Economic value of hydropeaking externalities

The research evaluates the trade-offs between reducing hydropeaking to improve river ecology and the potential increase in CO2 emissions. Findings indicate that individuals generally prefer stronger restrictions on short-term regulations to benefit fish stocks, recreational use, and the ecological state, with these benefits outweighing the disutility of increased CO2 emissions. The study emphasizes the need to account for unobserved preference heterogeneity in willingness-to-pay estimations.

• Most individuals prefer stricter restrictions on short-term regulations to reduce local environmental impacts, placing high value on the ecological state, fish stocks, and recreational use.
• While potential increases in CO2 emissions create a clear disutility, the estimated benefits of improving the river environment through hydropeaking restrictions are greater than this disutility.
• Willingness-to-pay (WTP) estimations should utilize a model specification with correlated utility coefficients to account for unobserved preference heterogeneity among individuals.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2024). Economic value of hydropeaking externalities. https://www.sei.org/publications/economic-value-of-hydropeaking-externalities/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Economic value of hydropeaking externalities. 2024. https://www.sei.org/publications/economic-value-of-hydropeaking-externalities/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Economic value of hydropeaking externalities |date=5 January 2024 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/economic-value-of-hydropeaking-externalities/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2024economic, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Economic value of hydropeaking externalities}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2024}, month = jan, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/economic-value-of-hydropeaking-externalities/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }