| Résumé | Recently, there has been a growing interest in developing hydrokinetic or in-stream power potential nationally and internationally. This type of resource development using zero-head turbines requires no dams or barrages as in the case of conventional large-scale hydropower production projects. In 2010, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) commissioned a multiyear project to assess Canada’s hydrokinetic potential in an effort to boost renewable energy resources across the country. This project involved development of relevant resource databases that governments and regional entities could use for investment planning and decision-making, as well as for private market development. The National Research Council Canada (NRC) led this effort through an inter-departmental agreement between NRCan and the NRC and completed an assessment of hydrokinetic resources at both regional and national levels. This assessment was completed in three phases as described below:
Phase I Methodology Review and Data Review: In this phase of the study, the NRC undertook a review of various methods, techniques and data sources to identify suitable combinations of techniques and data sources for conducting an assessment of hydrokinetic potential at regional and national levels. Additionally, a number of methods, datasets and locations were also identified to validate selected methodologies. This effort was documented in a comprehensive technical report by the NRC (i.e. Jenkinson 2010), which is available online through NRC’s archives.
Phase II Methodology Validation: Following the outcomes from Phase I of the study, a few selected methods and recommendations were evaluated using data from the national hydrometric network, maintained by Water Survey of Canada. A sensitivity/uncertainty analysis was also carried out. The outcomes of this phase and a vision for the national assessment were documented in another technical report (i.e. Jenkinson and Bomhof 2012).
Phase III Assessment Determination: Based on the outcomes and recommendations from both Phase I and Phase II of the study, a nation-wide assessment of the hydrokinetic potential for theoretical energy extraction was carried out. The outcome of this phase along with specific guidelines on the developed databases pertaining to hydrokinetic resources were documented in Jenkinson and Bomhof (2014), which was the third and the final technical report related to the multiyear resource assessment study. This report is available from NRCan on request.
For hydrokinetic resource assessment in a given region of interest, hydrologic investigations and hydraulic modelling are ideally required and both are carried out in tandem. Hydrologic investigations pertain to estimation of various streamflow indices (e.g. monthly and annual mean flows, selected percentiles of flow duration curves, etc.) at all points of interest within a selected region of interest and hydraulic modelling pertains to estimation of river flow velocities at all relevant points. This report specifically reviews most of the methods and data sources pertaining to hydrologic investigations, previously recommended and used for resource assessment in Jenkinson (2010) and Jenkins and Bomhof (2012, 2014). Where applicable, shortcomings are highlighted and recommendations are made for additional research in order to obtain improved estimates of various streamflow indices, which, in turn, will help improving the quality of resource databases. Hydraulic modelling aspects, which are an integral part of the resource assessment study, are not reviewed in this report. Additional information about the contents and scope of this report is provided below.
This report is divided into seven chapters and a section on references. The background information on hydrokinetic resources and previous assessment studies is provided in Chapter 1 in order to provide the reader with sufficient background on the topic. Objectives and limitations of the report are also discussed in this chapter. This introductory information was necessary to establish a firm basis for the review and analysis presented in other chapters of the report. An introductory primer on hydrokinetic energy in the form of foundational knowledge is provided in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 of the report provides an overview of the work completed in Phase I of the resource assessment study. Review of existing literature pertaining to transposition of streamflow indices from gauged to ungauged locations within the realm of ungauged hydrology and hydraulic modelling associated with hydrokinetic resource assessment was a significant part of this phase of the study. In the present report, this review is further summarized to highlight important outcomes of that part of the study. Chapter 4 presents a similar overview as given in Chapter 3, but for the work completed within the scope of Phase II of the resource assessment study, wherein the main focus was on validating a suitable methodology, proposed in Phase I, using observational data from hydrometric stations located within selected large geographic regions of Canada. Chapter 5 presents an overview of the work completed in Phase III of the study. In this phase, the focus was on developing estimates of hydrokinetic resources on a national scale, following the methodology which was proposed in Phase I and validated in Phase II. Chapter 6 presents an overall synthesis of the resource assessment study and discusses some of the main findings of the study. Chapter 7 explores avenues of future research on the basis of a set of thoughtful guidelines, and discusses potential recommendations and steps necessary to be followed for updating resource assessment study, by overcoming various shortcomings identified in Chapters 3 to 5 of the report.
The information provided in this report is expected to help pave the way forward for improving estimation of streamflow indices at ungauged locations across Canada, as well as for improving our understanding of geophysical and climatic datasets and their inter-dependencies that form the critical basis for deriving statistical relationships to support assessment of hydrokinetic resources. The contents of this effort will also be useful for developing generalized techniques for estimating hydrologic parameters at ungauged locations through information transposition from gauged to ungauged locations or through direct relationships based on watershed attributes, including topographic, geologic, soil and land use, and climatic attributes. An effort has also been made to reflect on present state of the knowledge in ungauged hydrology with respect to estimation of streamflow indices. However, such reviews should occur on regular basis in order NRC-OCRE-TR-2020-019 PAGE vi to strengthen and validate existing and emerging approaches based on refined and improved datasets of watershed attributes. These datasets are continuously being refined through dedicated national level initiatives. |
|---|
