IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v10y2017i4p430-d94230.html

Financial Appraisal of Small Hydro-Power Considering the Cradle-to-Grave Environmental Cost: A Case from Greece

Author

Listed:
  • Adamantia Zoi Vougioukli

    (Department of Business Administration, University of Piraeus, M. Karaoli & A. Dimitriou St. 80, 18534 Piraeus, Greece)

  • Eleni Didaskalou

    (Department of Business Administration, University of Piraeus, M. Karaoli & A. Dimitriou St. 80, 18534 Piraeus, Greece)

  • Dimitrios Georgakellos

    (Department of Business Administration, University of Piraeus, M. Karaoli & A. Dimitriou St. 80, 18534 Piraeus, Greece)

Abstract

In the last decades increasing attention to environmental issues has come to the fore due to the looming issue of climate change. The growing demand for energy, coupled with the increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, have forced the study and development of energy plants that use renewable energy sources (RES), as electricity generation is one of the major contributors to anthropogenic emissions. Small hydropower plants are of particular interest as their potential is assumed to be high. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive assessment of the environmental impacts of small hydropower plants (SHPs) using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. The main parameter set for our simplified LCA model was the weight of the components used to construct and operate the plant: concrete, aggregates and steel. Through LCA, air pollutant externalities were associated with the life cycle of SHPs. This was accomplished by applying the NEEDS framework. The results are given per impact type (human health, loss of biodiversity, crop yield, material damage and climate change). The spearhead of the study is that the environmental cost must be a parameter of the total investment cost, which may affect the indexes of the financial evaluation of the project.

