A simple method to assess theoretical hydropower potential of a river

This paper presents a rapid method to assess hydropower potential of a river from remote-sensing data and mean, annual flow values. As a case study the Arges River, Romania was chosen, along which already exists a cascade of 17 hydropower plants. Open source satellite data were processed under GIS environment (with the HEC-GeoHMS tool) to generate stream network. Arges River was divided into 8 reaches. For each of these reaches an average discharge value was determined using hydrological data from existing gauging stations. Also, the length and gross head of the reaches were extracted from GIS delineated stream network. Specific theoretical linear hydropower potential was calculated and analysed in comparison with values of installed power in operating hydropower plant developments.