Assessment of hydropower potential using GIS and hydrological modeling technique in Kopili River basin in Assam (India) B.C. Kusre a, * , D.C. Baruah b , P.K. Bordoloi b , S.C. Patra a a North Eastern Regional Institute of Water and Land Management, PO Kaliabhomora, Dolabari, Tezpur, Assam 784 027, India b Department of Energy, Tezpur University, Napaam, Tezpur, Assam 784 028, India article info Article history: Received 19 January 2009 Received in revised form 29 June 2009 Accepted 14 July 2009 Available online 29 August 2009 Keywords: Hydrological modeling Soil and water assessment tool Hydropower abstract A hilly watershed in Kopili River basin in Assam (India) was considered for assessment of hydropower potential using spatial tool (GIS) and hydrological model (SWAT2000). The available data related to topography, soil, land use, weather and discharge pertaining to the study watershed were used to char- acterize the watershed. The characterization was required for water resources hence hydropower assess- ment. The hydrology of the study watershed was simulated through the model. The prediction accuracy of the model was confirmed through three well known efficiency criteria viz., coefficient of determination (R 2 = 0.70), Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (E = 0.64) and Index of agreement (d = 0.91). A total of 107 sites on 9 streams could be identified as potential location for hydropower generation in the study watershed using the model outputs. Distributed power availability through micro units (<0.5 MW) has been the character- istic feature of the watershed. Estimated potential carbon emission reduction (CER) within the watershed might be up to 125 thousand t CO 2 , even 50% of the potential hydropower of the 1204 sq km watershed could be implemented. The result of the study is expected to boost the initiative for hydropower gener- ation in the region considering the limitation of fossil fuels, increasing power demand and availability of untapped water resources. Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Hydropower is a clean, renewable and reliable energy source that serves national environmental and energy policy objectives. It is one of the most important renewable sources for production of electric power due to several obvious reasons. It is renewable in nature, unlike wind, supply variability within shorter time per- iod is less and most importantly green house gas (GHG) emission is least. It is derived from the falling water, either from rivers and streams flowing downhill along the river course due to force of gravity. The energy associated with this flowing water is known as kinetic energy that is released through the friction of flowing water with the rocks and the sediment in the river beds. Harness- ing the kinetic energy from the flowing water for driving turbine generates hydropower. The small scale use of hydropower has been practiced since pre historic times. With the technological maturity in enhancing con- version efficiency, the large scale use of hydropower has been in- creased due to it is economic feasibility [1]. However, the growth of hydropower has not been proportional to its potentiality. De- spite immense potential of harnessing energy from water re- sources, its contribution to over all energy mix is still low. This is evident from some of the recent statistics. The aggregate contribu- tion of hydropower has been estimated as 6.15% of the total world energy mix [2]. The overall electricity exploited from hydro so far is only 25% of the economically viable potential with its concentra- tion mostly in industrialized country [3]. In India it has been re- ported that only 16.6% of the total potential hydroenergy have been captured with a share of 25% of the country’s energy demand [4]. It is also reported that in north-eastern region of India, only 2% of the total potential (33,094 MW) has been harnessed so far [5]. Compared to other energy sources, the growth of hydropower has also been slow (during 1990–2005 hydropower growth is 43% against 67% for thermal power and 73.8% for wind [6]). The planning plays important role in the growth and develop- ment of hydropower. The amount of achievable hydropower at any given site is a function of turbine head and the corresponding flow rate. Thus, harnessing hydroenergy requires assessment of the water resource which depends upon the natural processes occur- ring locally and also the terrain characteristics. Accurate and reli- able assessment of water resources leads to successful planning. However, reliable assessment of water resources has remained as constraint. This is particularly true for the non-industrialized un- der-developed regions and this might be the one of the factors of inadequate growth of hydropower in such regions. The north-east- 0306-2619/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2009.07.019 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 94351 81827; fax: +91 3712 268077. E-mail addresses: bharatneriwalm@yahoo.co.in, kusrebharat@gmail.com (B.C. Kusre). Applied Energy 87 (2010) 298–309 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Applied Energy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy