The European Union is a leader in hydropower R&D, scientific research, exports, technological innovations and sustainable solutions, according to a new report.
Clean Energy Technology Observatory: Hydropower and Pumped Hydropower Storage in the European Union – 2023 Status Report on Technology Development, Trends Value Chains and Markets said the EU hosts more than a quarter of the global pumped hydropower storage capacity (in terms of turbine installed capacity) and hydropower is a key technology to support the integration of volatile renewable energy sources, providing energy storage, grid stability and flexibility.
Hydropower is the largest low-carbon and renewable electricity technology, with 1,397 GW of global installed capacity and 4,408 TWh of electricity generation in 2022. Worldwide, pumped hydropower storage (PHS) provides regulation, spinning reserve, and about 96% of utility scale energy storage. In the European Union (EU), hydropower installed capacity in 2022 was 152 GW and generated 374 TWh (including PHS). The EU hosts 46 GW of PHS capacity, which is a quarter of the global installed capacity. Hydropower technical maturity is well-established, with overall power plant efficiencies generally exceeding 80%, and that can reach 90%.
Water and hydropower reservoirs can provide multiple services and help to mitigate the effects of climate change and deal with the increasing water demand. Its flexibility allows to integrate the volatile energy production from non-dispatchable energy sources (e.g. wind and solar power plants), ensuring grid stability (preventing blackouts) and ancillary services. However, new barriers in rivers and reservoirs can also generate environmental impacts. Therefore, hydropower is a complex sector within the water-energy-food-ecosystem nexus.
Current trends in the EU mainly consist in tapping the hidden hydropower potential in existing facilities and hydraulic infrastructures, modernizing the existing fleet, increasing flexibility and resilience to climate changes, and implementing digital and mitigation measures. Pumped storage could complement the operation of existing reservoirs and lakes to enhance water management. Novel methods are under investigation to integrate other energy technologies into hydropower plants, e.g. floating photovoltaics on hydropower reservoirs, hydrogen generation, hybridization with batteries and waste-heat recovery. Ocean (tidal and wave) power plants use turbines adapted from the hydropower sector.
New reservoirs should be designed as multi-purpose schemes. And keeping the leadership of EU companies, especially in the global export and trade sectors, is of vital importance. The European Commission (EC) has supported several research projects, such as FITHYDRO (on mitigation strategies, improvement of fish migration and less impacting technologies), X-FLEX (aimed at increasing flexibility) and HYDRO4EU (that aims at demonstrating European small hydropower equipment and technologies in Asia).
In terms of scientific publications, the hydropower knowledge production in the EU is the second highest globally, after China. The EU and the U.S. host each about 28% of the innovative hydropower companies. Although China is the main patent leader (partially also due to the different patenting procedure in the country), the EU, Japan and South Korea perform similarly, and slightly better than the U.S. The EU holds 33% of all high-value inventions globally (2018 to 2020), with Germany, France and Poland the main contributors.
Employment in the hydropower industry spans various value chain elements as project design, manufacturing, project construction and O&M. Sector employment generally includes engineers, geologists, ecologists, economists, technicians and skilled workers. It also provides employment to scientists, as well as those working in corporate and academic R&D activities.
