HYDROPOWERTHE POLICY FRAMEWORK

A rigourous policy framework

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Nowadays the development of renewable energies has become a necessity: in-deed the increase in elec-tricity demands combined

with international agreements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit fossil energy use and ensure security of supply by reducing the dependence on the importa-tion of fossil fuels are now, more than ever, strong arguments for the development of renewable energies.

This trend has been enhanced by the EU Commission’s publication of the White Paper, “Energy for the future: Renewable Sources of Energy” and the Directive for “Promotion of Electricity produced from Renewable Energy Sources” (RES-E Directive), which gives clear signals about the need to increase the use of renewable energies in order to reduce environmental impacts and create a sustainable energy system.

This European policy framework has been shaped following the objectives of climate change mitigation, security of supply and the improvement of European industrial competitiveness. Due to all these reasons the promotion of electricity from renewable sources of energy is a high Community priority. Among the renewables, Small hydropower has a key role to play as a mature technology, on the one hand whlist still berefi tting from untapped potential.

At a National Level the policy frameworks have evolved with special emphasis on environmental integration: the installa-tion, refurbishing and operation of small hydropower plants have to follow various regulations in terms of energy generation, impact on water quality, fl ora and fauna of the river, construction requirements, con-nection to the grid, and landed properties. This leads to a rigorous licence process at a National level that ensures the good integration of environmental criteria of any SHP plant.

Policy Framework

For Renewables

Environmental benefi ts

Economic Regional Development

Social cohesion and employment

Economic Economic

Security of supply

Supported by

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In 1997 the European Commission’s White Paper on renewable energy sources set the goal of doubling the share of renewable energy sources in the EU energy sector from 6 to 12 % by 2010. Projections for each renewable energy technology were made.

For SHP this means the ambitious target of reaching by 2010 14 GW of installed capacity, generating 55 TWh of electricity production.

White Paper Small hydropower scenario for 2010

Feature 2010 Scenario

Electricity generation 55 TWh

Installed Capacity in 2010 14 GW

Installed capacity in 2005 11.6 GW

Targets represent an important step in policy making. The rapid market development, and the technological advancement of the renewable energy sector in recent years has ensured that progress on the White Paper targets is being made. With continued policy support the targets can be achieved.

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3.000

6.000

9.000

12.000

15.000

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11.644

12.855

14.000

11.535

2005

2010

Current trend

White paper

The RES-e Directive

T he European Directive for the Promotion of RES electricity in the Internal Market Directive 2001/77/EC follows up the White Paper,

which confi rmed a target of 12% of gross inland energy consumption from renewables for the Community as a whole by 2010, of which electricity would represent 22.1%.

The RES-e Directive gives Member States a reason to look at SHP because it is the best proven of all renewable energy technologies. Of special interest for Europe, from both the economic and environ-mental point of view, is the exploitation of the high potential for upgrading and refurbishing existing plants.

Promotion of the RES electricity in the Internal Market Directive 2001/77/EC

Proposed measures

Quantifi ed national targets for consumption of electricity from renewable sources of energy National support schemes plus, if necessary, a harmonised support system Simplifi cation of national administrative procedures for authorisation Guaranteed access to transmission and distribution of electricity from renewable energy sources

The Renewable Energy Roadmap

T he most recent EU policy document promoting RES, The Communication for the European Commission, An Energy Policy for Europe, from

January 2007, includes a Renewable Energy Roadmap, with a binding 20% target for RES contribution to the European overall energy mix by 2020*.Despite this legislative framework, there are three aspects which concern the small hydropower sector in particular:

targets settled in the legislation and the diffi culty to achieve them, tariff structures and support schemes currently in force and their effectiveness and

barriers still standing despite the new favourable legislative framework.

* The heads of State, at the EU Council (March 2007), have backed up the Commision strategy to set up a binding target.

RES support policy instruments

Supply side

Generation based (kWh)

Demand side

Feed-in tariffs Fiscal measures Bidding systems

Quota obligations Green certifi cates Fiscal measures

Subsidies Investment subsidies

Fiscal measures

Quota obligations

Capacity based (kW)

The European White Paper on Renewables Energies

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Some Examples of Policy Instruments

Country Support Policy Instrument Description

Spain Feed-in tariff Fixed price and premium payment adjusted annually by government.

Italy Quota + tradable green certificates

The quota should increase by 0.35% each year starting from 2004 to 2006. The grid authority fixes a cap (upper) price for green certificates every year. Certificates are issued only for the first 12 years of operation.

Germany Feed-in tariff Germany’s revised Renewable Energy Sources Act (RESA) ties the hydropower feed-in rates to prove that the use of hydropower either achieves good ecological surface water status or substan-tially improves it

Austria Feed- in Tariff Different feed in tariffs depending on the installed capacity and age of the plant.

France Feed- in Tariff Feed-in tariffs applicable only to renewable plants up to 12 MW. Price paid to SHP plants depends on their construction date. Winter tariff for SHP plants commissioned after 2001 is guaranteed for 20 years.

