss and decline in its quality in economically developed countries is now acid rain. They affect forests on an area of about 30 million hectares. Most developing countries are characterized by a decrease in the provision of forest resources for other reasons. Forests are being converted into arable land, plantations, and construction. In addition, wood is widely used for firewood: 70% of the population of developing countries use wood for cooking and heating their homes. See fig. 5-011.

Resources of the World Ocean

The ocean covers 71% of the Earth's surface. See fig. 5-012. As a result of research by oceanographers around the world, including domestic ones (Yu.M. Shokalsky, V.Yu. Wiese, N.N. Zubov, P.P. Shirshov, etc.), it was proven that the World Ocean is a huge storehouse of natural resources. This is primarily sea water, which is believed to quench the “thirst” of humanity. Desalinated seawater is already used in Kuwait, Algeria, Libya, Kazakhstan, the USA, Bermuda and the Bahamas. In addition, sea water contains 75 chemical elements that can be used in industrial processing.

The bottom, and especially the ocean shelf, are rich in mineral resources. See fig. 5-013. Their use dates back hundreds of years. The first of the marine mineral industries was salt; later people learned to extract magnesium, bromine, iodine, sodium, and phosphorus. About 100 countries around the world now have developed offshore mining industries.

Currently, the extraction of oil and gas from offshore fields has acquired the greatest importance for the world economy. The depths of the World Ocean contain at least half of the world's oil and gas resources. Many deposits have been discovered on the shelf: over 500 off the coast of the United States and in the Gulf of Mexico, about 100 in the North Sea, over 40 in the Persian Gulf. The shelves of Southeast Asia, the Barents and Bering seas are promising. Offshore oil and gas production is carried out by the USA, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Great Britain, Norway, the Netherlands, and India.

In addition, offshore mining of coal (Japan, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand), iron ores (Japan, Canada, Finland), copper-nickel ores (Great Britain, Canada), mercury ores (Turkey), tin ores (Indonesia, Myanmar) is carried out , Thailand, Malaysia) placer gold (Alaska, Pacific coast of North America), diamonds (Namibia). Various building materials are extracted from the bottom of the sea: sand, gravel, shell rock, corals. On an industrial scale, sodium, chlorine, magnesium and bromine are extracted from sea water.

At the bottom of the World Ocean (mainly within the Pacific and Indian) at depths from 100 to 7000 m, ferromanganese nodules lie - a promising complex raw material for the metallurgical industry. They contain: manganese, iron, nickel, cobalt, copper, zinc, molybdenum and other metals. Given the huge reserves of nodules, the total amount of metals contained in them amounts to millions of tons. See fig. 5-1.

The energy potential of the ocean (energy of tidal waves, currents, waves) is estimated to be up to 6 billion kWh. In 1967, the first tidal power station was built in France (the Bay of Saint-Malo in the north-west of the country); now similar stations operate in the USA, Russia, Argentina, Canada, and China. Currently, the use of morethermal energy due to the temperature difference between the upper and lower layers of water is gaining practical importance. The most favorable conditions for the construction of sea-thermal stations are tropical and subtropical areas, where the water temperature on the surface is 30°C, and at a depth of 400-500 m - 8-10°C.

The biological resources of the World Ocean are formed by animals and plants; there are about 150 thousand species, their total biomass is approximately 35 billion tons (animals account for 32.5 billion tons, and algae - 1.7 billion tons). Every year the ocean supplies about 80 million tons of fish and seafood (algae, shellfish, crustaceans, mammals), providing 20% of the population's protein needs (for developing countries this figure exceeds 50%). See fig. 5-014.

Currently, fishing covers no more than 1/4 of the surface of the World Ocean. Since ancient times, the main fishing areas have been the northern parts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In the post-war years, new fishing areas appeared in the tropical and southern parts of the World Ocean. Before the Second World War, the largest catches were in the Atlantic Ocean, somewhat smaller in the Pacific and very insignificant in the Indian. Nowadays, most of the world's catch comes from the Pacific Ocean, mainly its northwestern part (Bering Sea, Okhotsk Sea and Sea of Japan). The species composition of the catches is very diverse: herring, cod, saury, greenling, sea bass, flounder, crabs, squid, octopus, etc.

