Objective
Hydropower is considered a renewable energy source and its demand is considerably increasing in Europe. However, its global benefits are accompanied by significant environmental losses. Hydropeaking constitutes a major impact from hydropower dam operation. It refers to frequent changes in river flow occurring within the span of a day caused by turning the turbines on or off in response to varying demand in the energy market. As a result, downstream and upstream river hydrology, hydraulic parameters, water quality, river morphology, and ultimately the fluvial ecosystem, are modified. Despite the increasing environmental, social, industrial and regulatory requirements with regard to hydropower production and river ecological status in Europe (and worldwide), there is still much to learn about ecological processes affected by sub-daily flow changes along regulated rivers. Scientific studies are scarce and most of them focus on fish, leaving riparian vegetation uninvestigated. Hydropeaking may spoil the recruitment of riparian species and hence affect the maintenance of riparian populations. By analysing seed germination and seedling performance, it may be possible to reveal predictable relationships between hydropeaking and vegetation responses. Such relationships are crucial so as to objectively define thresholds which help to minimize the ecological effects of hydropower generation without causing significant production loss. The aim of this project is to investigate the opportunities for sustainable management of rivers subjected to hydropower production. To accomplish this goal, a thorough literature revision, analysis of sub-daily flow series, vegetation field-experiments and computer modelling are planned. The expected new contributions from the project are: (1) hydrological and ecological (i.e. riparian vegetation) metrics of hydropeaking impact, (2) hydrology-ecology models to quantify such effects and (3) measures for sustainable operation of hydropower dams.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences hydrology
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels renewable energy hydroelectricity
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
901 87 Umea
Sweden
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.