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Water Directors statement on hydropower

 

The Water Directors met in Segovia on 27-28 May, where they made a statement on hydropower development. The reason for having hydropower as one of their agenda points is the approaching deadline for the National Renewable Energy Action Plans (in the end of June) and the issue of reconciling the targets of the two Directives (WFD and RES Directive).

The Water Directors met in Segovia on 27-28 May, where they made a statement on hydropower development. The reason for having hydropower as one of their agenda points is the approaching deadline for the National Renewable Energy Action Plans (in the end of June) and the issue of reconciling the targets of the two Directives (WFD and RES Directive).

The Water Directors statement in a nutshell is the following:

1. The Water Directors recognize the importance of Renewable energy sources, including hydropower, for the achievement of reducing GHG emissions. They also point out that the development of hydropower should be strongly supported, but it is equally important that such development takes place in manner compatible with environmental protection requirements;
2. Meeting the requirements of Article 4.7 of the WFD (on environmental exemptions; installing new facilities where a deterioration of status is to be expected) is in particular relevant for cases where further exploitation of hydropower development is planned;
3. Pre-planning mechanisms defining “no-go” areas for new hydro projects should be developed. Decisions on this should be based on dialogue between different stakeholders;
4. Modernization & refurbishment should take priority to minimize need for new sites;
5. The development of hydropower should be accompanied by an improvement of water ecology – i.e. new hydropower plants for example should all have fish passages and they should respect a minimum ecological flow;
6. The size is not relevant criteria to use Article 4.7 – the relevant criteria is to assess if the project will result in deterioration of the status of a water body. Thus projects of any size may use environmental exemption in Article 4.7.

A workshop will be organized to give further guidance for the integration of hydropower and aquatic environment protection in mid 2011.

 

 

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