No matter how great the biological resources of the World Ocean are, their reserves will be steadily depleted. In addition, marine fishing cannot provide as much product as is needed. To meet the needs for fisheries, farms are important mariculture- cultivation of marine organisms (mainly algae, crustaceans and mollusks) on artificial underwater farms and plantations. Many countries in East and Southeast Asia have experience in marine animal husbandry. For example, oyster farming in Japan goes back three hundred years. Nowadays, oyster farms are widespread in Italy, Portugal, England, the USA and other countries. Japan, the Republic of Korea, China, and the Netherlands are engaged in mussel farming. The objects of mariculture include shrimp, lobsters, lobsters, and crabs. Mariculture farms are highly productive. Artificial cultivation of pearl mollusks in Japan, which began at the end of the last century, has undermined the global fishery for pearls obtained by searching for shells in the sea. Fish farms have also been created, where salmon (chum salmon, pink salmon, salmon), sturgeon (sturgeon, beluga, stellate sturgeon), cyprinids (fish), cod, flounder, haddock and other species have become the objects of breeding. According to experts, by breeding fish, fish catches can be increased by 5 times, which will satisfy the growing population in animal proteins.

The transport significance of the World Ocean contributes to the development of international exchanges and trade. Its shores and waters attract thousands of tourists. The ocean is the reservoir for most of the waste from human activity.

Despite the significant development of hydropower in the world, there is still no complete uniformity in accounting for the world's hydropower resources and there are no materials that provide a comparable assessment of the world's hydropower resources. Cadastral calculations of hydropower reserves of different countries and individual specialists differ from each other in a number of indicators: the completeness of coverage of the river system of a particular country and individual watercourses, the methodology for determining power; in some countries potential hydropower resources are taken into account, in others various correction factors are introduced, etc.

An attempt to streamline the accounting and assessment of the world's hydropower resources was made at the World Energy Conferences (WIREC).

The following content of the concept of hydropower potential was proposed - the totality of the gross power of all individual sections of the watercourse that are currently used or can be used energetically. The gross power of a watercourse, which characterizes its theoretical power, is determined by the formula:

N kW = 9.81 QH,

where Q is the flow rate of the watercourse, m 3 /s; H - drop, m.

Power is determined for three characteristic flow rates: Q = 95% - flow rate, available 95% of the time; Q = 50% - security 50% of the time; Q avg - arithmetic mean.

A significant drawback of these proposals was that they provided for the accounting of hydropower resources not for the entire watercourse, but only for those sections of it that are of energy interest. The selection of these sites could not be strictly regulated, which in practice led to the introduction of elements of subjectivity into the calculations. In table Table 1 shows the data calculated for the sixth session of MIREK on hydropower resources of individual countries.

The issue of streamlining the accounting of hydropower resources was given much attention in the work of the Committee on Electricity of the UN Economic Commission for Europe, which established certain recommendations on this issue. These recommendations established the following classification in determining potential:

Theoretical gross potential hydropower potential(or shared hydropower resources) :

1. surface, taking into account the energy of flowing water on the territory of an entire region or a separate river basin; 2. river, taking into account the energy of the watercourse.

			gross power, million kW at costs
	95% security	50% security			95% security	50% security

Brazil
Venezuela				Pakistan



				Australia

				Ivory Coast


Norway
Portugal				Congo (Brazzaville)
Finland				Madagascar

Germany

Yugoslavia

Operating net (or net) hydropower potential:

1. technical (or technical hydropower resources) - part of the theoretical gross river potential that can technically be used or is already being used (the global technical potential is estimated at approximately 12,300 billion kWh); 2. economic (or economic hydropower resources) - part of the technical potential, the use of which in existing real conditions is economically justified (i.e., economically profitable for use); Economic hydropower resources in individual countries are given in Table 4.

In accordance with this, the full value of the world's potential hydropower resources of river flow is given in Table 2.