Poland Quota + Green certificates The system started in 2005. Final consumer energy supplier is obliged to prove that certain per-centage of his supply is of RES origin by cancelling the ownership rights to green certificates issued by the State Energy Regulation Office. The quota is increased every year up to the value fixed as the indicative target of RES contribution to the electrical energy consumption in 2010.

Slovenia Feed-in tariff composed of fixed market price and premium

The government states the value of the feed-in tariff and the premium. Feed-in = fixed market price + premium. The scheme is valid for SHP up to 10 MW, but SHP <1 MW have better condi-tions. The SHP producer is allowed to sell independently, and as such can negotiate his market price whilst still getting the premium. However, both values decline with the age of the SHP plant: -5% for SHP>5 years and -10 % for SHP>10 years. The scheme is valid for 10 years.

Lithuania Feed-in tariff combine with purchase obligation

Fixed price and premium payment

On 23 October 2000, the «Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a

framework for the Community action in the field of water policy» was adopted. The European Water Framework Directive and the progressive implementation of the network-protected areas Natura 2000 have recently completed national legislation on nature protection, water use and fishing activities.

The Directive sets a framework for the protection of all waters with the one main goal of reaching a “good status” of all Community waters by 2015.This rigorous environmental framework guarantees the adequate integration of SHP with the natural environment.

In order to reach the targets of the RES-e directive, hydropower is needed: the targets will never be reached if WFD and the RES-e implementation are not consistent. Indeed, there is room for significant progress in policy integration by enhancing the recognition of the different interests, fostering the co-operation between the different competent authorities and stakeholders, and promoting more integrated development strategies. Inte-gration between water and energy policies is beneficial since it will create synergies and avoid potential inconsistencies as well as mitigating possible conflicts between water users and environmentalists.

As requested by ESHA, the European Commission set up at the beginning of 2006 a working group on Hydromorphology and WFD under the activities of the Strategy Coordination group (SCG) for the Common Implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD).This group is composed of Member States representatives as well as stakeholders. The objective of the activity is to identify and share good practice approaches to managing the adverse impacts of water uses on the hydromorphological characteristics of surface water bodies. The group has initially focused its work on three sectors: Hydropower, Navigation, and flood management.

The Water Framewok Directrive (WFD)

EUROPEAN SMALL HYDROPOWER ASSOCIATIONRenewable Energy House

63-67 Rue d’Arlon - B-1040 Brussels • BelgiumT: +32 2 546 1945 • F: +32 2 546 1947

E: info@esha.be • I: www.esha.be

ESHA is founding member of EREC, the European Renewable Energy Council

Administrative procedures needed to develop a SHP schemeFor implementing a SHP scheme different licences and permit are needed in various issues:

Energy generation (water rights) Impact on water quality, fl ora, and fauna of the river, and all environmental aspects (environmental Impact assessment and reserved fl ow calculations)

Construction requirements (building licences) Connection to the grid licences Landed properties

Regulations have to take into account these various aspects, which are under the responsibility of different authorities. These authorities and respon-sibilities are different in each Member State depending on the political and administrative organization and on its involvement in the development of renewable energy sources. In this context, the procedures vary from one country to another, but also within a country from one region to the other and even often, in the same region, from one project to the other. In all countries the project has to be made public and people can react. The co-ordination between the different administrative levels to handle and speed up the authorization requests is essential.

Good reasons to improve the European and National legislative frameworks for SHP

SHP contributes to sustainable development by being economically feasible, respecting the environment (avoiding green house gase emissions) and allowing decentralized production for the development of dispersed populations.

SHP is a clean energy source (it does not produce waste in the rivers, nor air pollution) and renewable (the fuel for hydropower is water, which is not consumed in the electricity generation process)

SHP plants, if well equipped with fi sh ladders and environmentally friendly runner blades, are not an obstacle for migratory fi sh. Small hydropower plants ensure a minimum fl ow downstream, reserve fl ow that guarantees fi sh life. Grid stability: Building SHP plants helps create a more diversifi ed electricity system, providing production of electricity in smaller distribution systems when the main grid is disrupted. Furthermore, since SHP is located close to the consumers, transmission losses can be reduced.

SHP mobilises fi nancial resources and contributes to the economic development of small disperse populations, ensuring autonomous and reliable energy for the long term

SHP plants create local jobs for the monitoring of the running phase of the plant. SHP schemes assist in the maintenance of river basins by allowing the recovery of waste that fl ows in the river stream, the moni-toring of hydrological indicators and the refurbishment of old SHP plants.

High energy payback ratio, for each power generation system, the “energy payback” is the ratio of energy produced during its normal life span, divided by the energy required to build, maintain and fuel the generation equipment. If a system has a low payback ratio, it means that much energy is required to maintain it and this energy is likely to produce major environmental impacts.

