Periodic Reporting for period 2 - HYPOSO (Hydropower solutions for developing and emerging countries)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2021-03-01 al 2023-05-31
The European hydropower industry is well renowned, able to build tailor-made hydropower facilities all around the globe and has vast experience in the sector. The European know-how can foster the transition into a more sustainable energy system in parts of the world that still need support to develop the sector. While the European hydropower potential does not allow huge developments, the international market development potential is still big. Currently, as noted in the last IHA 2020 Hydropower Status Report, the Covid-19 crisis has led to a widespread uncertainty in the sector. Financing and refinancing of some hydropower projects was put at risk because of liquidity shortages. The recent developments in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic give however reason to hope that the obstacles will be overcome in the near future.
New challenges for the European hydropower sector include the ability to capture the energy potential of water flows and sites with a very low height difference between the upper and lower water level (head) e.g. at irrigation dams, low head weirs and ship locks. New technologies could be installed on existing structures, constituting a big potential for future renewable and distributed, clean power generation. Business is not only made with the construction of new plants, but also with investments for maintenance and refurbishment of existing plants. Costs for other renewable energy sources keep on decreasing, however, hydropower is still leading in terms of cost-competitiveness. Despite high initial investment costs, plants have a very long lifetime (up to 80 years) and their operation and maintenance costs are relatively low. Thus, hydropower, providing sustainable and clean energy, has one of the lowest global generating costs.
The aspect of sustainable energy generation is of high importance for the citizens worldwide, as in the HYPOSO target countries, which are Bolivia, Cameroon, Colombia, Ecuador, and Uganda, and is also a main aim of HYPOSO and will be distributed by European hydropower experts in the target countries among relevant stakeholders to promote the renewable energy source. When speaking of hydropower, many additional services besides the generation of electricity are known, such as ecosystem services (a. o. low level of GHG, cleaning rivers from litter), water quality management (e. g. flood prevention, drought mitigation), renewable energy source and other power services (e. g. provision of storage and flexibility, predictable and controllable energy generation), local livelihoods (e. g. supply of drinking water, improved sanitation), and economic growth and regional development (e. g. tourism, aquaculture, irrigation purposes, improved infrastructure).
The overall objective of the HYPOSO project is to support the European hydropower industry with tools to best facilitate and consult the selected target regions in Africa and Latin America with their know-how and expertise and enable more technology export for European companies. The market uptake support shall lead to win-win situation and focus on sustainable and locally adapted solutions to stimulate the energy transition in developing and emerging countries.
New challenges for the European hydropower sector include the ability to capture the energy potential of water flows and sites with a very low height difference between the upper and lower water level (head) e.g. at irrigation dams, low head weirs and ship locks. New technologies could be installed on existing structures, constituting a big potential for future renewable and distributed, clean power generation. Business is not only made with the construction of new plants, but also with investments for maintenance and refurbishment of existing plants. Costs for other renewable energy sources keep on decreasing, however, hydropower is still leading in terms of cost-competitiveness. Despite high initial investment costs, plants have a very long lifetime (up to 80 years) and their operation and maintenance costs are relatively low. Thus, hydropower, providing sustainable and clean energy, has one of the lowest global generating costs.
The aspect of sustainable energy generation is of high importance for the citizens worldwide, as in the HYPOSO target countries, which are Bolivia, Cameroon, Colombia, Ecuador, and Uganda, and is also a main aim of HYPOSO and will be distributed by European hydropower experts in the target countries among relevant stakeholders to promote the renewable energy source. When speaking of hydropower, many additional services besides the generation of electricity are known, such as ecosystem services (a. o. low level of GHG, cleaning rivers from litter), water quality management (e. g. flood prevention, drought mitigation), renewable energy source and other power services (e. g. provision of storage and flexibility, predictable and controllable energy generation), local livelihoods (e. g. supply of drinking water, improved sanitation), and economic growth and regional development (e. g. tourism, aquaculture, irrigation purposes, improved infrastructure).
The overall objective of the HYPOSO project is to support the European hydropower industry with tools to best facilitate and consult the selected target regions in Africa and Latin America with their know-how and expertise and enable more technology export for European companies. The market uptake support shall lead to win-win situation and focus on sustainable and locally adapted solutions to stimulate the energy transition in developing and emerging countries.
In the second project period, the HYPOSO project could implementb all the planned activities.
The educational aspect was addressed with the capacity building courses, for which the concept and schedule were prepared in the first project half, and which started in January 2022 for Uganda and Cameroon, and were completed in August 2022 for Bolivia and Ecuador. The capacity building courses were appreciated a lot by the participants, who will hopefully contribute to more small hydropower capacities in their countries as a consequence of the training. Successful participants of the courses received a certificate.
Altogether 15 potential pilot hydropower projects (3 in each of the 5 target countries) have been assessed in HYPOSO and will be hopefully developed into new sustainable hydropower plants in the near future. In some of the cases, the site owners are in contact with the HYPOSO project and are looking for concrete business cooperation. To facilitate also the financing of the assessed potential projects, financial assessments and recommendations have been carried out for each assessed potential site.
