Falkenberg, Sweden 17-19 June 2004
Post conference review
Organised by ESHA (European Small Hydropower Association) and SERO (Swedish Association for Renewable Energy, Hydropower section) the International conference HIDROENERGIA 2004, held in Falkenberg, Sweden from the 17 - 19 June has been a big success. More than 200 participants gathered to discuss the challenges and advancements of the SHP sector. Such an international discussion and information exchange is particularly imperative now as the European Commission has just published a report on the implementation of the RES-e Directive and as the Water Framework Directive is implemented in the different EU Member States.
The conference has served as a platform of exchange of points of view for all actors in the small hydropower sector worldwide. At the same time, the exhibition has showcased the latest trends in the small hydropower engineering and technological development.
With more than 30 presentations from all relevant sectors (representatives from the industry, NGOs, European institutions, research institutions, government), the conference has looked to legislative, environmental, economic and technological issues regarding the development of small hydropower that are needed in order to achieve the European White paper targets on SHP installed capacity by 2010.
Two parallel sessions were organised: the first one regarding spatial planning and small hydropower and a second one on public image and public acceptance of small hydropower schemes. Hidroenergia 2004 has also showcase the results of the EU-funded Thematic Network project that ESHA is co-ordinating. The European Thematic Network on Small Hydropower is achieving excellent results after one year and it has established a electronic network with more than 150 participants from all the sectors that is delivering first-rate reports in areas such as research and technology, marketing, and environmental integration in order to assist the Small Hydropower sector to overcome barriers for better exploitation of the resource.
Hidroenergia 2004 has shown that the SHP sector is strongly alive despite the administrative barriers that are hindering its development is the last years. It has shown that despite the fact that SHP is a mature technology there is still room for innovation and technical development mainly in terms of environmental integration and energy efficiency. Hidroenergia 2004 has shown that the SHP sector is strongly interconnected and that networking activities are working in the SHP bringing together technicians but also environmentalists, project developers etc.
The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) and it repercussion to the SHP sector has been identified as one of the major challenges for the SHP sector. Currently the WFD and the Directive for the Promotion of Electricity Produced from Renewable Energy Sources (RES-E Directive) push in different directions, the first one could slow down SHP development and the second one gives an important part to the use of hydroelectricity, therefore the challenge is to achieve the balance between electricity production from SHP and nature conservation. In this sense, energy and environmental policies and regulations should be coordinated and complementary. A purist approach to the implementation of the WFD will stop the development of any kind of small hydropower scheme, obstructing the achievement of the RE-e target.
At the same time the issue of public image and public awareness has been identified as another major challenge in order to improve the public image of SHP and to broadly disseminate its environmental benefits and advantages.
Hidroenergia has concluded that in order to reach the target set up by the RES-e Directive of 22 % use of electricity from renewables in the EU by the year 2010, SHP development is fundamental as a part of the renewable energy mix, for that the main administrative and environmental barriers that hinder a major development of SHP should be address at a policy level. Therefore, the conference conclusions will serve as an input for the European Commission to shape future policy and RD&D priorities for renewables in general and Small hydropower in particular.
ESHA will continue to work to promote SHP in Europe and beyond and is looking forward to welcoming SHP specialists at Hidroenergia 2006 in the UK.
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ESHA - European Small Hydropower Association
SERO - Sveriges Energiföreningars Riksorganisation Swedish Association for Renewable Energies