SHP in fi gures 22.1%: EU-25 renewable electricity target set up in by European Directive RES-e by 2010, for SHP this target means reaching by 2010 14 GW of installed capacity, generating 55 TWh of electricity

23 600 GWW year: EU-25 potential for new plants. 4.5-9 Eurocents/kWh: European average SHP electricity production costs 1 200 -3 500 /kW: European average SHP investment costs 11.6 GW installed capacity in EU-25 in 2005 20 000: SHP jobs (direct and indirect)

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HYDROPOWER RESPECTS THE ENVIRONMENT

A clean and indigenous Renewable Energy

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Energy is a key issue for sustainable development. The European Commission estimates that the global energy demand will increase

by 70% over a period of 30 years (2000-2030). The growth in energy demand will cause a considerable increase in greenhouse gas emissions. CO2 emis-sions are projected to increase by 18% in 2030 compared to the 1990 level, in the EU. Renewables are ‘the’ solution to climate change.

Hydropower is the fi rst renewable en-ergy in terms of global production, and therefore has a key role to play in the production of renewable electricity, which will allow it to make a signifi cant contri-bution to future energy needs, offering an excellent alternative to carbon-based sources of electricity.

Renewables contribute to increasing security of supply

Renewables have the lowest Environmental impact of all energy sources.

Renewables offer sustainable energy development world-wide.

Renewables reduce the risk to public health

Renewables reduce the costs of the supply chain of centralised conventional energy production.

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Development of RES is a necessity

Climate change has been defined as the major in-

ternational problem faced nowadays by the interna-tional community, indeed, its effects are already being seen around the world through rising temperatures, melting ice caps and volatile weather patterns. Climate Change is a direct result of the green house effect caused by an increase of greenhouse gases

in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide from conventional fuel power plants, industry, and transport is by far the largest contributor.

Climate change mitigation outlined in the various intergovernmental conferences on climate change and the Kyoto protocol legitimites itself through a major development of renewable energies. However, it is not the only argument: renewables contribute to increasing security of supply by reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels. This import dependency results in economic, social, ecological and safety policy problems. Energy supply is a vital service of public interest.

Small hydropower contributes to climate change mitigation because:

It is an inexhaustible energy sourceSmall hydropower cannot be depleted unlike fossil fuels, for example, of which there are a finite supply. Among all renewable energies hydropower is the leading renewable source in the European Union.

It does not produce green house gas emissionsHydropower does not involve any combustion, and therefore does not release any oxide into the atmosphere; in particular it does not release carbon dioxide which is the principal gas responsible for global warming.

It has a high-energy payback ratio: For each power generation system, the “energy payback” is the ratio of energy produced during its normal life span, divided by the energy required to build, maintain and fuel the generation equipment. If a system has a low payback ratio, it means that much energy is required to maintain it and this energy is likely to produce major environmental impacts.

Small hydro respects the environment

Water from a river has different uses: potable water, water for agri-culture, water for industry activities, fishing, aquatic sports. SHP

is one of those activities and, like any human activity, has some impact on the natural environment. However, new technical developments- environmental mitigation techniques that are technically and economi-cally viable and most of them are socially acceptable offering a good compromise with others river’s users-, the regulatory framework and the willingness of project developers to integrate the environmental concerns of the hydropower production have considerably decreased these environmental impacts. There are good successful cases in the EU where the use of appropriate technologies, measures or methodologies has minimized potential environmental impacts.

Petroleum (tons) Coal (tons) Natural gas (tons) Hydropower

Carbon dioxide 3000 3750 2250 0

Nitrogen Oxide 3,7 0,6 2,2 0

Sulphur dioxide 4,5 4,5 0,02 0

Comparative emissions from a small hydropower plant of 1000 MW, working 4500 hours/year and other sources of production of electricity

Trash rack devices

SHP Certified with ISO 14001 in France.

Refurbished plant in Spain. Also used for education.

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The quality of water

SHP schemes are mainly run-of-river with little or no reservoir impoundment. Therefore, SHP is not simply a reduced version

of a large hydro plant (LHP). Specific equipment is necessary to meet fundamental requirements with regard to environmental integration, simplicity, high – energy output, maximum reliability, and easy maintenance. Besides the production of electricity, SHP does not produce any harmful discharge to the river. The water downstream the turbine is of exactly the same quality and quantity than before. A proof is that some SHP schemes dispense potable water downstream. In addition, SHP schemes assist in the maintenance of river basins by allowing recovering waste that flows in the river stream, monitoring hydrological indicators and refurbishing old SHP plants.

— Trash rack material management: Almost all modern small hydropower plants have a trash rack-cleaning machine, which removes material from the water to avoid it entering the plant waterways and damaging electromechanical equipment or reducing hydraulic performance. Each year tons of material (mainly plastic bags, bottles, cans as well as leaves, branches etc.) are removed from the river. Moreover biodegradable oils are more and more used in SHP plants.

