The future of sustainable hydropower in the EU: challenges, projections and opportunities

The installed hydro capacity in the EU is 152 GW, contributing to about 12 per cent of the EU’s net electricity generation. Pumped storage and traditional hydropower reservoirs represent nearly all the EU’s electricity storage capacity and ensure flexibility to the grid. The EU’s pumped-storage turbine capacity is 46 GW. Because hydropower schemes and dams can produce hydrological and morphological alterations, and adverse impacts on ecosystems, hydropower plays a key role in several EU Directives, including the Water Framework Directive and the Renewable Energy Directive. Several discussions, and European assessments, have taken place to estimate the potential of various sustainable hydropower strategies, including powerplant modernization and sustainable refurbishment, hidden opportunities in existing infrastructures and hydropower hybridization with other energy technologies. This paper discusses hydropower at the EU level, highlighting its complex role in some EU legislation. The new challenges and opportunities that have emerged from this debate, and their impacts on the EU economy and on knowledge production (at the scientific, institutional and industrial level), are described.