1. Introduction
Access to energy is essential for development because it enables basic social needs (water, food, health, education, etc.) to be met [
1]. In 2016, 1.2 billion people worldwide, though mainly in Asia and Africa (where about 80% live in rural areas), did not have access to electricity [
2]. Hydropower has contributed to economic and social development by providing energy and water management services. Moreover, hydropower dams can provide services beyond the provision of electricity [
3]. Hydropower is a fundamental instrument for sustainable development, and it is an affordable, renewable, and flexible form of energy [
4]. It accounts for nearly 16% of the world’s total electricity supply and is the largest renewable electricity source [
5,
6]. In Africa, 15.5% of the electricity supply is derived from hydropower [
7]. Hydropower is a crucial source of electricity generation, especially in Eastern and Southern Africa [
8]. Currently, 90% of national electricity generation in Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zambia comes from hydropower [
8]. West Africa has invested relatively little in large-scale hydraulic infrastructure, and the Senegal and Niger basins allow more than 90% of their runoff to pass through, even though it could be used for agricultural irrigation and hydropower generation [
9]. More than 50% of West Africa’s hydropower potential (HPP) remains untapped, but some large hydropower dams have been built, and other projects are underway [
10]. The share of hydropower in the energy mix is expected to continue to increase, which will help promote clean and renewable energy, a goal being driven by national and regional energy plans such as the Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) [
8]. The desire to deploy renewable energy conversion technologies has been renewed by the severe environmental effects of fossil fuel-based energy sources [
11]. Many governments and international organizations consider the exploitation of green energy, particularly hydropower, to be a crucial element of sustainable economic development, especially in the least-developed countries [
12].
Our planet is currently dealing with the issue of climate change, which threatens all economic sectors [
13]. Climate change refers to long-term changes in temperature and weather patterns [
13]. A major contributing component to climate change is global warming [
14]. The release of greenhouse gases, both from natural sources and as a result of human-induced changes, has accelerated the process of climate change and intensified our weather [
15]. According to the IPCC Special Report on the Impacts of Global Warming of 1.5 °C, human activity is thought to be responsible for around 1.0 °C of global warming beyond pre-industrial levels, resulting in a potential increase in global temperature of 0.8 °C to 1.2 °C [
16]. If global warming maintains its current trajectory, it might reach 1.5 °C between 2030 and 2050 [
16]. To strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change, many agreements have been signed to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations, such as the Paris Agreement [
17]. The main objective of the Paris Agreement is to increase the effectiveness of international efforts to combat the threat posed by climate change by limiting the rise in global temperature this century to less than 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, and to pursue efforts to further limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C. Scientific interest in hydropower in Africa is increasing both due to the importance of hydropower in developing African countries and in order to comply with the Paris Agreement [
18].
The relationship between hydropower and climate change is complex. On the one hand, hydropower significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions and mitigates global warming [
2,
19]. On the other hand, climate change is expected to alter river flows, which will affect the availability and reliability of hydropower generation [
2]. The energy system is one of the economic sectors most affected by climate change [
20]. Indeed, water availability and hydropower generation can be affected by changes in river flows (runoff volume, variability, and seasonality of discharges) and extreme weather events (floods and droughts) related to climate change [
21,
22,
23]. Existing research has shown that climate change could severely impact hydropower in the future [
24,
25,
26].
The source of the Senegal River, the sixth largest river in Africa, is located in the Fouta Djallon highlands and covers an area of more than 340,000 km
2 [
27,
28]. The river flows through four countries: Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, and Senegal. Aware of the economic benefits of hydropower dams, the countries of the Senegal River have formed the Organization for the Development of the Senegal River (OMVS) to plan the energy development of the river. Early on, an infrastructure program was established to regulate river flows and produce electricity by constructing hydropower dams [
9]. These hydropower dams are the Manantali Multipurpose Dam and the Gouina and Felou run-of-river hydropower stations. The OMVS has planned several major dams that will likely be added to the Manantali Dam in the upper Senegal River Basin in the coming years. These include the Boureya and Koukoutamba Dams, to be located upstream of the Manantali Dam [
29].
Climate change has severely affected the flow of many rivers in West Africa since 1970 [
30,
31,
32,
33]. Projections indicate that a change in river flow regimes is expected in many African basins [
34]. The Senegal river, for example, is expected to experience an increase in extreme rainfall [
35]. While several studies have argued that climate change impacts hydropower worldwide, there have been few studies that have investigated its specific impacts in West Africa [
3,
10]. The West African Regional Centre on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency [
36] states that the impacts of climate change on West Africa’s water resources are well known, but that their effects on hydropower generation, especially in the Senegal River, have not been well studied. Several studies have been carried out on the Senegal River. Some studies have focused on the impact of climate change or variability on water availability, while other studies have focused on the effects of dams on downstream water flow [
28,
31,
35,
37,
38,
39,
40,
41,
42,
43,
44]. Despite the amount of documentation and numerous projects on the Senegal River, a study on the potential impact of climate change on its hydropower potential has not been carried out. Indeed, there are not yet any studies that have addressed the hydrological and hydropower potential (HPP) response of the basin that may result from the combined impact of future climate change (CC) and the future development of planned dams in the Bafing watershed. Therefore, this study aims to fill this gap by investigating the impacts of climate change and altered water resources management on the river flow regimes and HPP in the upper Senegal River Basin using a Soil and Water Integrated Model (SWIM) [
45].
