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Risk Analysis of the Hydroelectric Development and Irrigation Scheme Projects

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Risk Analysis of the Hydroelectric Development and Irrigation Scheme Projects

Risk Analysis of the Hydroelectric Development and Irrigation Scheme Projects
Hydroelectricity refers to electricity harnessed through hydropower. “Hydropower uses the energy of moving water to produce electricity. Also known as hydroelectric power, it's been used to generate electricity for over 100 years and currently provides about 10 percent of the country's electricity.” (FERC, 2010) Irrigation is the artificial watering of land. It allows countries or regions who normally do not get enough rainfall to still successfully grow crops. The similarity between the two case studies is that both revolve around water, using technology to harness its powers …show more content…

The hydroelectric project used histogram distributions to assess each individual risks, this may be more accurate but it is very time consuming, also considering that whatever result they get is based on the stipulation that a catastrophe will not occur. Should one occur, it would throw off all the assessments made. The irrigation project used a simpler approach, focusing on the “combined effects of all the risks that might affect an element either indirectly in terms of distributions of percentage changes or directly in terms of costs expressed in dollars.” (Cooper, Grey, Raymond, & Walker, Page 271, 2005)

Risk Assessment
Risk Assessment for the irrigation project was easier to follow because the steps made sense. Appropriate risk assessments were taken into account and did not discount catastrophes, which to me makes it more realistic. Both projects deal with water, which is a natural resource and is not always predictable. After reading both analyses, it didn’t feel like the assessment for the hydroelectric project was well thought out in the contingency area.
Due to this, the irrigation project seems to have a more compelling risk assessment. Perhaps due to it being a much smaller scale project, they are better able to represent possible risk scenarios and plan for them.

Reference
What is hydropower? (n.d.) Retrieved from

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