Sectoral activities: Hydropower

Strategy

download strategy (pdf)

The successful implementation of NbS in freshwater restoration relies heavily on collaboration and coordination across sectors due to their interdependencies and shared reliance on healthy ecosystems. Each Sectoral Strategy highlights key connections with others, emphasizing the need for integrated approaches to overcome challenges and leverage opportunities for transformation.

The Hydropower Strategy recognises that barriers are created for a range of functions and therefore are also linked to other sectors, including Agriculture, Insurance, Navigation, and WSS. These sectors need to be also involved in strategic discussions about which barriers are no longer required/economically viable and therefore available for removal. However, the focus of the strategy development (as with the Peat Extraction Sector, for example) was focussed mainly on understanding the overlap between barrier removal and an NbS approach. Identifying how to better consider barrier removal in practice using an NbS approach focussed on discussions within the Hydropower Sector. Therefore, the focus on cross-sectoral working is muted within the Strategy itself.

Briefing

Hydropower is an important source of renewable electricity in the EU. However, hydropower creates barriers to rivers, along with barriers built by other sectors, that have negative consequences for freshwater biodiversity and water and sediment flows. There are occasions where it is not viable for ageing dam infrastructure to be maintained – especially considering climate change trends and predictions – where the damage clearly outweighs the benefits, or where the sector can support removal of other barriers to improve the overall function of the catchment. MERLIN will help share knowledge about when dam removal may be a good option and how the sector can support wider free-flowing-river activities.

Roundtables

The MERLIN roundtables aim to build a Community of Practice linking the economic sector representatives with MERLIN scientific and implementation partners, MERLIN scientists meet the sector representatives three times during the four years of the project.

Roundtables 1: to understand the motivation and interest of sectors and the impact of nature restoration on the sectors.
Roundtables 2: to share examples of river restorations and their impacts on the sectors; to focus on the MERLIN cases and to discuss pro and contra arguments; to extend the number of involved stakeholders. Introduce cross-sectoral discussions, discuss policy levers and sectoral cooperation opportunities.
Roundtables 3: to discuss sectoral strategies including value chain impacts and cross sectoral needs to ensure MERLIN outputs speak to the sector.

Roundtable 1

The Hydropower roundtable was held on April 21, 2022. Nine representatives from International, European and National energy and hydropower associations attended, as well as representatives from individual energy companies. A presentation on the Swedish experience of working with the hydropower sector to restore rivers to meet the Water Framework Directive helped set the context, supplemented by a summary of themes arising from questionnaire responses and a literature review.

Roundtable 2

MERLIN’s 2nd Hydropower Sector Roundtable brought together 16 experts from the private sector (e.g. energy companies and their representative bodies) and non-governmental organisations. Discussions were framed around the cooperation points identified in the Sector Briefing informed by the 1st roundtable and a desktop review of peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed literature. Key issues during the Roundtable were the better inclusion of NbS in licensing processes, the removal of obsolete barriers as an opportunity for the sector to engage in NbS, and the ability to measure the sector’s impact on freshwater biodiversity improvement.

Roundtable 3

MERLIN’s third Hydropower Sector Roundtable brought together 16 experts from the private sector (e.g. energy companies and their representative bodies), scientific research and non-governmental organisations. Discussions focused on further development of the strategic vision and the five strategic actions identified from discussions in the previous sector roundtables, alongside an ongoing desktop review of literature.