Sustainability Risk Evaluation for Large-Scale Hydropower Projects with Hybrid Uncertainty

Weiyao Tang, Zongmin Li and Yan Tu
Additional contact information
Weiyao Tang: Business School, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China
Zongmin Li: Business School, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China
Yan Tu: School of Management, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-19

Abstract: As large-scale hydropower projects are influenced by many factors, risk evaluations are complex. This paper considers a hydropower project as a complex system from the perspective of sustainability risk, and divides it into three subsystems: the natural environment subsystem, the eco-environment subsystem and the socioeconomic subsystem. Risk-related factors and quantitative dimensions of each subsystem are comprehensively analyzed considering uncertainty of some quantitative dimensions solved by hybrid uncertainty methods, including fuzzy (e.g., the national health degree, the national happiness degree, the protection of cultural heritage), random (e.g., underground water levels, river width), and fuzzy random uncertainty (e.g., runoff volumes, precipitation). By calculating the sustainability risk-related degree in each of the risk-related factors, a sustainable risk-evaluation model is built. Based on the calculation results, the critical sustainability risk-related factors are identified and targeted to reduce the losses caused by sustainability risk factors of the hydropower project. A case study at the under-construction Baihetan hydropower station is presented to demonstrate the viability of the risk-evaluation model and to provide a reference for the sustainable risk evaluation of other large-scale hydropower projects.

Keywords: sustainability risk; hydropower projects; risk-related degree; fuzzy random uncertainty; risk evaluation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/1/138/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/1/138/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:1:p:138-:d:126018

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().