/ABSTRACT_ESHA_HYDRO10

EUROPEAN SMALL HYDROPOWER ASSOCIATION

The European Small Hydropower Association: Looking Ahead Gema San Bruno ABSTRACT The context in which hydro is developing is changing strong and fast. The new parameters are completely unfamiliar to the hydro community and the traditional ways are not working any more. In order to understand and adapt, the hydro power sector and its main stakeholders need to face the new reality, the new world where quality comes before quantity. At ESHA, we like to look ahead and think of the small hydropower of the 21st Century. The following paper will explain how at the core of the analysis we forget the main element, “water� and how to preserve this precious resource since with no water there is no hydro, no plants, no equipment, no electricity and after all no business. The paper will reveal some of the steps and areas ESHA is leading in order to evolve by ensuring a good development of the small hydropower sector in Europe.

1- WATER It is so basically clear for everyone working in the hydropower sector that the energy is produced by water but then it is as well so easily forgotten that water is taken for granted.

Plans for developing the civil works, the technical equipment, the environmental impacts mainly on fish population, the investment, the energy produced, the return of the investment, the support schemes, etc BUT is there any plan on how to recover the water cycle once used in order to preserve the quantity of water needed for running the business?

No. In our century it is not enough to count on the rain and the flow of the river. A planed action in order to ensure a sustainable management of the resource is needed. This

thinking goes in line with the European Commission Agenda for the next five years on “Resource Efficiency”.

The European Commission started a process in 2000 in order to ensure a good status of the quality of the water in the European Union through the implementation of the “Water Framework Directive”. This Directive has raised a lot of controversy in the hydro world mainly because it has been seen as a threat for the development of the sector in the future.

Indeed, this piece of legislation is the only one available at EU level on water policy and it only covers quality aspects forgetting other important issues like quantity and sustainable management. But it is just the first to come and some other water legislation will follow in the future. In terms of hydropower production, the quality of the water should not be an issue for our sector since in principle the main impact of the plants to the environment is not related to water quality.

In 2009, all member states had the obligation to present to the European Commission their “river basin management plans” in order to define how the authorities will implement the Water Framework Directive in order to guarantee the good quality of the river basin waters. Of course, the implementation of these plans will have a direct impact on the hydropower development of new plans since several preservation criteria related to the environment are set in the Directive and must be respected by EU law. Nevertheless and at the same time, it represents a warning sign, a wake-up call for the sector to acknowledge mistakes and change; a change that involves an evolution rather than a prohibition.

The hydropower of the 21st century has to treat water like gold because it is the basis of the business. New skills, departments, experts, etc have to be used and created concentrating in tailoring water management plans in order to guarantee that the water is used in the best way possible to avoid not only its pollution but what it is more important its availability. If there is no water, there will be no hydro and unfortunately the water available in rivers and lakes are getting altered in Europe due to the extreme human pressure on it and the climate change.

2- CHALLENGES The challenges of the hydropower in order to continue its existence are concentrated in the following areas: a) Environmentally friendly A hydropower plant that is not environmentally friendly is predicted to death. There is no discussion about it. ESHA promotes, encourages and support research, studies, alternatives on new methods and new approaches to integrate the technology in the most optimal way within the environment. ESHA is involved in the political debate through the participation

at the working groups in the EU Commission on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive as well as the Alpine Convention group. ESHA runs and participates in EU projects addressing the environmental dimension like SHERPA, SHAPES, CHOICE, Rural-Res or HydroAction. ESHA has collaborated at international level as well with the IHA on the Protocol for Sustainable Hydro. In addition, ESHA is in close contact with the works being developed at the European Environmental Agency as well as by WWF and the European Water Partnership. b) Profitable ESHA defends a profitable business for the small hydropower developers in the European Union where the benefits of selling electricity and equipment are higher than the cost and the investment. In this respect as well, new thinking of ways of financing projects has to be developed. New ideas like standardization of equipment or joint ventures (private-public) involving different actors for financing projects are being developed in order to guarantee profitability. One of the biggest advantages of hydro is its long-life duration. Therefore, the forefront investment needed to run the plant can be recuperated in a relative short time of period and once the breakeven point has been overcome, incomes will last for a considerable time.

