Hydropower in the European Union: state-of-the art, future opportunities and main issues within the current social, energy, geopolitical and climate situation

Hydropower is a complex system within the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem nexus, as it interacts with all the Earth's spheres. It exhibits several advantages with respect to other renewable energy technologies (e.g., multiple purposes of reservoirs, storage capacity, flexibility), but new hydropower plants may also come with some adverse impacts on the environment if they involve the construction of large dams. This situation has generated several conflictual views and policy debates, especially in the European Union (EU), which plays a lead position in the global hydropower sector. In this chapter, the complexity of hydropower is discussed focusing on topics that are rarely discussed in the literature, and with specific reference to the EU. Conflicts, benefits, and impacts around hydropower are discussed, and sustainable deployment strategies of hydropower are presented in quantitative terms. Effects of COVID and comparisons with other countries are also presented.

QUARANTA Emanuele; 

2024-12-20

Elsevier B.V.

JRC134421

978-0-443-13613-9 (online),   

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978044313613900009X,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC134421,   

10.1016/B978-0-443-13613-9.00009-X (online),