The river ecosystem

In order to ensure that the environmental impacts of small hydro power schemes are kept to a minimum, SHP operators

are required to conduct environmental impact assessments for any small hydropower project. These assessments allow hydro-biological analyses to measure the impacts to the flora, and to the fauna in order to avoid irreversible damage and to define environmental impact mitigation measures. It is also required to establish a minimum reserved flow to maintain the quality of the river ecosystem with any significant altera-tion due to the small hydro plant. All definitions of reserved or minimum flow place emphasis on the protection of the existing ecology of the river.

— Among these measures the installation of fish by pass systems has lead to a considerable increase of the envi-ronmental performance of small hydro plants. Indeed, fish ladders help to avoid harm to the fish stock population migrating upstream the river , to their breeding sites.

— Fish Friendly turbines The installation of turbines in a river system may in certain circumstances endanger fish (fish migrating downstream the river). Research work, carried out at large hydropower stations has shown that fish can and do get into the turbine, especially in periods of intensive fish

movement along the river. To help minimize fish injury, turbine manu-facturers have been carrying out studies based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD), with good results. Small hydropower plants also can take advantage of this

research with methods developed for minimizing impact on fish from conventional turbines (Francis and Kaplan turbines). Meanwhile new concepts of turbines and re-invention of old concepts (hydrodynamic screws, water wheels) are typical of micro and mini hydro plants, allowing better integration into and preservation of the river life.

The landscape

By using local materials and local architecture techniques the visual impact of small hydropower plants can be minimised

in order to integrate the powerhouse into the landscape. Noise can be minimized by proper noise abatement measures or underground works. At the same time the refurbishing and upgrading of old and abandoned mills contributes to cultural heritage protection.

Multipurpose Hydro SchemesCompetition for use of water has always been strong, but especially in the last years it has become even stronger. A solution is the multi-use of water resources. This means combining electricity production with other water uses such as irrigation, recreation, and drinking water supply. This results in multiple use of water connected with small hydropower plant realization. Multipurpose schemes allow the best compromise among different public interests while reducing the envi-ronmental impacts.

ISO 14001 – environmental management systemsThe small hydropower producers are concerned about the environ-mental protection and impacts minimisation. For example the French association of Small Hydropower producers (GPAE) is continually promoting the voluntary environmental certification with ISO 14001 for the small hydropower plants in France. The principal objective of this international recognised environmental certification system is the continuous improvement of environmental performance of small hydropower plants.

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Energy is neither created nor destroyed. It is wasted- Ecologistas en Acción, Spanish Environmental NGO asking to make use of existing water irrigation infrastructure in Spain to produce hydro-electricity.

Fish bypass system

EUROPEAN SMALL HYDROPOWER ASSOCIATIONRenewable Energy House

63-67 Rue d’Arlon - B-1040 Brussels • BelgiumT: +32 2 546 1945 • F: +32 2 546 1947

E: info@esha.be • I: www.esha.be

ESHA is founding member of EREC, the European Renewable Energy Council

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WHAT IT IS NECCESARY TO KNOW Small hydropower respects the environment. It’s a clean energy source, renewable, effi cient and sustainable.

The design, implementation and running phase of small hydro-power plants are ruled by a complete European and national legal framework, concerning the quality of the water, the fauna, the fl ora, and the landscape.

It is indispensable to inform the populations involved throughout all the process to take into account all the interests that surround the development of a small hydropower plant.

Small Hydropower and Environmental Impact assessments

The Council Directive 85/337 of June 27, 1985, describes the legal framework of environmental impact assessments

The Environmental Impact Assessment is a procedure to sup-port decisions. The objective is the identifi cation and analyses of the negative and positive effects that a project might cause to the environment and health, to assist the decision among various possibilities and solutions. The carrying-out of the environmental impact assessment is the responsibility of the project developers, usually through specialised consultants. The control, monitoring and verifi cation of the results are done by the National Bodies responsible for this. Small hydro project plants are subject to environmental impact assessments that identify their potential impacts and propose feasible solutions. An Environmental Impact Assessment is a repeatable process and therefore needs to be as transparent as possible: this is a very important requirement which must refl ect in the clarity of data and in methods of approach accepted both by the proponent and the relevant authorities. The agreement of the parties involved in the process on the general methodology forces each part to follow a path made of precise and defi ned steps avoiding as far as possible arbitrary evaluations.

An EIA has three main purposes:

Protection of the environment.

Information for the public authorities and the public.

Help for decision.

Information and involvement of all the actors

It is essential to involve and inform all the actors concerned throughout all the project: espe-cially, the local populations. Public information will allow to bringing together all the actors with different interests on the river uses towards a common agreement. Local populations will understand the benefi ts that the installation will bring to their communities showing the willing to share the benefi ts of the project with all the actors involved.

The public information is a transparent an ongoing proc-ess carried out through the entire project mainly through:

Public meetings

Press releases

Workshops on renewable energies

Explanatory sessions about the technical administrative and environmental issues concerning the developing of small hydro schemes.

