Economic value of hydropeaking externalities

This research paper uses a discrete choice experiment to evaluate individual preferences for policies reducing hydropeaking in regulated rivers, weighing local environmental benefits against the potential for increased CO2 emissions.

• The study found that most individuals favor stricter restrictions on short-term regulations (hydropeaking) to reduce local environmental impacts, specifically valuing improvements in the ecological state, fish stocks, and recreational use.
• While potential increases in CO2 emissions resulting from hydropeaking restrictions create a clear disutility for individuals, the estimated benefits of an improved river environment outweigh this negative impact.
• The research identifies unobserved preference heterogeneity among individuals, suggesting that willingness-to-pay (WTP) estimations should utilize a model specification with correlated utility coefficients to be accurate.

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} }