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Procuded in the Framework of the SHERPA IEE project. A Set of argument sheets for the promotion of Small Hydro

Small hydropower engineering: a wide area of innovations for green power generation

The Thematic Netwok on Small Hydropower publishes a leaftet on SHP engineering innovations

Nowadays engineers working in the small-hydropower (SHP) field keep on developing techniques specific to small hydropower, in order to face up to the following challenges:

Increase environmental integration
Decrease cost
Maximize electricity production

Download the leaflet

State of the Art of SHP in EU-25

This Brochure has been developed under the Thematic Network on Small Hydropower (TNSHP) project.

On 1 May 2004, eight Eastern European and two Mediterranean countries: the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, (EU-10) joined the EU. Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey (Candidate countries- CC) are expecting to join the EU in the near future. The picture of European Small Hydropower has changed. The enlargement of Europe gives a great opportunity to transfer experiences on SHP development to the New European Members States. Indeed, Small hydropower has a huge potential in these countries, where it is the dominant renewable energy source. Its further promotion is required to achieve EU targets for renewables and EU commitment to the Kyoto protocol.

This publication gives an overview on the SHP sector in the new enlarged Europe in terms of market development, Policy issues and industry status. Download

Brochure on SHP for developing countries

This Brochure has been developed under the Thematic Network on Small Hydropower (TNSHP) project.

Access to electricity is one of the keys to development, as it provides light, heat and power for productive uses and communication. Today 1.7 billion people in developing countries do not have access to electricity, most of them living in rural areas Within this scenario, renewable energies must be used as a key tool in the contribution towards sustainable development in the less developed regions of the world. Small hydropower (SHP) is a renewable energy source and suitable for rural electrification in developing countries.

The emphasis of this brochure is on seeking sustainable markets for SHP in developing countries, with the implementation of schemes that consider sustainable development of the communities concerned and tapping into mechanisms that build a strong and long-term market for SHP in key developing countries. This brochure takes four developing countries as case studies where there are currently strong SHP markets: China, India, Uganda and Brazil.

Download the Brochure.

Brochure on Environmental Integration of Small Hydropower Plants

This brochure has been developed under the Thematic Network on Small Hydropower (TNSHP) Project. The Thematic Network on Small Hydropower (TNSHP) is a European Commission - DG TREN (Transport & Energy) and Swiss Government funded project in the framework of the EU’s FP5 (Fifth Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration).

On a global level there is no doubt about the benefits of converting energy via SHP plants (climate change mitigation, security of energy supply) – the same view can be taken on a regional level (local development and employment). On a local level there are of course some impacts, which can be quite clearly defined. - The identification of these impacts and the measures to minimise and compensate them is the main idea and intention of the brochure.

ESHA, the European Small Hydropower Association, is the European co-ordinator of this project which includes ten additional partners: ADEME (France), Studio Frosio (Italy), KÖ (Austria), SERO (Sweden), EPFL-LCH (Switzerland), MHyLab (Switzerland), SCPTH (France), ISET (Germany), IT Power (United Kingdom) and the Lithuanian Hydropower Association (Lithuania).

This brochure has been produced in English, German and Italian.

Proposal for a European Strategy of Research, Development and Demonstration (RD&D) for Renewable Energy from SHP

The Research, Development and Demonstration (RD&D) Strategy document presents the priorities for Small Hydropower short-term research. In other words, it seeks to explode the myth that there is no longer a need for funding for SHP research.

Developed by the Thematic Network on Small Hydropower (TNSHP) through the FP5 funded Project (Framework Programme n°5), this RD&D Strategy document represents the combined thinking and close collaboration of manufacturing industry, financiers, research institutions, national energy authorities and EU institutions.

It details the key priorities in terms of electromechanical equipment, control and monitoring systems, environmental integration, civil works, and administrative and marketing issues. This summary of the main strategy document recalls the agenda for the whole priorities divided in technical and non-technical ones.

Download the Proposal

Download the Summary

Small Hydropower situation in New European Member States and Candidate Countries

This report has been prepared within the FP5 Project Thematic Network of Small Hydropower, with the support of the European Directorate for Transport and Energy, by the Lithuanian Hydropower Association and ESHA.

The study gives an up to date overview of the potential of small hydropower electricity production in new European Member States and Candidate Countries.

Guide on How to Develop a Small Hydropower Plant

This guide aims at giving potential developers of small hydropower plants comprehensive information and advice on all necessary procedures for developing a site. It includes the key steps to be followed in order to run a plant, ranging from hydraulic engineering, evaluation of water supply, design and site evaluation, civil works and hydraulic structures, electromechanical equipment to environmental impact evaluation, investment and financial issues and administrative procedures.