Table 2 Hydropower resources (full hydropower river potential) of individual continents

continent	hydropower resources	% of the total for the globe	specific value of hydropower resources, kW/sq.km
		billion kWh



North America
South America
Australia
Total for the globe
former USSR

The above calculations at one time made significant changes to previous ideas about the distribution of hydropower resources across continents. Particularly large changes were observed in Africa and Asia. These data show that the Asian continent contains almost 36% of the world's hydropower reserves, while Africa, which was considered the richest in hydropower resources, contains about 19%. In table Table 3 provides a comparison of data characterizing the distribution of hydropower resources across continents, obtained from different calculations.

Table 3 Saturation of continental territories with hydropower resources, thousand kWh per 1 sq. km

Table 4 Comparison of data on the distribution of potential hydropower resources by continent (% of the total for the globe)

continent	according to the US Geological Survey	according to the Oxford Atlas	according to the Yugoslav delegate at the IV MIREK	according to the UN	according to calculations made in the USSR



North America
South America
Australia
Earth as a whole

Even if we take into account that previous ideas about the distribution of hydropower resources were based on data calculated based on the flow of 95% supply, we still cannot help but pay attention to the exceptional overestimation in previous ideas about the potential resources of Africa, based on exaggerated ideas about the flow of the rivers of this continent .

If the annual flow of the Congo River basin was previously estimated at 500-570 mm of layer, it is currently estimated at only 370 mm.

For the Niger River, a runoff layer of 567 mm was assumed, but in fact it is about 300 mm.

The same thing happens with data on the average size of the runoff layer, which are good indicators of the hydropower potential of individual continents (see Table 7).

From this table it is clear that according to the height of the continent and the amount of runoff, i.e. In key energy indicators, Africa ranks far behind Asia and almost on par with North America.

Thus, the distribution of hydro resources is largely related to the geographical features of the largest rivers and their basins. Approximately 50% of the world's water flow comes from the 50 largest rivers, whose basins cover about 40% of the land. Fifteen rivers of this number have a flow of 10 thousand km 3 /s or more. Nine of them are in Asia, three in South America, two in North America, and one in Africa.

The majority of the world's hydropower resources (about 60%) are in the eastern hemisphere, which is superior to the western hemisphere in terms of specific (per unit area) indicator of hydroresource availability (17 and 15 kW/km2, respectively.

Thanks to the high level of industrial development, the countries of Western Europe and North America for a long time were ahead of all other countries in terms of the development of hydropower resources. Already in the mid-20s, the hydropower potential was developed in Western Europe by approximately 6%, and in North America, which had the largest hydropower capacity during this period, by 4%. Half a century later, the corresponding figures for Western Europe were about 60%, and for North America - about 35%. Already in the mid-70s, the absolute capacity of hydroelectric power stations in Western Europe exceeded those in any other region of the world.

In developing countries, the relatively high rate of hydropower use is largely due to a very low starting point. With a more than 50-fold increase in installed hydropower capacity over half a century, developing countries in the mid-70s were more than 4.5 times behind developed countries in both the capacity of power plants and the generation of electricity from them. And if in developed countries approximately 45% of hydro potential was used in the mid-70s, then in developing countries it was only 5%. For the world as a whole, this figure is 18%. Thus, the world is still characterized by the use of only a small part of its hydroelectric potential.

Due to the depletion of economic hydropower resources in a number of countries, interest in the construction of pumped storage power plants (PSPPs) has increased significantly in these countries. In Europe, they began to build special pumped storage power plants back in the 20-30s, but they received great development starting from the mid-50s. Currently, more than half of the world's pumped storage power plants are located in EU countries. In the US and Canada, pumped storage installations have in the past been less widespread than in Europe, because... these countries had large reserves of economic hydropower resources. However, in recent years, interest in pumped storage power plants has also increased in the United States and Canada. Also of great interest in the world recently is the use of the energy of sea tides to generate electricity; this is a promising direction in hydropower, because The energy of sea tides is renewable and practically inexhaustible - it is a huge source of energy. Tidal power plants (TPPs) are already operating in many countries. France has so far advanced the furthest in this direction.

Hydropower resources are finite, although they are considered renewable. They are national wealth, like oil, gas or other minerals, and need careful and thoughtful handling.

Water energy

Even in ancient times, people noticed that water falling from top to bottom can do certain work, for example, spin a wheel. This property of falling water was used to drive the wheels of the mill. This is how the first water mills appeared, which have survived to this day almost in their original form. The water mill is the first hydroelectric installation.