From the economic point of view there is no constrain that could make a hydro project non-profitable. The main barriers are set by the administrative machine and the renewal of licenses. The current administrative barriers existing in Europe delay the potential profitability of the hydro activities. The most dangerous consequence is that investors attracted to the sector and seeking for short time profitability of the investment are looking for projects with a short-time duration leading to the selection of cheap options with a short time life. c) Affordable If it is truth that compare with other RES technologies, hydro still remains the most affordable one, the impact of the environmental criteria and in particular the implementation of the Water Framework Directive are going to add additional costs to the investment that in principle will be financed by the developers only. In this sense, ESHA promotes the elaboration of schemes where the extra investments needed to fulfill environmental requirements can be compensated when they represent an over proportional cost on the general investment. Lobby actions at European level are carrying out in order to research the alternatives on this issue.

At the same time, ESHA pushes for the maintenance of support schemes for small hydro and uses the new EU Directive to promote the use of RES as an instrument not only to guarantee but to increase the different support systems in force and in particular the new

ones to be developed in order to guarantee the binding objectives of deployment of RES in the different member states by 2020. d) Modern & Flexible Hydro technology needs to be modernized and become more flexible. The use of new and eco material more sustainable orientated both for the equipment and the civil works need to be promoted. ESHA encourages the research and demonstration activities in order to market new approaches from the technology, design and functioning of the hydro projects with the aim of delivering modern concepts that can be flexible and adapt to the particular situation of each site to be exploited. Unfortunately, the industry is far away of reaching this point. EU projects like SHAPES or HydroAction where ESHA is involved under the EU Research program FP6 and FP7 try to cover some of these aspects. Creativity together with technology and efficiency is lacking in the hydro business. e) Renewable The reason why some forms of energy production are called renewable is because the technologies use resources that are not deployed by their use like the wind or the sun. In the case of hydropower the basic resource is water which in principle is not deployed when passing by the turbine to generate electricity. That’s why Hydropower is a renewable energy source by definition. But, in many cases hydropower alter the course of the river or in medium-large scale need a reservoir which creates an artificial body in the nature. These changes can have an effect on the river continuity and quantity of water what could end in not enough water for running the turbine in the medium-long term. If to this we add the already human pressure to ground water available in our continent and the effects of the climate change then a probable scenario for the future would be that water available at rivers and lakes become an scarce resource in which case hydro will not be renewable any more. That’s why ESHA defends the smart hydro production where monitoring activities and guarantees are developed in order to be sure that the water is continuously available and that the natural cycle is preserve. At the end, this kind of attitude can only be in favor of the developer to guarantee the continuity of its own business.

3- OUT OF THE BOX The hydro sector and player are very conservative and traditional. Hydro production principle is one of the oldest in energy generation and one of the most reliable, it is truth.

But as well, it is one of the most obsolete technologies in terms of research, new ideas and overall thinking out of the box.

Nevertheless, slow attempts are seeing the light like:

Multipurpose plants and multiuse of the water resource: at the moment there are several small hydropower plants running at installations not meant for the production of electricity like waste water treatment plans. One of the most efficient uses of water concept is the combination of waste water treatment together with the production of electricity from small hydro and biogas by the anaerobic process for cleaning the water before being brought back to the river.

Infrasound systems and turbines that warn and prevent fish being killed.

Attractive designs and popular attractions of the small hydro plants Combinations of refurbishment of buildings with small hydropower autoproduction of electricity.

Pumps, storage and small hydro for energy security and heat production combined with electricity.

ESHA within the project SHAPES has researched some of these new ideas and some examples are available.

To conclude, ESHA would like to encourage alike thinkers of this paper to contact us and become members in particular to give input on new approaches to boost the sector in the European Union. At the moment ESHA is proud to announce that for the first time, the association together with a consortium under the EU partially funded project StreamMap is developing a European Hydro Database, HYDI, that will offer all statistical, market and policy information on the situation of the hydro sector (large and small) on yearly basis. At the same time, ESHA is working in the drafting of the road map for the future of small hydro in Europe.

ESHA Rue d’Arlon 63-67 B-1040 Bruxelles Tel: +322 546 1945 Fax: +322 546 1947 email: info@esha.be www.esha.be