This guide is an updated and adapted version of the publication "Layman's Guidebook on how to develop a small hydro site" published in 1998. It has been carried out under the coordination of ESHA with support from the European Commission in the framework of the FP5 project "Thematic Network on Small Hydropower" and the Swiss Government. It has been updated and adapted by a revision committee formed by ADEME, ISET, IT Power, Studio Frosio, EPFL-LCH, MHyLab, SERO, SCPTH, KÃ– and the original author of the guide Mr. Celso Penche.

This guide has been produced in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Swedish in the Format of a CD-ROM
If you wish to receive a copy of the CD-ROM in English, French, German, Italian, Swedish, or Spanish, please send an email to Wendy Lakin
English version is also downloadable in two parts below:

Guide on how to develop a SHP. PART 1

Guide on how to develop a SHP. PART 2

The original Layman's Guidebook on how to develop a small hydro site" published in 1998 is available in Spanish, Italian and English.

Small Hydropower Checklist

This Small Hydropower checklist aims at:

Giving potential, and even inexperienced, developers/investors of small hydropower plants first-hand comprehensive information and advice on all necessary procedures required to start and develop small-hydropower projects.
Its objective is to guide the investor/developer so as to determine the viability of a project, using a simple step-by-step process.
This checklist can be used in combination with the "Guidebook on How to Develop a Small Hydropower Plant", where all the necessary steps mentioned in the checklist are explained in more depth and detail.

This checklist has been carried out under the coordination of MHyLab, SCPTH and ESHA, and with input from all the partners of the Thematic Network on Small Hydropower FP5 project. Download the Checklist in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

Report on Statistics: Overview of the last decade 1990-2001

ESHA has carried out this report in the framework of the FP5 EC funded project “Thematic Network on SHP”.The following report compiles the main statistical information on small hydropower plants in the European Union from 1990 to 2001.

The aim of this report is to offer practical and concise information on the development of the SHP sector during the last decade through statistical analysis. This objective has derived from a real demand of such information:

To monitor the market development of the sector and
To assess the implementation of the political framework concerning RES in general and SHP in particular.

Indeed, little or no statistical information on SHP at European level is available or easily accessible which makes it difficult, not only for individuals but also for national bodies, to analyse the real situation of the SHP sector. Small-scale hydro plants include plants with installed capacity of less than 10 MW and therefore mini plants (< 1MW) are also included in this publication.

Blue Energy for A Green Europe

The BlueAGE study carried out in 1999 – 2000 has developed six main subject-areas concerning the possible exploitation of SHP energy in Europe:

It gathers data on the actual state-of-the–art of SHP development on the European continent
It assesses the potential for future SHP development, both in terms of upgrading the oldest existing plants and building new sites. In doing so the study has tried to point out the difference between the so-called “technical potential” and the “realistic potential”, that is, what could be exploited given the existing economic, administrative and environmental constraints.
It analyses the economics of SHP sources in order to understand how competitive SHP is today with respect to the other principal power generation technologies.
The analysis focuses on the main constraints which the countries analysed put on the development of SHP plants.
The study analyses the situation and competitiveness of the EU manufacturing industry in the SHP sector.
The report aims to give some concrete recommendations in promoting SHP development in the short and medium term, suggesting some good policies and “best practices” to achieve this goal.

The study is based on data collected from more than 95 % of the total electricity produced in the EU and from over 90 % of total electricity production in other European countries which are not yet EU member states. Data from more than 17 400 different SHP plants in Europe has been used.

: © BOKU

Reserve Flow: effects of Additional Parameters on depleted Stretch

The report tries to prove the thesis that the reserved flow downstream of a weir or a dam can be reduced - achieving a better environmental result - if the effect of the following additional parametres is duly taken into account in the reserved flow calculation:

Length of diversion section
Tributaries
Slope
Riverbed structure

The thesis is proven through the description of a case study. The scope of the document is not to give a solution as such, but to stimulate discussion among the major key actors in the field and to provoke counter-examples aiming to the confutation of the thesis.

This report has been prepared within the FP5 Project Thematic Network of Small Hydropower, by the Austrian Small Hydropower Association, and Studio Frosio in Italy.

Reserve Flow: Short Critical Review of Methods of Calculation

This report aims to give a quick and wide overview about the different methods proposed for reserved flow calculation from both the regulatory and research points of view.

The overview itself gives the opportunity for pointing out the merits and lacks of the main method groups, with the scope not of entering an infinite scientific discussion about the best method, but to stimulate a more general discussion on the role of reserved flow in river protection and on the global consequences of reserved flow on the environment and on, more specifically, the chances of small hydroelectric plants surviving it.

This report has been prepared within the FP5 Project Thematic Network of Small Hydropower, by the Austrian Small Hydropower Association, and Studio Frosio in Italy.