THE EIA PROCESS

SHP project proposal

Scoping Public Involvement

Analysis of Impacts

Mitigation and impacts management proposal

EIA report

Rebsumit Review Public Involvement

Redesign Decision Making

Information from this

process contributes to

Not approved Approved effective future EIA

Implementation and follow up of

environmental measures

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RHYDROPOWER THE SECTOR

A Dynamic Sector

The European industry has main-tained a leading position in the fi eld of hydropower manufactu-ring since the technology started to develop 150 years ago. Very

little non-European equipment has been installed in European hydropower plants. One important reason for European domi-nance has been the strong home market. By developing technology and production methods in a fast-growing home market, European manufacturers have, with few signifi cant exceptions, kept a leading edge compared to manufacturers from other parts of the world.

The EU has a multi-disciplinary and highly skilled small hydro industry, which offers the full range of products and services required to develop small hydro projects from initial feasibility and design through to manufacturing, fi nancing and operation.

The exploitation of the small hydro power plants has allowed to establish in Europe a strong net of local SMEs that work directly or indirectly with the small hydro-power sector. This sector promotes local industrial activities besides increasing the export capabilities since the non-EU market still offers good prospects for EU manufacturers.

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Approximately 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water, a resource that has been exploited for many centuries. Hydropower is

certainly the largest and most mature application of renewable technolo-gies. 22% of the world’s electricity production comes from hydropower installations, many of which are small hydropower plants of less than 10 MW. In Europe there are about 11.6 GW installed of Small hydro. But small hydro is not only a reduced version of a large hydro plant. Specific equipment is necessary to meet fundamental requirements with due regard to simplicity, high-energy output, maximum reliability and easy maintenance by non- specialists.

Besides the works of civil engineering, the industry of the small hydro-power associates mechanical and electrical high technologies combined with highly developed monitoring and surveillance processes. The overall aim is to gain energy efficiency and reduce the environmental impact. In order to achieve this objective, the industry has developed innovative techniques to minimize potential environmental impacts. Indeed, engineers working in the SHP field keep on developing techniques specific to small hydropower, in order to face up to the following challenges:

better environmental integration decrease of investment and operation cost maximizing the electricity production

Civil engineering At present, most efforts concerning civil engineering aim at standard-

izing design and technology, so as to reach an optimal integration of an SHP plant with the local environment while minimizing costs. Such objectives are reached by setting guidelines based on the latest design technology, new materials and best practice examples.

Hydro-mechanical engineering The main objective of hydro-mechanical

engineers is to develop turbines that use water resource optimally, by designing turbines that are specific to the sites. Therefore the R&D on SHP has focused on very-low-head and low-head turbines. Notably, pico and micro hydro turbines are developed to meet the demand for rural electrification and small isolated networks. Optimal use of the water resources implies an improvement in the hydraulic design that aims not only at higher efficiency, but also to lower costs, high reliability and an optimal environmental integration (fish-friendly turbines).

Electrical engineering Available solutions for SHP electrical engineering range from generators,

grid connection over electric drives to the control and management of the whole power plant. State of the art industrial automation components and excellent communication features ensure that an operator can identify the status of the plant at any time and anywhere. Using computers, PDAs, cell phones or just a simple telephone allows to respond remotely on problems, where applicable. New concepts such as scheduled production, prediction of the energy output and condition monitoring are currently under development also for SHP in order to improve the grid integration, to increase reliability and to reduce the operation & maintenance costs.

Environmental engineering The significant increase in knowledge concerning the biological mechanism

in rivers has consequently initiated the development of “environmental engineering”, focusing on minimizing and mitigation of negative environmental impact. Well-known examples are fish-bypass systems, environmental flow or river restructuring. The close cooperation with ecologists has led to excellent compromises between environmental targets and economic and technical restrictions. Such engineering is in continuous evolution. For example, nowadays, it has been found

that contrary to a constant amount of environmental flow, the variability according to natural discharge condi-tions brings about ecological benefits at lower costs. Moreover, regarding fish-bypass systems, new technically optimised installations such as the vertical slot pass or the Denil-pass

guarantee the high-est fish acceptance while reducing the amount of bypass operation flow.

SHP: A mature but high-technology industry

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An instrument for regional and local development

Small and medium sized enterprises constitute the majority of goods and services suppliers in the fi eld of the European small hydro industry. Small and Medium renewable energy enterprises create employment at much higher rates than many

other energy technologies. There are economic opportunities for new industries and new industrial and craft jobs through production, installation and maintenance of renewable energy systems.

The construction and maintenance of a SHP plant needs a multidisciplinary team of enterprises encompassing civil engineers, and electricity specialists, turbine manufacturers; suppliers etc. SHP plants create local jobs for the monitoring of the running phase of the plant. By means of the royalties and taxes to which they are subject, SHP contributes to the economic devel-opment of small disperse populations, ensuring autonomous and reliable energy for the long term (30 to 40 years). SHP is suitable for co-operative or communal ownership, and can be combined with irrigation systems and potable water chan-nels. As well as being a tool for regional development, SHP development should be integrated in local plans through spatial planning approaches.

