490
G. Romanescu and I. Minea
15.1 Introduction
The economic damage caused by a lack of water in some regions is extremely high.
For this reason, certain developed States implemented programs for water storage
in special tanks, with multiple usages. Water and power demand is acute for most
underdeveloped or developing countries. From this perspective, the States in Africa
and Asia is worth noting [9]. As for Europe, an acute lack of water and too little
storage investments are real issues in the East and in the South. This category also
includes Romania, which does not own many storage facilities in areas most affected
by droughts, in the autumn and particularly in the winter. Water storage can have
both positive and negative effects (lowering the phreatic level downstream, and so
on) [32, 33]. The purpose of water storage include water supply for irrigations, for
power production, for flood mitigation, and so on. Water is stored in mountainous
areas, and it is used for mitigating floods and for producing electric power [2, 12, 16,
17, 34, 36, 42, 55].
Global climatic changes have also affected the territory of Romania [6, 23–26,
43, 48]. The mean precipitations of the last 25 years have increased, and so have the
droughts [8]. Unfortunately, the intensity of precipitations has increased at an alarming rate, leading to heavy rains falling within a very short time span: 100–200 mm/24 h
[18–20, 40, 44]. On a local level, infrastructures capable of water intake are required,
to ensure it meets up to the protection levels necessary for a viable economy. Over
1.6 billion people are affected by a lack of water worldwide.
On a global level, hydroelectric power represents 19% of the entire amount of
electric power. The exploitable potential is six times higher. Romania produces, on
the average, 17.33 TWh per year, which means 35% of the consumption. However,
Romania’s hydroelectric power potential is double. Hidroelectrica S.A. is the main
holder and operator of the hydroelectric power in Romania (Fig. 15.1). The most
important facilities for hydropower production in Romania are as follows: 26 hydrounits for regulating the secondary frequency-power; 95 hydro-units for rapid tertiary
reserve; 5 hydro-units; 28 hydro-units for regulating reactive power in the secondary
tension-regulating band; and 5 hydro-units for restoring the National Energetic System [47] (see Figs. 15.2, 15.3, 15.4, 15.5, and 15.6).
Over 450,000 MW was generated worldwide by the hydropower facilities in the
year 2001; half of them are located in Europe and half in North America. Besides
conventional hydropower, more than 80,000 MW of power comes from the pumpedhydro capacity [21]. Currently, 1.6 billion people worldwide have limited access to
electricity: most of them live in Africa and Asia.
Hydrocarbon resources of Romania are limited, reason for which, efforts have
been made to exploit the hydropower resources as much as possible. The hydroelectric power potential of Romania is estimated at 5900 MW for the rivers, and at
2100 MW for the Danube. Under these circumstances, the total estimated hydroelectric power potential reaches 8000 MW (1134 MW being represented by micro
hydropower plants that currently produce 400 MW only) (Table 15.1). Romania has
296 small and large hydropower plants (in function); furthermore, other 411 micro
G. Romanescu and I. Minea
15.1 Introduction
The economic damage caused by a lack of water in some regions is extremely high.
For this reason, certain developed States implemented programs for water storage
in special tanks, with multiple usages. Water and power demand is acute for most
underdeveloped or developing countries. From this perspective, the States in Africa
and Asia is worth noting [9]. As for Europe, an acute lack of water and too little
storage investments are real issues in the East and in the South. This category also
includes Romania, which does not own many storage facilities in areas most affected
by droughts, in the autumn and particularly in the winter. Water storage can have
both positive and negative effects (lowering the phreatic level downstream, and so
on) [32, 33]. The purpose of water storage include water supply for irrigations, for
power production, for flood mitigation, and so on. Water is stored in mountainous
areas, and it is used for mitigating floods and for producing electric power [2, 12, 16,
17, 34, 36, 42, 55].
Global climatic changes have also affected the territory of Romania [6, 23–26,
43, 48]. The mean precipitations of the last 25 years have increased, and so have the
droughts [8]. Unfortunately, the intensity of precipitations has increased at an alarming rate, leading to heavy rains falling within a very short time span: 100–200 mm/24 h
[18–20, 40, 44]. On a local level, infrastructures capable of water intake are required,
to ensure it meets up to the protection levels necessary for a viable economy. Over
1.6 billion people are affected by a lack of water worldwide.
On a global level, hydroelectric power represents 19% of the entire amount of
electric power. The exploitable potential is six times higher. Romania produces, on
the average, 17.33 TWh per year, which means 35% of the consumption. However,
Romania’s hydroelectric power potential is double. Hidroelectrica S.A. is the main
holder and operator of the hydroelectric power in Romania (Fig. 15.1). The most
important facilities for hydropower production in Romania are as follows: 26 hydrounits for regulating the secondary frequency-power; 95 hydro-units for rapid tertiary
reserve; 5 hydro-units; 28 hydro-units for regulating reactive power in the secondary
tension-regulating band; and 5 hydro-units for restoring the National Energetic System [47] (see Figs. 15.2, 15.3, 15.4, 15.5, and 15.6).
Over 450,000 MW was generated worldwide by the hydropower facilities in the
year 2001; half of them are located in Europe and half in North America. Besides
conventional hydropower, more than 80,000 MW of power comes from the pumpedhydro capacity [21]. Currently, 1.6 billion people worldwide have limited access to
electricity: most of them live in Africa and Asia.
Hydrocarbon resources of Romania are limited, reason for which, efforts have
been made to exploit the hydropower resources as much as possible. The hydroelectric power potential of Romania is estimated at 5900 MW for the rivers, and at
2100 MW for the Danube. Under these circumstances, the total estimated hydroelectric power potential reaches 8000 MW (1134 MW being represented by micro
hydropower plants that currently produce 400 MW only) (Table 15.1). Romania has
296 small and large hydropower plants (in function); furthermore, other 411 micro