Implementation of the WFD in Italy and experimental studies on reserved flow
HYDRO 2007 – Granada, 17 October 2007
Sara Gollessi e Giulia Valerio APER – Associazione Produttori di Energia da Fonti Rinnovabili
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Background ‌. HYDROPOWER
global perspective: ecological advantages
positive contribution to climate changes
local perspective: environmental impacts
adoption of mitigation measures
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Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC TARGET: “good status� for all EU waters within 2015 costs/benefits TOOLS: economic analysis
efficiency
PROBLEMS: potential conflicts and contradictions with DIR 2001/77/EC targets for Electricity Production from Renewable Energy Sources which could be the compromise ?? 3
Reserved Flow & experimental approach Starting from the ’90ies a “reserved flow” was introduced to mitigate the impact on the diverted reaches, but… use of theoretical or semi-empirical approaches no clear definition of the goals shared by the stakeholders
many general formulas, difficult to apply for solving a typical site-specific problem 4
Reserved Flow & experimental approach The WFD and the new environmental legislation on climate change introduced a new framework, where the costs must be related to the expected benefits it is necessary to define the best compromise between global environmental protection and economic development on one hand, and local impact on the water bodies on the other hand
the purpose of the experimental approach is to define an optimal value for this parameter, which can be efficient for the site-specific conditions
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SHERPA project Aims at promoting a comprehensive territorial planning approach at the level of water bodies: investigating environmental performance of SHP spreading best practices experimenting a participatory approach DELIVERABLES: Report on technical and operational procedures to better integrate Small hydroplants in the environment Assessment of productivity in relation with WFD and RES-e targets
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Implementation of the WFD in Italy Legislative Decree n. 152/99: one year before the WFD! January 2006: European Court condemn Italy for failure to transpose the WFD Legislative Decree n. 152/06 Regional Governments have to set quality targets for each water body and identify measures to achieve them, by adopting a Water Protection Plan.
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Experimental studies on RF in Italy Many ongoing studies ‌ similar principles, different approaches!
3 different experiences within the same river basin Po River: 650 Km, 71.057 km2, 6 Regions !
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The experience of Valle d’Aosta Region PARTECIPANTS: Region, hydropower producers, research institutes DURATION: each experimental campaign should last 5 years COSTS : each hydropower producer will support its costs (≈ 6.000 euro/year), concession fees reduced by 50%. 9
The experience of Valle d’Aosta Region TARGET: definition of a relation, specific for each water diversion, between the flow rate and the value of a series of parameters. The definition of the reserved flow value will finally be supported by a multicriteria analysis, which will consider all the interests involved. RESULTS: the experimental campaigns haven’t started yet, because the participants are still discussing about the parameters to be measured and about the administrative and/or research institutions which will carry out these measurements ! 10
The experience of Piemonte Region – Toce River PARTECIPANTS: Region, Province, Environmental Protection Agency, ENEL, APER and WWF Italy as observers DURATION: 6 years, starting from 2006 COSTS: the Region will support the cost of the study (physical measurements and laboratory analysis) and ENEL only the cost of the loss of productivity
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The experience of Piemonte Region – Toce River TARGET: a different percentage of the hydrological component of the RF will be released for 2 years each value and a technical commission will evaluate the actual effects on the ecosystem. RESULTS: started in June 2006; on the basis of the first measurements the commission proposed to introduce a seasonal modulation of the releases.
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Since the experience is going on well, participants are working to define a new experimentation protocol on a wider area: it will interest 6 water bodies and 2 artificial basins.
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The experience of Lombardia Region – Serio River PARTECIPANTS: Lombardia Region, 2 Provinces, hydropower producers, farmer unions, manufacturers, fishery associations, environmental associations, natural parks DURATION: only two experimental campaigns of 4 weeks each (April – May 2007/ Sept-Oct 2007) COSTS: will be shared by the regional and provincial administrations and all the participants proportionally to their concession fee
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The experience of Lombardia Region – Serio River TARGET: to analyse the effects of different values of release on the quality and quantity of water and on the hydrological continuity. APER is collecting information about the actual loss of productivity. RESULTS: the first experimental campaign (April – May 2007) was quite unsatisfactory: small amount of measurements really significant (rainfalls, mistakes).
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Main interesting result: upstream delimitation of the infiltration zone, since starting from this point and going downstream any increase in the releases doesn’t have significant effects on the flow rate.
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Conclusions VAL D’AOSTA: ☺ completely voluntary approach ☺ Presence of a compensation measure
opportunity, not burden
PIEMONTE – TOCE: limited in space and only one user easier to manage, better definition
improving experience
LOMBARDIA – SERIO: ☺ formal approach was very interesting and quite new (different users, basin scale) users not involved in the definition of the activity short duration of the 2 experimental campaigns
to be improved ! 15
Conclusions COSTS = measurement surveys + loss of productivity a compensation measure scheme is necessary (reduction of the water concession fee or a different sort of monetary or fiscal benefit) EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH = to find out a good and efficient definition of reserved flow it is necessary to assess the loss of productivity for hydropower plants due to its application and the impact on the achievement of the RESe targets
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Thanks !
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