A signifi cant industrial potential

Small hydropower has, as yet, a huge untapped poten-tial, which will allow EU SHP industry to increase its

activities by developing new and refurbishing old small hydro capacity. Indeed, the best home market for EU manufacturers is the refurbishing of existing plants while outside Europe there are new opportunities for export and technology transfer that offer good prospects for EU manufacturers; This know-how has made it possible for Europe to export its products to countries with high poten-tial, such as in Asia and Central America. The economic growth and an increase in energy needs will stimulate hydropower progression. Asia (especially China and India) is set to become a hydro leader with 83 000 MW of fur-ther potential.

Countries of particular interest for SHP:

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Region Countries for consideration

Latin America Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Caribbean Ecuador, Colombia, Cuba

Africa Uganda, Cameroon, Congo, Ethipia, Madagascar, Angola

Central and Eastern Europe

Slovakia, Czech Republic, Ukraine Most Independent former USSR states

Asia (exclud-ing India and China)

Nepal, Thailand, Sri Lanka Philippines, Indonesia

India, China, Russia

Competence and competitiveness of the European Union industry

There are about fi fty hydraulic turbine manufacturers in Europe. Four multinational companies out of this total,

which are Alstom Power Hydro, VA Tech/Andritz, Voith Siemens and GE Energy, dominate the large-scale turbine market and are present on the small hydraulic market seg-ment as well. Alongside these big companies, numerous small and medium sized fi rms are active on the small tur-bine segment that represents the bulk of the European market, with average installation size in the region of 700 kW in the old member countries and 300 kW in the new member countries. These industrialists are mainly located in the important small hydraulic power countries: Italy, France, Germany, Austria and Sweden, but are very well represented in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia as well. The activity of all these companies is largely geared towards export. European companies have pioneered much of the technical development, and in recent years have dominated international contracts for small hydro-power equipment and installations.

ESHA estimates turnover of between €150 and €180 million, with the sector employing nearly 20 000 people.

EUROPEAN SMALL HYDROPOWER ASSOCIATIONRenewable Energy House

63-67 Rue d’Arlon - B-1040 Brussels • BelgiumT: +32 2 546 1945 • F: +32 2 546 1947

E: info@esha.be • I: www.esha.be

ESHA is founding member of EREC, the European Renewable Energy Council

A well-interconnected sector The International conference Hidroenergia is organized every 2 years and brings together specialists and stakeholders in the field of Small Hydropower from all over Europe. This conference is organised by ESHA in collaboration with the respec-tive national association. It provides excellent opportunities for main stakeholders across Europe to get to know to each other, exchange information, define common strategies, promote new actions and initiatives. This conference covers the main techno-logical, administrative, environmental and political issues of the Small hydropower sector.

At the European level ESHA represents the interests of the Small hydropower sector regrouping national associations of SHP producers, which themselves regroup operators, industry, project developers, consultants, utilities, research institutions. ESHA is a well-established organization that has set up a SHP network throughout Europe with continuous communication to politicians and decision-makers.

ESHA is a founding member of EREC - the European Renewable Energy Council - which is the umbrella organisation of the lead-ing European renewable energy industry, trade and research associations active in the sectors of photovoltaic, wind energy, small hydropower, biomass, geothermal energy and solar thermal. ESHA has it offices at the Renewable Energy House- Europe’s Headquarters for Renewable Energy in Brussels.

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* the defi ned upper power limit varies from country to country from 1.5 to 12 MW, but 10MW is becoming the generally accepted limit for SHP and has been adopted by ESHA and the European Commission.

Supported by

HYDROPOWER TECHNOLOGY

How it works

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SHP schemes, considered as those with installed capacity of up to 10 MW *, generate electricity or mechanical pow-er by converting the power

available in fl owing water of rivers, canals and streams. The objective of a hydropower scheme is to convert the potential energy of a mass of water, fl owing in a stream with a certain fall (termed the «head»), into electric energy at the lower end of the scheme, where the powerhouse is located. The power of the scheme is proportional to the fl ow and to the head.

Hydropower produces high-quality electricity

Hydropower has the ability to generate electricity instantly to supply both, base-load and peak - load generation. Hydropower electrify is easy to predict and to manage, it can be easily adapted to unexpected increases in electricity demand.

1 GWh supplies electricity for about 220 European households

One small hydropower plant of 1 MW produces on average 5 GWh/year in Austria, supplying electricity to 1100 households

5 GWh/year supplies electricity to 2200 households in a developing country.

2

The basic principle of hydropower is to transform the potential energy of water into mechanical energy available at a turbine shaft and

afterwards into electricity through a generator.

