[A-GE31] Energy-Environment-Water Nexus and Sustainable Development

[AGE31-P02] Using Economic Benefits to Evaluate the Micro-hydropower generation Benefits of Agricultural Channels and the Water- Energy-Food nexus

*Shih Jen-Chieh¹, Fu-Yuan Lin², Ming-Der Hong², Hong-Ru Lin³, Jet-Chau Wen^4,5 (1. Graduate School of Safety Health and Environmental Engineering, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, 123, Section 3, University Road, Douliou, Yunlin 64002, Taiwan (R.O.C.)., 2.Irrigation and Engineering, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, 37 Nan Hai Road, Taipei 10014, Taiwan (R.O.C.)., 3.Graduate School of Engineering Science and Technology, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, 123, Section 3, University Road, Douliou, Yunlin 64002, Taiwan, (R.O.C.)., 4.Research Center for Soil and Water Resources and Natural Disaster Prevention (SWAN), National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, 5.Department and Graduate School of Safety Health and Environmental Engineering, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology.)

Keywords:Micro-hydropower, Water-energy-food Nexus, Irrigation Channel, Economic Benefits

Micro-hydropower is the renewable energy necessary to provide basic load. It has the advantages of sustainable development and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Central and southern Taiwan is mainly developed with agriculture, especially the Zhuoshui River Basin, which has a large watershed area and a developed agricultural irrigation system with abundant water sources and stable flow. Therefore, it is very suitable for the installation of micro-hydroelectric power generation. Its micro-hydro power generation mainly uses the kinetic energy of water to drive water turbines to generate electricity, and the water in agricultural channels will not disappear due to the installation of water turbines.
Therefore, this study selected Linnei channel in the Zhuoshui River Basin in central Taiwan as the research site. Its Linnei channel is an agricultural irrigation system and has the characteristics of stable discharge. In 2020, Linnei channel has installed a set of river-type miniature Hydroelectric power system.
Therefore, this study will collect relevant background information of Linnei channel and measure the water level, velocity and flow of the research site, and install a second turbine to increase economic benefits, and analyze the potential power generation and profit return of the micro-hydropower system and the impact of micro-hydroelectric power generation system on agriculture. This study will evaluate the effectiveness of micro-hydropower generation in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. According to the results, about 67,000 kilograms of carbon emissions can be reduced annually and the results of this study, the installation of two sets of micro-hydro power generation systems will bring positive effects, which can reduce carbon dioxide emissions and generate electricity for local residents as daily energy and the efficiency of generators and turbines are both up to 50%, so this research is beneficial to subsequent channel applications. However, the results of the economic benefit analysis show that it is a reference basis for the subsequent installation of other micro-hydroelectric power generation systems.