ESHA Officer Felix Danos participated in a meeting with all the partners of the Rural-RES project, a project that aims to promote the development of small hydropower and mini wind power in rural and mountain areas.

The Water Framework Directive, which came into force in 2000, is currently moving from theory to practice with Member States having submitted their River Basin Management Plans to the Commission by the end of 2009. The implementation of the WFD, despite its positive goal to improve the environmental status of water bodies, is limiting the hydro sector's future growth, since the interpretation of the Directive at national level is having direct consequences on the approval of new projects and allocation of concessions and permissions.

The Scottish Government published recently a report called 'The Employment Potential of Scotland's Hydro Resource'. The report shows scenarios and potential growth of jobs linked to hydropower in Scotland.

The Asia 2010 Conference on Water Resources and Renewable Energy Development in Asia, organised by The International Journal on Hydropower & Dams and co-hosted by Sarawak Energy will take place at the Borneo International Convention Centre Kuching in Malaysia in the 29 and 30 March 2010.

The website totallydrinkable.com, which deals with all water issues, such as access to water infrastructure, water policy questions and water filtering, has published an article praising the benefits of hydropower for sustainability.

The programme for the Postgraduate Course in Sustainable Hydropower that is to take place in Vienna from March to May 2010 has just been published.

ESHA together with the European Water Partnership organized a first in series of training seminars on 1-2 October 2009 at the Renewable Energy House in Brussels. A full event report together with presentations and photogallery now available!

The company Schluchseewerk AG decided to renovate the anti-corrosion protection of the pumped-storage hydropower station at Wehr, after it had been in operation for 30 years.

Registration to the expert course in sustainable hydropower organised by ESHA is now open. This postgraduate course will take place from the 1st of March 2010 in Vienna, Austria and will last 10 weeks.

ESHA together with the European Water Partnership are pleased to invite you to a first in series of training seminars to discuss some of the most critical challenges that the hydropower sector is facing today. The aim of this seminar is to provide a platform for discussion between all parties on topics such as Reserved flow, River Basin Management Plans and Certification for Hydro. The seminar takes place on 1-2 October at the Renewable Energy House in Brussels. The event also includes a site visit to see a small hydropower plant in the Wallonia region in Belgium and to a dinner at the Chaudfontaine Castle.