Virtual Seminar: Using technology to map hydropower

Arizona State University organized a hydropower virtual seminar on April 23, 2019, for USPCAS-E scholars at UET Peshawar and NUST. Facilitated by Professor Kendra Sharp (Oregon State University), the seminar covered the assessment needs for small hydropower systems and the tools developed at OSU to improve the assessment process, particularly in terms of seasonal and long-term power stability as well as expected impacts of climate change on power availability.

Sharp stressed the need for distributed energy systems in Pakistan because of the rural-urban divide in electricity access. The seminar highlighted the key parameters needed to calculate power potential for a hydropower system and sources of data for these parameters of estimating hydropower resources.

Sharp touched upon the role of snow and glaciers as a water source over an annual cycle, as well as expected impacts of climate change. She also discussed the process and presented results from the application of Hydropower Assessment Tool (HPAT) to a series of study sites from an OSU-ASU-UET joint research project to show the changes in water availability over an annual cycle at these sites.

Ayesha, a participant, mentioned that the session was useful for her to learn about hydropower potential in Pakistan and identify places where abundant water resources are available.

Majid Khan, a Ph.D. student, remarked that the talk was not only beneficial for beginners in this field but also gave a bird’s eye view of Pakistan’s hydro potential from an international perspective.

The USAID-funded USPCAS-E program is building the capacity of its graduates in renewable energy and promoting the application of clean and green energy to address Pakistan’s energy needs.