The current European legislative period (2019 to 2024) has been defined by the European Green Deal presented by the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in November 2019. This Green Deal should set the course for a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy that achieves net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, decouples growth from resource use and makes this transition fair and inclusive for all.

In recent months, negotiations on new and revised EU legislative procedures provided for under the European Green Deal have been finalised under high time pressure ­be­tween the EU institutions so that the European Parliament could formally adopt them by the end of the session at the end of April 2024. Despite facing strong opposition to small-scale hydropower, the political work of national and European associations has led to successes in favour of hydropower, which will now form the basis for the coming years. EREF succeeded in including pro-hydro­power provisions to EU policy files, especially the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive, the reform of the Electricity Market Design, the Nature Restoration Regulation, the Net Zero Industry Act, the 2040 EU Climate targets and several public consultations of the European Commission. EREF and its members of its Hydropower Chapter worked with governments on the improvement of draft NECPs, demanding explicit national 2030 hydropower targets and the development of national hydropower strategies.

Overriding public interest for renewables
Of particular significance is the establishment of the legal principle of overriding public interest for renewable energies, including hydropower. In addition, the EU institutions have been instructed to integrate this legal principle into existing and new European nature conservation legislation. Other political successes include the explicit recognition of (small-scale) hydropower as renewable energy; the rejection of proposed negative amendments to small hydropower; the rejection of the strict sustainability criteria for hydropower; and the decision by Member States on whether hydropower in renewable energy acceleration areas. The new legislative period will see the revision of the Water Framework Directive. After more than 20 years, this presents an opportunity for the sector to adapt restrictive legal passages to the fact that hydropower and the good ecological status of a river can go hand in hand. Small hydropower plants create habitats for rare and valuable aquatic plants and birds as well as for fish, enrich the waters with oxygen and clean the rivers of all kinds of ­floating debris. The same applies to the finalisation of the definition of free-flowing rivers. It should be emphasised here that, at this stage of the negotiations, there is a broad consensus not to demolish any existing hydropower plants. In conjunction with the potential national implementation of the new EU regulation on nature restoration, only barriers that are no longer needed for energy production, shipping, water supply or flood protection should be removed. In this context, EREF continues advocating for detailed case-by-case assessments of barriers in order to secure the future potential for small hydropower.

New design for the electricity market
Even though the agenda for the new EU legislative period is still being discussed, indications suggest that the debate on a new design for the electricity market will continue.The new agreement on market design from December 2023 emphasises the extension of the service life of power plants (repowering) and the promotion of flexibility as key issues for the hydropower sector. However, there is still a lack of business models on flexibility from which hydropower owners could potentially benefit. Furthermore, the distinction between storage and run-of-river power plants ignores the continuum of flexibility performance of hydropower plants. A possible solution could be drawn from the United States, where flexibility is assessed through the MW-mile tariff. This approach ensures that the remuneration is proportional to the length of the load curve in order to support flexibility sources compared to generation with a flat load curve. A Bavarian study on hydropower plants generating less than 1 MW concludes that run-of-river power plants have a potential modulation capacity of 800 MW. For France, initial estimates suggest a modulation potential of 300 MW over a two-hour period for hydropower plants under 10 MW, which is equivalent to the output of thousands of batteries.

Hydropower contributes to grid stability
Moreover, other hydropower services such as black start, congestion management and voltage regulation within distribution grids should be remunerated. Hydropower plants contribute to the stability of distribution grids, thus facilitating the increased production of green electricity from variable renewable sources, especially from photovoltaic systems. The need to accelerate the decarbonisation of the European economy has become increasingly evident, particularly in light of the breach of the 1.5°C limit in the last twelve months and the escalating frequency of climate-related disasters. EREF therefore advocates for the resolute and full implementation of the European Green Deal and a clear and ambitious policy path for the next decade from 2030 to 2040 as a priority for the new EU legislature. With regard to the recently set target to reduce European greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2040, EREF urges the newly elected EU decision-makers to establish correspondingly high targets for a renewable energy expansion for 2040. At the same time, EREF calls for the expansion of hydropower to be included as an explicit item on the new EU agenda and for the development of a dedicated action programme to advance this objective.

Red is pending at national level
At national level, the implementation of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) is pending. According to the RED, the decision to include hydropower in the national acceleration areas for renewables lies with the Member States. In addition, it should be ensured that national governments adhere to the proposed accelerated authorisation procedures for hydropower projects. With the support of its members, EREF will inform the newly elected decision-makers in the European Parliament and the European Commission about the benefits and opportunities of hydropower and continue to advocate for its expansion. This is supported by activities under the EU project European Technology and Innovation Platform (ETIP) HYDROPOWER. Based on a network of hydropower stakeholders (HYDROPOWER EUROPE Forum), the project promotes the European hydropower sector regarding future collaborative R&I initiatives and increased public awareness. It aims to be a recognised interlocutor for the European Commission, Member States and Associated Countries about the hydropower’s sector specific R&I needs. ETIP Hydropower cooperates with national/regional/EU-level platforms to ensure synergies between EU, national and regional activities. The project recently published the new Hydropower in Europe Research & Innovation platform, HERI. HERI aims at supporting the European hydropower sector through the tracking of research, innovation and strategic actions as well as organisations active in hydropower research and compiles research funding organisations at European, national and local levels.

Focus on R&I priorities
The year 2024 foresees the start of activities under four ETIP HYDROPOWER Working Groups (WGs). These groups gather experts from different hydropower sectors and stakeholder groups to focus on R&I priorities and strategic actions identified in the Hydropower Research and Innovation Agenda (RIA) and the Strategic Industry Roadmap (SIR) that the consortium had developed under a former project called Hydropower Europe. The four initial ­working groups (WG) cover flexibility and ­storage (WG1), biodiversity (WG2), Climate change (adaptation and mitigation, WG3) and the promotion, dissemination and up­take of past and current European hydro­power R&I projects (WG4). Members of these working groups will draft white papers with accessible messages to increase decision­makers and public awareness; identify, prioritize and draft key Hydropower Research & Innovation needs; draft technical statement reports; and help to facilitate strategic actions of the ETIP Secretariat and Chairing team. If you still would like to join one or more of these WGs, please contact us by email to secretariat@etip-hydropower.eu with ‘ETIP WG:’ starting the email header.

Author: Dirk Hendricks, Secretary General at EREF