Hydropower plays a major role in meeting Europe’s ambitious energy transition goals. In addition to providing a large share of EU renewables (RES) capacity, …

… it complements the increasing share of variable renewables in the European power system. As the EU power sector accelerates its transition, the need for flexibility, firm capacity and the ability to balance variable generation increases – this is where hydropower delivers. As these as well as other capabilities provided by hydropower are often underestimated, Eurelectric and VGB PowerTech have devel-oped hydropower fact sheets including policy recommendations. These fact sheets were launched at a high-level event in the European Parliament in Brussels, hosted by Angelika Mlinar, MEP.
The European energy system is undergoing a significant transformation (decarbonisation, securi-ty of supply, deployment of renewables and their integration into the market) creating big op-portunities and challenges for all stakeholders. Despite significant energy efficiency improve-ments, the overall demand for decarbonized electricity is set to be significantly higher in 2050 than today due to the decarbonisation of the heating, cooling, transport and many industrial sectors, which can only be achieved via efficient and smart electrification.
In this context, it is often overlooked that hydropower plays a major role in meeting Europe’s ambitious energy transition goals today. In particular, it complements the increasing share of variable renewables in the European power system. With increasing ambition for decarbonisa-tion the need for sufficient flexibility, firm capacity and the ability to balance variable generation is set to increase. To properly advocate the important role of hydropower, Eurelectric and VGB PowerTech have developed a new set of fact sheets outlining hydropower’s capabilities, chal-lenges and key figures. The fact sheets are supplemented by a leaflet “Facts of Hydropower in the EU” presenting all relevant data and facts about hydropower in Europe. The hydropower Fact Sheets and the additional leaflet are available for download at VGB´s website*.
These brand-new hydropower fact sheets were launched at a high-level breakfast event in the Euro-pean Parliament in Brussels, hosted by Angelika Mlinar, MEP. After the presentation of the key mes-sages, the panellists from Fortum Sweden, VGB PowerTech e.V., the European Commission and Eurelectric analysed the needs, trends and future developments and agreed that due to the project-ed increase of variable renewables, the importance of hydropower will rise in the future.

Hydropower Fact Sheets and leaflet, download: https://bit.ly/2tIwZhh