Water can be piped from a certain level to a lower level. Then the resulting water pressure and/or kinetic energy can be used to do some useable work. If the water is allowed to move a mechanical component then that movement involves conversion of the mechanical energy of the water into mechanical energy of this component. Hydro turbines convert water pressure and kinetic energy into mechanical energy, which can be used to drive an electricity generator. The main requirement is to have a ‘head’ so that water, diverted through an intake channel or a pipe (the penstock) into a turbine, discharges back into the river downstream. Sometimes the river has a suitable drop in level and the head is geo-logically given and available. In other cases it is necessary to create an artifi cial head. The head is the difference in altitude between the water intake and the lower water level. It is normal to achieve optimum energy conversion effi ciencies with all types of hydraulic turbines in the range of 80 up to over 90%.

The turbine

The purpose of a hydraulic turbine is to transform the water potential and kinetic energy to mechanical rotational energy. Various types of

turbines exist to cope with different levels of head and fl ow. The two broad categories are:

Impulse turbines – notably the Pelton, Turgo or the Banki-Michell (cross-fl ow) - in which water impinges or enters the runner, which is designed to change the water’s direction and thereby extract the momentum from it with scarce change of pressure energy.

Reaction turbines – notably Francis and Kaplan – which run full of water and in effect generate hydrodynamic “lift” forces to propel the runner blades, extracting thus the pressure energy of infl owing water.

How do SHP plants produce electricity?

Main types of Turbines

Features

Pelton Impulse turbine suitable for high heads (from 100 to 1 000 meters and more) and small discharges

Banki-Michell Impulse turbine suitable for medium head typically from 4 to 200 meters

Francis Radial-flow reaction turbines suitable for medium head from 10 to 100 –500 meters

Kaplan Axial or radial flow reaction turbine, generally used for low heads from 1,5 to 10-50 meters.

The generator

Generators transform mechanical energy into electrical energy. An electric generator

is made up of a stationary part (stator) and a moving part (rotor). The electric current is generated by the rotation of the magnetic fi eld of the rotor through the coil of the conducting wiring of the stator. Once set in motion, the turbine drives the electric generator (either directly or through a multiplier), which then

transforms the mechanical energy from the shaft into electrical energy. There are two categories of generators: the synchronous generators, and the asynchronous (induction) generators. Asynchronous motors in gen-

erating mode are commonly used as generators in micro power plants.

Speed increasers and control systems

The optimal rotation speed of the turbine depends at the same time on the type of

turbine, on the head and on the fl ow. In order to synchronise the work of the different equipments it is necessary to situate the speed increaser in between the turbine and the generator. Since small hydro schemes are nowadays unattended, control systems that increase the effi ciency of the plants, based on personal computers are commonly used.

Planning a small hydropower schemeThe fi nal implementation of a SHP plant is the result of a complex and interactive process, where consideration is given to both environmental impacts and different technological options as assessed from the eco-nomic point of view.

List of the studies that should be undertaken

Topography and geomorphology of the site. Evaluation of the water resource and its generating potential Site selection and basic layout Hydraulic turbines and generators and their control Environmental impact assessment and mitigation measures Economic evaluation of the project and fi nancing potential Institutional framework and administrative procedures to attain the authorizations

(c) OFCL

Desablor

Water chamber

Penstock

Power station

Command Control

Residus fl ow

Turbine and generator

Electrical grid

Water intake: dam with fi sh ladder

Beginning of the water right

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1. Flow calculation 2. Head Calculation

The calculation of the fl ow is essential for the project. The fl ow will infl uence the power of the SHP and its profi tability. In order to understand the availability of fl ow in a river section, it is very useful to plot that stream fl ow records through the fl ow duration curve (FDC). This curves shows the portion of time in which the discharge equals or exceeds certain values. In this way it is possible to estimate the medium number of days in a year in which a certain fl ow is available and to program the water use of the plant. In parallel necessary information on measuring the fl ow of the river is needed, and the catchments area should be evaluated. Information drawn from the stream fl ow records, statistical information on the weather forecasts and on-spot measurements are needed. In Europe, these can be obtained from national hydrological institutes.

The gross head may be rapidly estimated, either by fi eld surveying or by orthophotographic techniques. The gross head is the vertical distance that the water falls through when ge-nerating useable power, i.e. the difference between the upper and lower water surface levels. Having established the gross head available, it is necessary to take into account the losses arising from trash racks, pipe friction, bends, valves and unuti-lized kinetic energy at the turbine outlet. The net head will be determined after having estimated the various head losses.

3. Approximated annual energy production

Knowing the fl ow and the net head, the estimated annual energy production of the site can be calculated.

The output of a hydropower plant is given in terms of power [kW] and electricity production [kWh]. The result can be calculated as follows:

P (kW) = Q (m3/s) x H (m) x tot x 9,81 and approximately Q x H x 7,8tot = total effi ciency (turbine x generator x speed increaser x trafo)

P = electrical power outputQ = rated discharge

H = net headElectricity production - the thing we pay for - is electrical power supply during a certain time period. The annual electricity

production of a hydropower (HP) station is approximately calculated asE (kWh) = P (kW) x 4500 (h)

How the electricity is distributed?In order to use the electricity produced by the SHP plant it should be transmitted to the fi nal user.