Suggested Citation

  • Adamantia Zoi Vougioukli & Eleni Didaskalou & Dimitrios Georgakellos, 2017. "Financial Appraisal of Small Hydro-Power Considering the Cradle-to-Grave Environmental Cost: A Case from Greece," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-20, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:10:y:2017:i:4:p:430-:d:94230
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/4/430/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/4/430/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Varun, & Prakash, Ravi & Bhat, I.K., 2012. "Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions estimation for small hydropower schemes in India," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 498-508.
    2. Marshall Burke & Solomon M. Hsiang & Edward Miguel, 2015. "Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production," Nature, Nature, vol. 527(7577), pages 235-239, November.
    3. repec:ack:journl:y::id:108 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Voorspools, Kris R. & Brouwers, Els A. & D'haeseleer, William D., 2000. "Energy content and indirect greenhouse gas emissions embedded in [`]emission-free' power plants: results for the Low Countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 307-330, November.
    5. Hondo, Hiroki, 2005. "Life cycle GHG emission analysis of power generation systems: Japanese case," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 2042-2056.
    6. Esmeralda Neri & Daniele Cespi & Leonardo Setti & Erica Gombi & Elena Bernardi & Ivano Vassura & Fabrizio Passarini, 2016. "Biomass Residues to Renewable Energy: A Life Cycle Perspective Applied at a Local Scale," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-15, November.
    7. Charikleia Karakosta, 2016. "A Holistic Approach for Addressing the Issue of Effective Technology Transfer in the Frame of Climate Change," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-20, June.
    8. Abolhosseini, Shahrouz & Heshmati, Almas, 2014. "The main support mechanisms to finance renewable energy development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 876-885.
    9. Varun & Bhat, I.K. & Prakash, Ravi, 2009. "LCA of renewable energy for electricity generation systems--A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(5), pages 1067-1073, June.
    10. Paish, Oliver, 2002. "Small hydro power: technology and current status," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 6(6), pages 537-556, December.
    11. Ardizzon, G. & Cavazzini, G. & Pavesi, G., 2014. "A new generation of small hydro and pumped-hydro power plants: Advances and future challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 746-761.
    12. Petrillo, Antonella & De Felice, Fabio & Jannelli, Elio & Autorino, Claudio & Minutillo, Mariagiovanna & Lavadera, Antonio Lubrano, 2016. "Life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost (LCC) analysis model for a stand-alone hybrid renewable energy system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 337-355.
    13. Paul E. Hardisty & Tom S. Clark & Robert G. Hynes, 2012. "Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Electricity Generation: A Comparative Analysis of Australian Energy Sources," Energies, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-26, March.
    14. repec:ack:journl:y::id:50 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Editorial Article, 0. "The Information for Authors," Economics of Contemporary Russia, Regional Public Organization for Assistance to the Development of Institutions of the Department of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, issue 2.
    16. repec:ack:journl:y::id:144 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Aggidis, G.A. & Luchinskaya, E. & Rothschild, R. & Howard, D.C., 2010. "The costs of small-scale hydro power production: Impact on the development of existing potential," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 2632-2638.
    18. Forouzbakhsh, F. & Hosseini, S.M.H. & Vakilian, M., 2007. "An approach to the investment analysis of small and medium hydro-power plants," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 1013-1024, February.
    19. Kosnik, Lea, 2010. "The potential for small scale hydropower development in the US," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 5512-5519, October.
    20. Ogayar, B. & Vidal, P.G., 2009. "Cost determination of the electro-mechanical equipment of a small hydro-power plant," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 6-13.
    21. Matthias Finkbeiner & Erwin M. Schau & Annekatrin Lehmann & Marzia Traverso, 2010. "Towards Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(10), pages 1-14, October.
    22. Megan Hansen & Randy T. Simmons & Ryan M. Yonk, 2016. "The Regulatory Noose: Logan City’s Adventures in Micro-Hydropower," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-16, June.
    23. repec:ack:journl:y::id:220 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. repec:ack:journl:y::id:91 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. Editorial Article, 0. "The Information for Authors," Economics of Contemporary Russia, Regional Public Organization for Assistance to the Development of Institutions of the Department of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, issue 1.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gemechu, Eskinder & Kumar, Amit, 2022. "A review of how life cycle assessment has been used to assess the environmental impacts of hydropower energy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    2. Kałuża, Tomasz & Hämmerling, Mateusz & Zawadzki, Paweł & Czekała, Wojciech & Kasperek, Robert & Sojka, Mariusz & Mokwa, Marian & Ptak, Mariusz & Szkudlarek, Arkadiusz & Czechlowski, Mirosław & Dach, J, 2022. "The hydropower sector in Poland: Barriers and the outlook for the future," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    3. Claude Boris Amougou & David Tsuanyo & Davide Fioriti & Joseph Kenfack & Abdoul Aziz & Patrice Elé Abiama, 2022. "LCOE-Based Optimization for the Design of Small Run-of-River Hydropower Plants," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-35, October.