Manufacture production, which originated in the 17th century, also used water wheels, and in the 18th century, for example, in Russia there were already about three thousand such manufactories. It is known that the most powerful installations of such wheels were used at the Krenholm manufactory (Narova River). The water wheels had a diameter of 9.5 meters and developed a power of up to 500 horsepower.

Hydropower Resources: Definition, Advantages and Disadvantages

In the 19th century, after water wheels, hydraulic turbines appeared, followed by electric machines. This made it possible to convert the energy of falling water into electrical energy and then transmit it over a certain distance. In Tsarist Russia by 1913 there were about 50 thousand installations equipped with hydraulic turbines that generated electricity.

That part of the energy of rivers that can be converted into electrical energy is called hydropower resources, and the device that converts the energy of falling water into electrical energy is called a hydroelectric power station (HPP). The power plant device necessarily includes a hydraulic turbine, which drives the electric generator into rotational motion. To receive the flow of falling water, the construction of a power plant involves the construction of dams and reservoirs.

Advantages of using hydroelectric power plants:

The river's energy is renewable.
There is no environmental contamination.
This results in cheap electricity.
Climatic conditions near the reservoir are improving.

Disadvantages of using hydroelectric power:

Flooding of some area of land to build a reservoir.
Changes in many ecosystems along the entire river bed, reduction in fish numbers, disruption of bird nesting sites, river pollution.
Danger of construction in mountainous areas.

Concept of hydropower potential

To assess the hydropower resources of a river, a country, or the entire planet, the World Energy Conference (WEC) defined hydropower potential as the sum of the capacities of all sections of the territory under consideration that can be used to generate electricity. There are several types of hydropower potential:

Gross potential, which represents potential hydropower resources.
Technical potential is that part of the gross potential that can be technically used.
Economic potential is that part of the technical potential, the use of which is economically feasible.

The theoretical power of a certain water current is determined by the formula

N (kW) = 9.81QH,

where Q is the flow rate of the watercourse (m 3 /sec); H - height of water fall (m).

The most powerful hydroelectric power plant in the world

On December 14, 1994, in China, on the Yangtze River, construction began on the largest hydroelectric power station, called the Three Gorges. In 2006, the construction of the dam was completed, and the first hydraulic unit was launched. This hydroelectric power station was to become the central hydroelectric power station of China's energy system.

The appearance of the dam at this station resembles the structure. The height of the dam is 185 meters and the length is 2.3 km. In the center of the dam there is a spillway designed to release 116,000 m 3 of water per second, that is, more than 100 tons of water falls from a height of about 200 m in one second.

On which the Three Gorges hydroelectric power station was built, it is one of the most powerful rivers in the world. The construction of a hydroelectric power station on this river makes it possible to use the natural hydropower resources of this area. Beginning in Tibet, at an altitude of 5600 m, the river acquires significant hydroelectric potential. The most attractive place for the construction of a dam turned out to be the Three Gorges area, where the river breaks out of the mountains onto the plain.

Hydroelectric power station design

The Three Gorges Hydroelectric Power Plant has three hydroelectric buildings housing 32 hydroelectric units, each with a capacity of 700 MW, and two hydroelectric units with a capacity of 50 MW. The total is 22.5 GW.

As a result of the construction of the dam, a reservoir with a volume of 39 km 3 was formed. The construction of the dam entailed the resettlement of residents of two cities with a total population of 1.24 million people. In addition, 1,300 archaeological objects were removed from the flooded zone. 11.25 billion dollars were spent on all work to prepare the construction of the dam. The total cost of construction of the Three Gorges hydroelectric dam is $22.5 billion.

The construction of this hydroelectric power station competently provided for navigation; moreover, after the construction of the reservoir, the flow of cargo ships increased 5 times.

Passenger ships pass through a ship lift, which allows ships weighing no more than 3,000 tons to pass through. Two strings of five-stage locks were built to allow cargo ships to pass through. In this case, the weight of the vessels must be less than 10,000 tons.

Hydroelectric power station cascade on the Yangtze

The water and hydropower resources of the Yangtze River make it possible to build more than one hydroelectric power station on this river, which was undertaken in China. A whole cascade of hydroelectric power stations was built above the Three Gorges hydroelectric power station. This is the most powerful cascade of more than 80 GW.

