Mapping and Assessment of River Hydrokinetic Energy Resources Across Canada and the Global Arctic

Abstract

In remote and northern communities across Canada and the Global Arctic, reliance on imported diesel for electricity continues to pose challenges including high costs, logistical constraints, environmental degradation, and vulnerability to fuel price volatility. Hydrokinetic energy (HKE), which harnesses the kinetic energy of flowing rivers without the need for dams, offers a locally available and lower-impact renewable energy alternative. Unlike conventional hydropower, HKE can provide electricity with comparatively minimal infrastructure and ecological disturbance, making it especially suitable for sensitive and remote locations. However, the adoption of HKE has been limited by the lack of reliable data and standardized methodologies for assessing site feasibility, particularly in remote and data-scarce regions. With increasing global interest in sustainable and community-based energy transitions, there is a growing need to robustly evaluate the feasibility of HKE deployment at regional, national, and local scales. The primary aim of this research is to increase the visibility and viability of HKE as a renewable energy solution for communities located near rivers through detailed case studies and development of validated national and regional datasets. Specifically, this research has four objectives: (1) to review and synthesize the current state of HKE assessment methodologies with a focus on localized and regional approaches; (2) develop two high-resolution, validated HKE resource databases – one for all of Canada and another for the entire Global Arctic; (3) carry out full-scale, site-specific field assessments at diverse rivers, including those in remote and Arctic locations, to test current standards and methods; and (4) assess the socioeconomic readiness and feasibility of HKE deployment, particularly in the Arctic. To achieve these objectives, a combination of literature review, remote sensing optimization, advanced GIS analysis, field data collection, hydrodynamic modeling, and socioeconomic analysis was employed. A comprehensive review identified methodological inconsistencies in localized and regional HKE assessments, highlighting the need for standardized methods and more uniform data integration. Surface water mapping approaches were developed and tested using Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar and Sentinel-2 Multispectral Instrument satellite imagery across diverse Canadian landscapes, applying both spectral indices and machine learning classification techniques. These data and methods were evaluated to optimize waterbody detection accuracy. The insights from this work on remotely sensed data were then applied to update and improve the national HKE database for Canada by updating measurements of river width. This was performed through integrating newly available datasets and modern computational techniques, such as cloud-based satellite image processing. Key parameters to HKE estimation, including flow, depth, width, velocity, and power, were estimated at a notably increased spatial resolution and with a uniform methodology. This resulted in the development of the Canadian River Hydrokinetic Energy (CRHE) database, including 252,000 km of stream length. With estimates available at 1,325,261 cross sections in the database, an average spacing of 190 m between measurements was achieved. A similar approach was employed for estimating HKE resources in the Global Arctic. The updated databases for Canada and the Arctic were validated using HKE estimates derived from field measurements and hydrodynamic modeling. Field data was collected with an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) and real-time kinematic differential global positioning system (RTK-DGPS) for hydrodynamic model calibration using TELEMAC-2D software. Detailed site assessments at four rivers, including the Iqaluit Kuunga (Sylvia Grinnell) River and Rivière Rouge, evaluated flow dynamics, seasonal variability, and optimal turbine placement. Socioeconomic feasibility was examined through spatial analysis of Arctic communities, identifying 325 communities with promising HKE potential and analyzing variables such as resource proximity, local resource strength, and diesel offset potential. The outcomes of this research include two validated, high-resolution HKE datasets – one for Canadian HKE resources and another for Global Arctic resources – that enable more accurate and accessible preliminary site identification by communities, developers, and policymakers. Remote sensing methods were optimized to produce improved estimates of river width, a critical input for HKE assessment, and practical recommendations are provided for future surface water mapping using remotely sensed data. Site-specific HKE resource assessments revealed the importance of capturing fine-scale spatial and temporal flow variations for optimal turbine placement, and demonstrated that reach-averaged velocities can significantly underestimate HKE potential. This study also offers guidance on field data collection techniques and HKE resource calculation practices. The Iqaluit Kuunga River case study confirmed the technical feasibility of HKE deployment in Arctic environments and proposed a framework for evaluating community readiness for energy transition across the Global Arctic. Collectively, the resulting datasets and recommendations lay a foundation for targeted, data-informed HKE development and support future renewable energy transitions in remote regions.