The SWIM was driven by 10 downscaled and bias-adjusted global climate models (GCMs) to generate daily river discharge and simulate dam management under two future climate scenarios (shared socioeconomic pathways 126 and 370). Upstream of the Manantali Dam on the Bafing River in Mali, we implemented into the model the two planned dams (Koukoutamba and Boureya) in Guinea and adjusted the operation of the three dams to simulate the most reliable hydropower generation. The generation and reliability of the HPP was analyzed for two future periods around the middle (near future) and the end (far future) of the 21st century. The results of this study can be considered relevant to the efforts of the OMVS to create effective strategies for water resources management in the basin.
4. Discussion
Energy is a strategic matter for the states bordering the Senegal River which constitute the OMVS. The OMVS is planning to significantly increase water storage by establishing large dams for hydropower generation. This analysis of the impacts of climate change on the HPP and the management of the new dams provides important information. The objective of this research was to assess the potential impacts of climate change on water availability and HPP in the Bafing watershed, and thereby to inform decision makers. Climate change projections are essential input for projecting future hydropower generation [
60]. According to the median of the ten GCMs, the temperature is expected to increase in the future in all scenarios, regardless of the period considered. On the other hand, uncertainties about the precipitation projections are high. Indeed, precipitation is likely to increase in the near future (P1) according to ssp 126, but it is expected to decrease according to ssp 370. In the far future (P2), both scenarios project a decrease in precipitation. This large variance is not only related to uncertainties in the climate models, but also to the selection of the base period for comparison [
61]. This has important implications for decision makers formulating long-term strategic development plans. Regarding the possible impacts of climate change on the flow and HPP at the Manantali Dam, the MMME projects a decline in inflow, outflow, and future HPP regardless of the period and scenario considered. Only the results of the projection under ssp 126 in the near future deviate from this trend, despite the evaporative losses that are likely to be offset by the increase in precipitation during this period. This result confirms the sensitivity of this energy source to precipitation. Indeed, [
62] showed that increased precipitation due to climate change will lead to an increase in dam inflows and a change in annual hydropower production of +8.72% (RCP4.5) and +12.81% (RCP8.5) by 2035, and +8.63% (RCP 4.5) and +24% (RCP 8.5) by 2085. Increases in spill are also projected (except under ssp 370 in the far future), and this may trigger an increase in flooding downstream, posing a serious threat to the Bakel region in the Senegal River Valley. It should be also emphasized that, due to an elevated risk of flooding, retaining water in the dam for hydropower generation may conflict with maintaining a free volume. Interestingly, the impacts of future dams on the Manantali Dam are mixed. On the one hand, they will lead to a decrease in average hydropower generation, even though the operation of the Manantali Dam was adjusted in the model after the incorporation of the two planned dams. On the other hand, they will improve the reliability of the hydropower generation of the Manantali Dam by reducing the risk that its water level will fall below the turbine threshold. They will also contribute to a reduction in the volume spilled by controlling the peak flow upstream of the dam, thus reducing the risk of flooding in Bakel. Regarding the possible impacts of climate change and the management of the dams, the results suggest that changes in the magnitude of future flows caused by dam management are likely to be greater than those caused by climate change for the Manantali Dam. According to [
63], increasing storage capacity by constructing new dams is the first surface water adaptation option to mitigate the effects of climate change, despite the negative social and environmental consequences of dams [
64]. The results show that although the planned dams will increase the HPP in the basin, they will be negatively affected by climate change (except in the near future (P1) under ssp 126). Thus, operational rules must be dynamically adjusted to adapt to climate change. Our results are consistent with the findings of [
65], which suggest that additional coping strategies are needed. One adaptation technique is to improve the operation of these three dams through an optimization program. Optimizing the operation of a group of hydropower dams in a basin has various advantages. It allows the full use of water resources at all scales while enabling the adjustments and compensations to mitigate the effects of interannual climate variables on each power plant [
66]. The other option is to study the combinations of hydro, solar, and wind energy at the local or regional scale. The authors of [
56,
67] demonstrated that the appropriate management of existing and future hydropower plants in West Africa and the adoption of a new common energy policy promoting an energy mix that prioritizes renewable energies (namely hydropower, solar and wind) are essential to optimize West Africa’s renewable energy potential.