Environmental and financial benefits of sediment dredging: a case study

Increased sediment load in some watersheds, as a result of climate change, is affecting the efficiency of hydropower plants that were commissioned without adequate sediment management measures. Paso Ancho is a 6.8 MW hydro scheme in Panama with a very inefficient desander and an hourly peaking reservoir. Because of the operation of the desander, almost all the sediment that goes into the system settles in the reservoir. This paper describes the installation and operation of a dredger at the project to address the energy losses from the sedimentation issue and also describes associated environmental benefits gained by the removal of sediments.