The construction of the cascade makes it possible to avoid clogging of the Three Gorges reservoir, as it reduces erosion in the river bed above the hydroelectric power station. After this, the transported silt in the water becomes less.

In addition, the cascade of hydroelectric power stations makes it possible to regulate the flow of water to the Three Gorges Hydroelectric Power Station and obtain uniform electricity production from it.

Itaipu on the Parana River

The Paraná means “silver river”, it is the second largest river in South America and has a length of 4380 km. This river flows through very hard soil, therefore, overcoming it, it creates rapids and waterfalls on its way. This circumstance indicates favorable conditions for the construction of hydroelectric power stations here.

The Itaipu hydroelectric power station was built on the Paraná River, 20 km from the city of Foz do Iguaçu in South America. In terms of power, this hydroelectric power station is second only to the Three Gorges Hydroelectric Power Station. Located on the border of Brazil and Paraguay, the Itaipu hydroelectric power station fully supplies Paraguay with electricity and 20% Brazil.

Construction of the hydroelectric power station began in 1970 and ended in 2007. 10 generators with a capacity of 700 MW are installed on the Paraguay side and the same number on the Brazil side. Since there was a tropical forest around the hydroelectric power station that was subject to flooding, the animals from these places were relocated to other areas. The length of the dam is 7240 meters, and the height is 196 m, the cost of construction is estimated at 15.3 billion dollars. The power of the hydroelectric power station is 14,000 GW.

Hydropower resources of Russia

The Russian Federation has great water and energy potential, but the country's hydropower resources are distributed extremely unevenly across its territory. 25% of these resources are located in the European part, 40% in Siberia and 35% in the Far East. In the European part of the state, according to experts, 46% of hydropower potential is used, and the entire hydropower potential of the state is estimated at 2,500 billion kW-hours. This is the second result in the world after China.

Sources of hydropower in Siberia

Siberia has huge reserves of hydropower resources, and Eastern Siberia is especially rich in hydropower resources. The Lena, Angara, Yenisei, Ob and Irtysh rivers flow there. The hydropotential of this region is estimated at 1000 billion kWh.

Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP named after P. S. Neporozhniy

The power is 6400 MW. This is the most powerful hydroelectric power station in the Russian Federation, and it ranks 14th in the world rankings.

The section of the Yenisei, which is called the Sayan corridor, is favorable for the construction of hydroelectric power stations. Here the river passes through the Sayan Mountains, forming many rapids. It is in this place that the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station was built, as well as other hydroelectric power stations that form a cascade. The Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station is the highest stage in this cascade.

Construction took place from 1963 to 2000. The station structure consists of a dam 245 meters high and 1075 meters long, a hydroelectric power station building, a switchgear and a spillway structure. The hydroelectric power station building contains 10 hydraulic units with a capacity of 640 MW each.

The reservoir formed after the construction of the dam has a volume of more than 30 km 3, and its total area is 621 km 2.

Large hydroelectric power stations of the Russian Federation

Siberia's hydropower resources are currently used at 20%, although many fairly large hydroelectric power stations have been built here. The largest among them is the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station, followed by the following hydroelectric power stations:

Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 6000 MW (on the Yenisei). It has a ship lift, the only one in the Russian Federation so far.
Bratsk hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 4500 MW (on the Angara).
3840 MW (at Angara).

The potential of the Far East is least developed. According to experts, 4% of the region's hydro potential is used.

Sources of hydropower in Western Europe

In Western European countries, hydropower potential is almost completely used. If it is also high enough, then such countries completely provide themselves with electrical energy from hydroelectric power plants. These are countries such as Norway, Austria and Switzerland. Norway ranks first in the world in the production of electrical energy per capita. In Norway, this figure is 24,000 kWh per year, and 99.6% of this energy is produced by hydroelectric power plants.

The hydropower potentials of different Western European countries differ markedly from each other. This is due to different terrain conditions and different runoff formation. 80% of Europe's total hydropower potential is concentrated in mountains with high flow rates: western Scandinavia, the Alps, the Balkan Peninsula and the Pyrenees. The total hydropower potential of Europe is 460 billion kWh per year.

