Flood evaluation and dam safety for the Sg Perak cascade in the context of climate change

The authors describe a study carried out to investigate climate change effects on the future safety of the Sg Perak cascade of hydropower dams during extreme floods. The design inflow floods for present and future climate scenarios were calculated using two approaches. Flood frequency analysis was applied to the annual maximum series from the simulated daily flows, for present and future periods. Extreme rain-fall and floods were analysed on a hydrological model to compute the corresponding extreme flood values for present and future scenarios. The outflow flood was calculated using a reservoir routing model for the dams. The results are the basis for recommendations which should be taken to ensure the safety of the downstream populations in the case of more extreme flood events resulting from climate change.