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Energy Procedia 61 (2014) 2721 2724

The 6th International Conference on Applied Energy ICAE2014

Environmental Impact of Manwan Hydropower Plant on

River Ecosystem Service
Siyuan Yanga, Bin Chena*
a
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University,
Beijing 100875, China

Abstract

Hydropower plant has exerted impacts on the surrounding ecosystem when generating electricity for
human society. In this paper, we conducted an ecological economic evaluation of the Manwan
Hydropower Plant in the middle reach of Lancang River and quantified the variation of river ecosystem
service functions. As the humankind benefits from a multitude of resources and processes that are
supplied by river ecosystem and vice versa, river ecosystem services can be divided into two main parts,
i.e., services and products. The evaluation results show that hydropower construction has impaired the
function of river ecosystem services based on the quantitative analysis of both positive effects and
negative effects. An indicator system was also established to evaluate the effects of hydropower
construction in terms of ecosystem service valuation methods.

2014
2014 TheThe Authors.
Authors. Published
Published byLtd.
by Elsevier Elsevier Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of ICAE
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of ICAE2014

Keywords: Hydropower plant; ecosystem service value; river ecosystem; ecological cost

1. Introduction

The hydropower plant plays a key role in reducing fossil energy consumption and improving water
use efficiency in the river basin. Meanwhile, dams were constructed for water supply or irrigation, and for
multiple purposes, such as hydropower, flood control, sediment control and aquaculture as well.
Particularly in the developing countries, it is quite comment to obtain tangible economic benefits from

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +86-10-58807368; fax: +86-10-58807368.

E-mail address: chenb@bnu.edu.cn

1876-6102 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of ICAE2014
doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2014.12.287
2722 Siyuan Yang and Bin Chen / Energy Procedia 61 (2014) 2721 2724

hydropower generation investment. However, many of the goods and services that provided by the river
ecosystem may have been impaired with no observable price tag [1- 3].
River ecosystem services (RES) are associated with the conditions and processes through which
natural river ecosystems, and the species that make them up, sustain and fulfil human life [4, 5]. It
provides human beings with ecological support system as well as aquatic product, which is the essential
part of the natural environment. RES can be divided into two parts, , i.e., products and services, including
the products of raw materials, water supply, fish resources, inland navigation, hydropower, recreation and
culture, etc.; and the services of flood control, soil and sand transporting, providing wildlife habitat, water
resource storage, sediment control, environmental purification, CO2 fixation, nutrient cycling,
biodiversity, etc. [6-8]. In this context, it is meaningful to measure the value of river ecosystem that
benefits mankind by using an ecosystem evaluation index system [9].
Costanza et al. evaluated the worlds ecosystem services and established the paradigm of ecosystem
management, which innovates our understanding of economic value of ecological system [10], and
further updated the framework in 2012 to make the evaluation more accurate and reliable [11]. Fisher et
al. emphasized the quantification of ecosystem services and stakeholders interests [12]. From 2001 to
2005, over 1300 of the world's leading biological scientists have completed a joint project -- Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment [13], analysing the state of the Earths ecosystems and divided it into four main
parts.
In this paper, we explored the variation of river ecosystem after the hydropower construction of
Manwan, aiming to quantify the degradation of RES. By calculating the value of each component of RES,
we may obtain the information of positive effects and negative effects caused by Manwan hydropower
construction.

2. Methodology

Based on the traditional classification system of ecosystem service, an evaluation index system is
established to assess the ecological impacts of Manwan hydropower plant on RES, combined with Market
Value Method, Opportunity Cost Method, Replacement Method and Restoration Method [14-18].

2.1. Classification

By describing different characteristics of each RES, we established an evaluation index system and
determined the appropriate valuation method for each type of ecosystem service (Table 1).

Table 1. Evaluation index system and valuation method

RES Valuation Method

Aquaculture Market Value Method
Hydropower Market Value Method
Positive Effects Leisure & Recreation Opportunity Cost Analysis
Flood Control Opportunity Cost Analysis
Reduced Harmful Gas Emission Replacement Method
Sediment Accumulation Opportunity Cost Analysis
Negative Effects Area of Dam Opportunity Cost Analysis
Water Contamination Restoration Method
 Siyuan Yang and Bin Chen / Energy Procedia 61 (2014) 2721 2724 2723

Biodiversity Loss Restoration Method

2.2. Valuation method

Market Value Method (MVM) is used to calculate the economic value of aquaculture and
hydropower at market price. Actually, river ecosystem is regarded as production factor, while the change
of its conditions may alter the productivity ratio.
Opportunity Cost Approach (OCA) can be employed to evaluate the outcome of decisions, i.e., the
cost that you have given up many other choices when choosing the most effective and profitable scheme.
Replacement Method (RM) is a way to estimate the possible cost of constructing an artificial
environment after the river ecosystem has been impaired. Compared to thermal power generation,
hydropower is a better practice to reduce the CO2 emission. In this study, we use this method to calculate
the cost of forestation to offset equivalent amount of CO2.
Since the impacts of hydropower plant may be injurious to the provision of RES, even do harm to
peoples health, the direct method to solve this problem is to restore it to its original condition. RM is thus
used to estimate the cost of recovering the river ecosystem.

Table 2. Ecological economic evaluation of RES

Total Value
Items Amount Unit Value
yuan/a
Aquaculture 1.27h103 (t) 7.00h103 (yuan/t) 8.87h106
Hydropower 7.88h109 (kWh) 0.58 (yuan/ kWh) 4.57h109
Tourism 1.38h107
8.70h103 (hm2) 7.65h104 (yuan/ hm2) 6.66h108
Flood Control 1.73h103 (person) 1.35h104 (yuan/person) 2.34h107
1.86h103 (hm2) 5.53h103 (yuan/hm2) 1.03h107
Sediment Accumulation 1.64h104 (hm2) 2.84h104 (yuan/hm2) -4.65h108
Reduced Carbon Emission 2.51h106 (t) 2.61h102 (yuan/t) 6.55h108
Reduced SO2 Emission 1.40h105 (t) 6.00h102 (yuan/hm2) 8.38h107
Area of Manwan Dam 2.38 (hm2) 5.22h104 (yuan/ hm2) -0.12h106
Water Contamination -1.35h107
Biodiversity Loss -2.09h107

3. Concluding remarks

Manwan hydropower plant is capable of delivering 7.88 TWh of hydraulic power to other areas
every year. Moreover, its installed capacity amounts to one third of the total capacity of Yunan Electric
Power Grid.
As an alternative, the hydropower plant plays a major role in mitigating CO2 and SO2 emissions of
thermal power plants. Meanwhile, however, it impaired the rivers fragile ecosystem structure and
function of self-purification capacity.
2724 Siyuan Yang and Bin Chen / Energy Procedia 61 (2014) 2721 2724

The ecological economic values of RES in Manwan hydropower plant were also estimated. The
quantitative analysis of both positive effects and negative effects showed the major changes of the
surrounding river ecosystem. Based on the derived results of evaluation, the ecological factors involved
are suggested to be fully considered when discussing the pros and cons of hydropower construction.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Major Research plan of the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (No. 91325302), Fund for Creative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (No. 51121003), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41271543), and Specialized
Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (No. 20130003110027).

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