The workshops on framework conditions (WFC) were also started in January 2022 (in Cameroon) and were continued in July 2022 in Bolivia and Ecuador. The WFC in in Colombia and in Uganda had to be reorganised due to cancellations and postponements of partner events. The WFC in Colombia was thus organised in February 2023, and the last WFC in Uganda was organised in March 2023. At the end of the project, HYPOSO brought stakeholders from the target countries together in Europe, where they participated at a Study Tour through four different countries (Germany, Austria, Italy, and the Netherlands), and where they could make direct meetings with different hydropower companies.
The HYPOSO project partners have presented the project at various events and other occasions, mostly online in the first project half, and at several live events in the second half of the project. The HYPOSO website provides background information and reports about the project developments, and features the Online Forum HYPOSO Platform, a forum for hydropower stakeholders that will be kept alive beyond the HYPOSO project. The HYPOSO Platform features the HYPOSO Map, a GIS based Atlas of (more than 2,000) potential hydropower sites in the target countries with many features.
In the Final Event in Delft (the Netherlands), on 12 May 2023, stakeholders from the target countries expressed their will that the activities of HYPOSO should not be stopped, but continued to realise as many of the assessed hydropower sites as possible.
The educational aspect was addressed with the capacity building courses, for which the concept and schedule were prepared in the first project half, and which started in January 2022 for Uganda and Cameroon, and were completed in August 2022 for Bolivia and Ecuador. The capacity building courses were appreciated a lot by the participants, who will hopefully contribute to more small hydropower capacities in their countries as a consequence of the training. Successful participants of the courses received a certificate.
Altogether 15 potential pilot hydropower projects (3 in each of the 5 target countries) have been assessed in HYPOSO and will be hopefully developed into new sustainable hydropower plants in the near future. In some of the cases, the site owners are in contact with the HYPOSO project and are looking for concrete business cooperation. To facilitate also the financing of the assessed potential projects, financial assessments and recommendations have been carried out for each assessed potential site.
The workshops on framework conditions (WFC) were also started in January 2022 (in Cameroon) and were continued in July 2022 in Bolivia and Ecuador. The WFC in in Colombia and in Uganda had to be reorganised due to cancellations and postponements of partner events. The WFC in Colombia was thus organised in February 2023, and the last WFC in Uganda was organised in March 2023. At the end of the project, HYPOSO brought stakeholders from the target countries together in Europe, where they participated at a Study Tour through four different countries (Germany, Austria, Italy, and the Netherlands), and where they could make direct meetings with different hydropower companies.
The HYPOSO project partners have presented the project at various events and other occasions, mostly online in the first project half, and at several live events in the second half of the project. The HYPOSO website provides background information and reports about the project developments, and features the Online Forum HYPOSO Platform, a forum for hydropower stakeholders that will be kept alive beyond the HYPOSO project. The HYPOSO Platform features the HYPOSO Map, a GIS based Atlas of (more than 2,000) potential hydropower sites in the target countries with many features.
In the Final Event in Delft (the Netherlands), on 12 May 2023, stakeholders from the target countries expressed their will that the activities of HYPOSO should not be stopped, but continued to realise as many of the assessed hydropower sites as possible.
HYPOSO aimed at bringing together the EU industry with local stakeholders in Bolivia, Cameroon, Colombia, Ecuador, and Uganda.
By facilitating an exclusive meeting forum and keeping the EU industry up to date about the possibilities in the partner countries, it is expected that new business relationships that go hand in hand with increased sustainable electricity generation at places where it is of best use could be triggered.
HYPOSO aimed concretely at achieving 5 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) between stakeholders in the partner countries and the EU industry. At the time of this report, 4 of the 5 MoUs have been signed (the fifth one is currently being revised). By the capacity building activities and the project developer’s workshops, as well as the workshops on framework conditions, and the HYPOSO Study Tour, the stakeholders involved in the HYPOSO activities are expected to have become potential allies of the EU hydropower industry. The publicly available information material (replicable business case studies can be directly used by the stakeholders) and the people reached during HYPOSO will have an impact far over the project end.
By facilitating an exclusive meeting forum and keeping the EU industry up to date about the possibilities in the partner countries, it is expected that new business relationships that go hand in hand with increased sustainable electricity generation at places where it is of best use could be triggered.
HYPOSO aimed concretely at achieving 5 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) between stakeholders in the partner countries and the EU industry. At the time of this report, 4 of the 5 MoUs have been signed (the fifth one is currently being revised). By the capacity building activities and the project developer’s workshops, as well as the workshops on framework conditions, and the HYPOSO Study Tour, the stakeholders involved in the HYPOSO activities are expected to have become potential allies of the EU hydropower industry. The publicly available information material (replicable business case studies can be directly used by the stakeholders) and the people reached during HYPOSO will have an impact far over the project end.