Fuel reserves in Europe are very small, so the energy resources of the rivers have been developed quite significantly. For example, in Switzerland these resources are developed by 91%, in France - by 92%, in Italy - by 86%, and in Germany - by 76%.

Cascade of hydroelectric power stations on the Rhine River

A cascade of hydroelectric power stations was built on this river, consisting of 27 hydroelectric power stations with a total capacity of about 3000 MW.

One of the stations was built back in 1914. This is the Laufenburg hydroelectric station. It was reconstructed twice, after which its capacity is 106 MW. In addition, the station is classified as an architectural monument and is a national treasure of Switzerland.

The Rheinfelden hydroelectric power station is one of the modern hydroelectric power stations. It was launched in 2010 and has a capacity of 100 MW. The design includes 4 hydraulic units of 25 MW each. This hydroelectric power station was built to replace the old station, built back in 1898. The old station is currently under reconstruction.

Sources of hydropower in Africa

Africa's hydropower resources are determined by the rivers flowing through its territory: Congo, Nile, Limpopo, Niger and Zambezi.

The Congo River has significant hydropower potential. Part of the bed of this river has a cascade of waterfalls known as the Inga rapids. Here the water flow descends from a height of 100 meters at a speed of 26,000 m 3 per second. In this area, 2 hydroelectric power stations were built: Inga-1 and Inga-2.

In 2002, the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo approved the project for the construction of the “Big Inga” complex, which included the reconstruction of the existing hydroelectric power stations “Inga-1” and “Inga-2” and the construction of a third one, “Inga-3”. After the implementation of these plans, it was decided to build the world’s largest complex, “Big Inga”.

This project was the topic of discussion at the International Energy Conference. Taking into account the state of Africa's water and hydropower resources, business and government representatives from Central and Southern Africa who attended the conference approved the project and set its parameters: the capacity of the Big Inga was set at 40,000 MW, which is more than the largest hydroelectric power station. Three Gorges" almost 2 times. Commissioning of the hydroelectric power station is scheduled for 2020, and construction costs are expected to be $80 billion.

Once the project is completed, the DRC will become the largest electricity supplier in the world.

North African Power System

North Africa is located along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. This region of Africa is called the Maghreb, or Arab West.

Hydropower resources in Africa are unevenly distributed. In the north of the continent is the hottest desert in the world - the Sahara. This territory is experiencing water shortages, so providing water to these regions is the most important task. The solution is to build reservoirs.

The first reservoirs appeared in the Maghreb back in the 30s of the last century, then many of them were built in the 60s, but especially intensive construction began in the 21st century.

North Africa's hydropower resources are determined mainly by the Nile River. This is the longest river in the world. In the 60s of the last century, the Aswan Dam was built on this river, after the construction of which a huge reservoir was formed, about 500 km long and about 9 km wide. The reservoir was filled with water over a period of 5 years from 1970 to 1975.

The Aswan Dam was built by Egypt in cooperation with the Soviet Union. This was an international project, as a result of which it was possible to generate up to 10 billion kWh of electricity per year, control the water level in the Nile River during floods, and accumulate water in the reservoir for a long time. A network of canals irrigate the fields extends from the reservoir, and oases have appeared in the place of the desert, and more and more areas are used for agriculture. The water and hydropower resources of North Africa are used with maximum efficiency.

Distribution of world hydropower potential

Asia - 42%.
Africa - 21%.
North America - 12%.
South America - 13%.
Europe - 9%.
Australia and Oceania - 3%

The world's hydropower potential is estimated at 10 trillion kWh of electrical energy.

The 20th century can be called the century of hydropower. The 21st century brings its own additions to the history of this industry. The world has increased attention to pumped storage power plants (PSPPs) and tidal power plants (TPPs), which use the power of sea tides to generate electrical energy. Hydropower development continues.

23. World hydropower potential of river flow

Hydropower(water energy) is the energy possessed by water moving in streams along the earth's surface. There are three categories of hydropower potential (hydropower resources): theoretical, technical and economic.

