Re‐operating the Three Gorges Reservoir for Environmental Flows: A Preliminary Assessment of Trade‐offs

Abstract

Abstract The Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR), located on the Yangtze River in China, is operated for hydropower, flood control and navigation, with minimal environmental releases. This study explored the potential trade‐offs between better environmental releases from the TGR and hydropower generation using three performance indicators. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient between unimpaired flows and regulated flows was used as an indicator of environmental performance (eco rho). Energy generation as a fraction of capacity (energy fraction) and power reliability were used as hydropower performance indicators. We first assessed TGR performance without and with basic instream flow requirements (IFRs). We then imposed an IFR consisting of a minimum release of fraction k of inflow and maximum release of 1/ k of inflow and assessed the sensitivity of reservoir performance to different fixed k values. Finally, we allowed k to vary within the year in a genetic algorithm to estimate the Pareto optimal trade‐offs between performance indicators. In all cases, flood and navigation rules were prioritized over environmental and hydropower. With a fixed k of 1.0, eco rho increased from 0.865 to nearly 1.0 (completely natural). Energy fraction reduced from 43.5 to 39.3%, or about 9.5%, and power reliability decreased from 97.0 to 59.2%. The Pareto optimal trade‐off surface not only showed similar results but also indicated that energy fraction and environmental performance can both be increased together, up to a point, but at a cost of reliability. This study helps understand the potential costs of re‐operating the TGR. Limitations and potential future directions are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.