Hydropower in Europe Strategic coordination group Brussels, 18 February 2005 Dr. Otto Pirker WG Hydro EURELECTRIC

Hydroelectricity capacity and production in Europe Hydropower plays an important role for Europe Max. net. generating capacity by hydropower in EU-25 year 2002: 128.686 MW (19 %) Electricity production by hydropower in EU-25 year 2002: 322,7 TWh (11 %) Source: Statistics and prospects for the European electricity sector, Eurprog 2004

Energy situation and renewables in Europe The basic energy situation will not enable the Union to achieve a satisfactory level of energy independence Promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources (RES) in the internal electricity market (directive 2001/77/EC) Increase electricity production from RES from 14 % to 22 % (2010)

Benefits of hydropower Hydropower as a renewable energy reduces overall CO2 emissions Hydropower helps to secure electricity supply in Europe Hydropower is important for its capacity of timing of generation and for its support for intermittent sources Reservoirs & dams have multi-purpose functions, e.g.: Energy storage Flood protection Positive effects for navigation (reduction of road transport) Recreational use and tourism Employment Irrigation  

Important role of hydropower for the grid Hydropower and ancillary services which are required for the security and stability of the transmission system and maintaining the quality of electricity: Frequency control Voltage control Operating reserve Brauner / TU - Wien

Multipurpose function of hydropower plants

Multipurpose function of hydropower plants

Multipurpose function of hydropower plants

Multipurpose function of hydropower plants

Reducing environmental impacts EURELECTRIC recognises the environmental implications of hydropower. The electricity industry has reduced them by e.g.: Integrate constructions into natural environment Engineered river banks to restore or create new habitats Migration paths for fish Ensuring breeding of fish species

What do we want? EURELECTRIC wants to make sure that the benefits of hydropower are taken into account with: a general acceptance of the environmental objective of HMWB (good potential) in the impacted zone, when the good ecological status is not reachable at a reasonable cost for the society and the global environment   general acceptance that the good ecological potential can differ from the good ecological status both on biology and physico-chemistry objectives

What do we want? EURELECTRIC wants to make sure that the benefits of hydropower are taken into account with: scientifically and technically founded proposals of measures in RBMP and PoM to improve the local environment, and not standardised ones, which cannot take into to account the diversity of situations and would impair the cost effectiveness objective required by the directive Also, EURELECTRIC highlights the need to ensure consistency of policies, e.g. between the Renewables directive, climate change policies and the WFD

Thank you for your attention! Dr. Otto Pirker, WG Hydro, EURELECTRIC otto.pirker@verbund.at Ms. Anna Törner, Environmental adviser, EURELECTRIC atorner@eurelectric.org