The Viennahydro is one of the world’s most renowned hydropower conferences. This year it is being held for the 22nd time on 13th to 15th November in the sophisticated setting of Laxenburg Castle on the outskirts of Vienna. Focus will again be on key topics in hydropower with the traditionally diverse audience of international experts enjoying excellent presentations, lively discussions and an inspirational supporting programme. This year’s main topics all feature under the leitmotiv ‘The value of hydropower in the energy transition’ – and include issues such as flexibilisation, storage and digitalisation.

Which innovations are required, and what direction must research take to ensure hydropower meets future challenges? This autumn, these central questions are to be discussed at the 22nd edition of the Viennahydro. Experienced industry leaders and young researchers provide new impetus and a variety of perspectives on these questions. The event committee has repeated­ly proven its worth, ensuring the quality of the issues and presentations remains high. “Our event committee consists of 35 inter­nationally-recognised experts, whose work guarantees no mediocre or below-average ­papers are approved. Only papers exhibiting highly-innovative content, academic maturity and the appropriate preparation are en­dorsed for the event,” says Prof. Christian Bauer, Head of the Fluid Mechanics Department at the Technical University of Vienna. As usual, Christian and his team will be ­hosting and organising the event.

Excellence of presentations guaranteed
The Viennahydro is organised every two ­years. This certainly adds to its appeal, and means there is more time to develop new ­topics and select higher-quality presentations. The event was cancelled in 2020, due to the Coronavirus, but made a successful comeback in 2022 – and this proven event format is returning this year. Online participation was an innovation first featured at the previous edition, and is also to be implemented again. As Christian Bauer explains: “We offered the online format for the first time in 2022. It worked well, so we decided to pro­vide the option for conference participants and some speakers this year, too.” Traditionally, the degree of international ­participation at the Viennahydro is very high. The organisation team is led by Christian Bauer and assumes that in 2024 around 40 percent of participants will come from abroad. The event is fundamentally bilingual, with communication and presentations taking place in both German and English.

Programme enhanced by PHD Students
The Viennahydro is absolutely unique in that it offers doctoral students from all over the world the opportunity to present their re­search work to an international audience of experts. The event’s good reputation has led to the increasing interest and participation of numerous PHD students. “The majority of PHD students at this year’s event come from abroad, presenting topics that are wide-ranging, but have very close relevance to the most important international research priorities,” says Christian Bauer. He references a selection of interesting doctoral students’ presentations approved for the event – such as: ‘Flexible ­power grids of the future’, ‘Validation of ­model investigations by prototype measurements in the field of transient operation ­management’, ‘Integration of photovoltaics and hydrokinetic energy into the hydropower system’, ‘Dynamic performance evaluation of a pumped storage power plant connected to a power grid’, ‘Investigation of the scaling ­effects of cavitation in shear flows’, ‘Detection and stabilisation of plants in island operation’, or ‘Numerical investigation with CFD of a Pelton nozzle with structured and unstruc­tured computational meshes’.

Focus on current topics
The doctoral students’ work corresponds perfectly with the topics to be covered in Laxenburg in 2024. A small selection from the wide­ranging list of accepted submissions includes: ‘Flexibilisation and smart grids’, ‘Pumps and pump turbines’, ‘Digitalisation at machine ­level’, ‘Planning and operation of variable-­speed pumped storage power plants’, ‘Physical models and numerical simulations’, ‘Hydraulic systems and transient behaviour’, ‘Experimental tests on prototypes’ and ‘Cavitation under extreme loads’. Chief organiser Christian Bauer emphasises that the course of the event will not deviate in any significant way from previous conferences, stating that the participants appreciate the high standard of lectures and discussion panels, and the dignified setting of the venue, Laxenburg Castle, around six kilometres south of Vienna, which – for this reason – has been retained.

Participants appreciate side-events programme
The supporting side-events at the Vienna­hydro are also held in high regard. For many ­years Viennese tradition, flair and relaxed moods are known to have been essential parts of the supporting programme. So, this year, as in previous years, the evening reception is to take place in the Wappensaal at Vienna City Hall, a wonderful venue steeped in Viennese history and culture. On the second evening, there’s an equally popular and well-established visit to the traditional Fuhrgasslhuber wine tavern, sponsored by industry specialist Voith Hydro. A further highlight, one marking the start of the three-day event, is the panel ­discussion held in the main hall. “The panel discussion recently received a very positive ­response, leading to the scheduling of another top-class discussion this year on the key topic of ‘The value of hydropower for the energy transition’”, Christian Bauer reveals. Anyone with an interest in hydropower should make a note of the dates from 13th to 15th November immediately.
Registration on the homepage is now open for the conference
FOR MORE INFORMATION – GO TO: www.viennahydro.com