Hydropower and irrigation-potentials of reservoirs in arid regions

In the process of appraising multi-purpose reservoir projects, questions about the most beneficial and efficient use of the land within the reservoir space usually have to be answered. To serve this purpose and provide an improved basis for reservoir-planning, specific indicators have been developed. The parametrised, area-related reservoir-indicators quantify the energetic potentials of hydro-power generation as well as of biomass production due to irrigation water stored in a reservoir. In this contribution, the methodology of reservoir-indicators is outlined and its application is demonstrated within the framework of a case study. The resulting specific energetic potentials — i.e. the usefulness and efficiency of the reservoirs — for various possible dam sites in South America, Middle East and Africa are presented and discussed.