    4. Mwakangale, Jacqueline & Cook, David & Ögmundarson, Ólafur & Davíðsdóttir, Brynhildur, 2025. "A systematic review on the application of lifecycle-based approaches in assessing sustainability of hydropower," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    5. Maxim Zhelonkin & Andrey Kurkin & Alexey Loskutov & Alexander Plekhov & Dmitry Malyarov & Evgeny Kryukov, 2023. "Developing a Simulation Model to Numerically Estimate Energy Parameters and Wave Energy Converter Efficiency of a Floating Wave Power Plant," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-18, May.
    6. Murillo Vetroni Barros & Cassiano Moro Piekarski & Antonio Carlos De Francisco, 2018. "Carbon Footprint of Electricity Generation in Brazil: An Analysis of the 2016–2026 Period," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-14, June.
    7. Azimov, Ulugbek & Avezova, Nilufar, 2022. "Sustainable small-scale hydropower solutions in Central Asian countries for local and cross-border energy/water supply," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Song, Cuihong & Gardner, Kevin H. & Klein, Sharon J.W. & Souza, Simone Pereira & Mo, Weiwei, 2018. "Cradle-to-grave greenhouse gas emissions from dams in the United States of America," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 945-956.
    2. Zafar Alam & Yoshinobu Watanabe & Shazia Hanif & Tatsuro Sato & Tokihiko Fujimoto, 2021. "Community-Based Business on Small Hydropower (SHP) in Rural Japan: A Case Study on a Community Owned SHP Model of Ohito Agricultural Cooperative," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-14, June.
    3. Laghari, J.A. & Mokhlis, H. & Bakar, A.H.A. & Mohammad, Hasmaini, 2013. "A comprehensive overview of new designs in the hydraulic, electrical equipments and controllers of mini hydro power plants making it cost effective technology," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 279-293.
    4. Okot, David Kilama, 2013. "Review of small hydropower technology," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 515-520.
    5. Nugent, Daniel & Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2014. "Assessing the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from solar PV and wind energy: A critical meta-survey," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 229-244.
    6. Kelly-Richards, Sarah & Silber-Coats, Noah & Crootof, Arica & Tecklin, David & Bauer, Carl, 2017. "Governing the transition to renewable energy: A review of impacts and policy issues in the small hydropower boom," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 251-264.
    7. Yihsuan Wu & Jian Hua, 2022. "Investigating a Retrofit Thermal Power Plant from a Sustainable Environment Perspective—A Fuel Lifecycle Assessment Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-26, April.
    8. Turconi, Roberto & Boldrin, Alessio & Astrup, Thomas, 2013. "Life cycle assessment (LCA) of electricity generation technologies: Overview, comparability and limitations," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 555-565.
    9. Zhang, Jin & Xu, Linyu & Li, Xiaojin, 2015. "Review on the externalities of hydropower: A comparison between large and small hydropower projects in Tibet based on the CO2 equivalent," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 176-185.
    10. Mishra, Sachin & Singal, S.K. & Khatod, D.K., 2011. "Optimal installation of small hydropower plant—A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(8), pages 3862-3869.
    11. Filho, Geraldo Lucio Tiago & Santos, Ivan Felipe Silva dos & Barros, Regina Mambeli, 2017. "Cost estimate of small hydroelectric power plants based on the aspect factor," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 229-238.
    12. Zema, Demetrio Antonio & Nicotra, Angelo & Tamburino, Vincenzo & Zimbone, Santo Marcello, 2016. "A simple method to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of micro hydro power plants in existing irrigation systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 498-506.
    13. Teegala Srinivasa Kishore & Epari Ritesh Patro & V. S. K. V. Harish & Ali Torabi Haghighi, 2021. "A Comprehensive Study on the Recent Progress and Trends in Development of Small Hydropower Projects," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-31, May.
    14. Wai-Ming To & Peter K. C. Lee, 2017. "A Triple Bottom Line Analysis of Hong Kong’s Logistics Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-10, March.
    15. C. Oliveira Henriques & S. Sousa, 2023. "A Review on Economic Input-Output Analysis in the Environmental Assessment of Electricity Generation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-26, March.
    16. Garegnani, Giulia & Sacchelli, Sandro & Balest, Jessica & Zambelli, Pietro, 2018. "GIS-based approach for assessing the energy potential and the financial feasibility of run-off-river hydro-power in Alpine valleys," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 709-723.
    17. Daeheon Choi & Chune Young Chung & Jason Young, 2019. "Sustainable Online Shopping Logistics for Customer Satisfaction and Repeat Purchasing Behavior: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-20, October.
    18. Kritana Prueksakorn & Cheng-Xu Piao & Hyunchul Ha & Taehyeung Kim, 2015. "Computational and Experimental Investigation for an Optimal Design of Industrial Windows to Allow Natural Ventilation during Wind-Driven Rain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-22, August.
    19. Hualin Xie & Jinlang Zou & Hailing Jiang & Ning Zhang & Yongrok Choi, 2014. "Spatiotemporal Pattern and Driving Forces of Arable Land-Use Intensity in China: Toward Sustainable Land Management Using Emergy Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(6), pages 1-17, May.
    20. Tie Hua Zhou & Ling Wang & Keun Ho Ryu, 2015. "Supporting Keyword Search for Image Retrieval with Integration of Probabilistic Annotation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-18, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:10:y:2017:i:4:p:430-:d:94230. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask MDPI Indexing Manager to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.