Discharge estimation with disaggregation method and hydropower resources evaluation for mountain river basins lack of observed hydrologic information

Abstract:

Discharge characteristics in mountain river basins is crucial for hydropower resources evaluation and exploitation. In general, discharge information can be obtained from hydrologic stations. However, either uneven distribution or lack of hydrologic stations in mountain river basins leads to significant difficulties in obtaining discharge information. In this research, a disaggregation method based on the GRDC data has been used to estimate discharge based on the geometric relationship between the basin area and discharge. The more accurate basin area is, the higher precision discharge is. An efficient drainage network extraction method with high accuracy proposed from the Tsinghua University has been used to facilitate obtaining accurate basin area. Utilizing the estimated discharge and vertical section information obtained from drainage network extraction, the hydropower potential can be evaluated. The proposed methodology has been applied to a river basin where a reservoir with 500,000 KW capacity is located . The results indicate that the proposed methodology can supply useful discharge information in mountain river basins for hydropower resources evaluation and exploitation.