When determining theoretical hydro-energy potential(also called potential and gross) the total surface runoff of rivers is taken into account, which, as already noted, is 48 thousand km 3 /year. If we take the average land height to be 800 m, then the theoretical potential will be calculated at 1000 million kW of possible power, which corresponds to a production of about 35 trillion kWh per year. However, there are other estimates of this potential, which range from 35 trillion to 40 trillion kWh.

Technical hydropower potential – this is that part of the theoretical potential that can technically be used, taking into account annual and seasonal fluctuations in river flow, the availability of suitable sites for the construction of hydroelectric power stations, as well as water losses due to evaporation, filtration, etc. Conversion factor of theoretical potential into technical for different regions Earth and countries are not the same, but on average it is usually taken equal to 0.5. Most often, the global technical hydropower potential is estimated at 15 trillion kWh of possible generation.

Finally, economic hydropower potential- this is that part of the technical potential, the use of which in the given specific conditions of place and time can be considered economically justified. It is less than the technical potential and is estimated to be 8-10 trillion kWh per year, which corresponds to a capacity of 2340 million kW. It can be added that this figure cannot be considered as absolutely stable. For example, after the global energy crisis of the mid-1970s. and rising fuel prices, the conversion factor from technical potential to economic potential increased to 70–80%, and it began to be estimated at 15 trillion kWh per year. But then this ratio decreased again.

A priori, it can be assumed that the distribution of hydropower potential across the earth's landmass is uneven. Indeed, according to available data, in terms of theoretical potential, Asia is ahead (42% of the world), followed by Africa (21%), North and South America (12–13% each), Europe (9) and Australia and Oceania (3). %). Behind these general figures, the geographer, of course, sees the location of the world's largest river systems.

It has been established that approximately half of the world's river flow comes from the 50 largest rivers, the basins of which cover 40% of the earth's land. Of these, 15 of them (9 in Asia, 3 in South America, 2 in North America and 1 in Africa) have an average water flow of 10 thousand m 3 /s or more. But this indicator in itself does not yet determine the role of a particular river in hydropotential. For example, the Amazon carries five times more water into the ocean than the second most water-bearing river in the world, the Congo. However, the Congo, due to the topographical and geological features of the territory through which it flows, has significantly greater hydroelectric potential than the Amazon.

The distribution of economic hydropower potential by region of the world is shown in Table 27.

The data presented in Table 27 allows us to draw several conclusions. The fact that large regions of the Earth, in terms of the scale of economic hydropotential, are “lined up” as follows: Foreign Asia, Latin America, Africa and North America, the CIS, foreign Europe, Australia and Oceania. The fact that only 21% of the Earth’s economic hydropotential is still used (this means that, in principle, the annual production of electricity at hydroelectric power stations can be increased by about five times). Finally, the fact that the degree of development of hydropower potential is especially high in foreign Europe, where the majority of advantageous river cross-sections have already been used for the construction of hydroelectric power stations, and in North America. The most favorable resource conditions for the development of hydropower are found in Asia, Africa and Latin America. It can be added that developing countries as a whole account for approximately another 2/3 of the world's untapped hydropower potential.

Table 27

WORLD ECONOMIC HYDROPOWER POTENTIAL AND ITS USE

* Without CIS countries.

Among the countries in terms of economic hydropower potential, the top five, consisting of China (1260 billion kWh), Russia (850 billion), Brazil (765 billion), Canada (540 billion) and India (500 billion kWh), stand out especially which accounts for almost 1/2 of this total potential. This is followed by DR Congo (420 kWh), USA (375), Tajikistan (265), Peru (260), Ethiopia (260), Norway (180), Turkey (125), Japan (115 kWh). The extent to which this potential is used varies widely across countries. In France, Switzerland, Italy, Japan it has already been used almost completely, in the USA and Canada by 38–40%, while in China - by 16, in India - by 15, in Peru - by 5, and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo - by 1.5%.

Russia has very large hydropower resources. Its theoretical potential is estimated at 2900 billion kWh, its technical potential at 1670 billion, and its economic potential, as already noted, at 850 billion kWh per year. But it is distributed extremely unevenly across the country: the European part accounts for 15%, and the Asian part – 85%. Only 18% of it has been developed so far (including in the European part - 50%, in Siberia - 19% and in the Far East - 4%).