Energy Transformer

The transformer allows electricity to be effi ciently transmitted over long distances. This makes it possible to supply electricity to homes and businesses located far from the electric generating plant. The transformer is a device, which through electro-

magnetic induction transforms alternating electric energy in one circuit into energy of a similar type in another circuit, commonly with altered values of voltage and current. The transformer situated inside the powerhouse takes the alternating electric current from the generator terminals and converts it to the current of lower value while increasing the voltage in the same ratio.

The Grid

Power travels from the power plant to the end user through the power distribution grid. Because of the European ef-

fort for the development of renewable energy sources, utilities have received a large increase in demand for the connection of decentralised plants. The European policy framework supports easy access to the grid for renewable energy producers.

Off gridSHP systems can also be alone stand-alon installations, i.e not connected to the grid. Stand-alone micro-hydro does not need to have a battery bank. The frequency of the electricity is controlled using a load controller. But, a stand-alone scheme can be used to charge a battery bank, if this energy service is required. Off grid small hydropower schemes are a suitable solution for electricity supply in developing countries and in moun-tainous areas in developed ones.

Increasing automationState of the art industrial automation components and excellent communication features ensure that an operator can identify the status of the plant at any time and anywhere, using computers, PDAs, cell phones or just a simple telephone and allows to respond remotely on problems, where applicable.

Beginning of the water right

EUROPEAN SMALL HYDROPOWER ASSOCIATIONRenewable Energy House

63-67 Rue d’Arlon - B-1040 Brussels • Belgium T: +32 2 546 1945 • F: +32 2 546 1947

E: info@esha.be • I: www.esha.be

ESHA is founding member of EREC, the European Renewable Energy Council

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.How much does a SHP project cost?

An investment in a small hydropower scheme entails a certain number of expenses, extended over the project lifetime, and

produces at the same time revenues also distributed over the same period. The expenses include a fixed component - the capital cost, insurance, taxes, etc- and a variable component -operation and

maintenance costs-.

Feasibility studiesThey include hydrological and environmental assessment, pre-liminary designs, permits and approvals (for water, land use and construction), land rights, interconnection studies, power purchase agreements (PPA), project management and financing fees. The cost of required permits varies from country to country with an average from 10 000 to 30 000 euros for a request of authorisation. This amount is lost if the authorisation is denied. Grid interconnec-tion studies as well as the relevant contracts for interconnection, transmission of energy through the power grid, and power sales themselves (PPA) are of course fundamental for the success of a grid-connected plant.

Operation and MaintenanceThese are regular costs that occur on a yearly basis and include transmission line maintenance, general administration, repairs etc.

The constructionsThe amount to invest varies from project to project. On average the range of investment costs varies in the range of 1000-3000 €/kW. In other term the financial investment is recovered in 10-20 years, without public financial assistance.

Investment and production costs of SHP plants in some Members States of the EU (2003)

The Revenues

Revenues come from specific purchase contracts signed with the electric utilities. Depending on the legislation, electric utilities

are usually obliged to buy the electricity generated from renewable energy resources on a priority basis.In some countries there are specific incentives given to investment in electricity production using RES. According to these special schemes, renewable energy projects can apply for special loans with low or even zero interest rates, or receive other types of investment subsidies.Prices paid to SHP producers vary considerably among European countries. In the tariff structure different components can be found, according to the country: a market price, an avoided carbon price, a green certificate price. The different support schemes can affect greatly the development of SHP. Whereas a fixed feed-in tariff reduces uncertainty and guarantees cash flow for a determined duration, market-based schemes can sometimes reveal themselves too uncertain and therefore unattractive to developers.

Country Average SHP production costs Ecents/kWh

Range Investment costs E/kW

Spain 3.5 - 7 1500

Austria 3.6 – 14.5 2500

Sweden 4 – 5 1800-2200

Czech Republic 2-3 600-2000

Lithuania 2.5-3 2200-2500

Slovenia 4-7.9 1500-2200

Poland 3 700-2500

Germany Average feed-in tariff is 6.65 €cents/kWh (66,5 EUR/MWh). It depends on the capacity of the plant. Maxi-mum can reach up to 8 €cents/kWh (80 EUR/MWh). Scheme valid for 20 years.

Italy Average 75 €/MWh (for selling electricity) + 125,2 € /MWh (Green certificates) The grid authority fixes a cap (upper) price for green certificates every year. Certificates are issued only for the first 12 years of operation.

Slovenia Feed-in (61,45 €/MWh; 2003), premium (28,12 €/MWh; 2003) included. SHP>1 MW: Feed-in=59,29 €/MWh (premium=25,96 € /MWh - included).