Impacts of climate induced water scarcity on hydropower sector: Case study of HPPs Crn Drin, North Macedonia

Water scarcity escalating by long and frequent droughts is becoming a raising trend in many regions globally. Environmental, social and economy sectors have been jeopardized thereby, in their survival, operation and development. Water resources sustainable planning and management in long term has to respond to new challenges, due to more intensive and uncertain climate change impacts, demographic trends and economy growth, resulting in more intensive water resources demand. The water deficit jeopardizes the long term operation and production of energy, as one of the main pillars of development of society and economy. The paper presents implementation of an integrated simulation hydro - climate - energy model in the course of the project ARSINOE (https://arsinoe-project.eu/), in the Case Study of Ohrid and Prespa Lakes, shared by three countries (North Macedonia, Albania and Greece), to provide an improved representation of integrated transboundary water management under climate change scenarios, with a specific focus on energy sector (hydro power generation), its exposure and climate adaptiveness.