Hydropower and pumped hydropower in the European Union: insights from the EC Clean Energy Technology Observatory

Hydropower provides an important contribution to renewable energy, with multiple benefits. However, dams in freshwater systems can also generate environmental impacts. Hence sustainable hydropower needs to achieve a good balance between electricity generation, impacts on ecosystems and benefits on society, supporting the achievement of the Green Deal targets and the objectives of renewable energy and water policies. Several sustainable hydropower options exist, whose potential is of high relevance especially in the European Union (EU) (e.g., amongst others, modernization of the existing fleet and digitalisation to mitigate impacts along rivers and optimize hydropower generation). Multi-purpose reservoirs are needed to face climate change effects, the increased water and energy storage demands, but they come also with costs and challenges. Within this context, increasing the sustainability of hydropower and reservoirs is a primary need, especially in the EU, while supporting innovations and the leadership of European hydropower companies, which hold the largest share of export, high-value inventions and scientific publications globally, and China is the main competitor. Therefore, hydropower is a key sector to strengthen the competitiveness of the EU in an increasingly challenging world. These points are deeply discussed in the Clean Energy Technology Observatory report (Quaranta et al., 2023) of the European Commission, and some major insights are discussed in this article.

QUARANTA Emanuele; 

2024-12-20

vgbe energy e.V.

JRC135893