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20% renewable energy by 2020
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Renewable Energy Sectors
Small Hydro
|Objectives-Technology
|Dissemination-Successful
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Small Hydro : Objectives - Technology
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Small hydroelectricity plants, defined by
installations with capacities of less than 10 MW, are an integral part
of the European Union electricity production system. Ideal for
electrification of isolated sites, small hydropower also provides an
extra contribution in case of consumption peaks. Even though there are
numerous incentives to promote hydroelectricity sector development in
Europe, several barriers, like regulatory constraints and environmental
constraints, limit its development. The most significant example it that
of the framework directive on water and its progressive transposition
into different national legislations.This directive, which obliges the
member States to preserve the correct ecological state of the water of
rivers, can have negative consequences on the electricity production of
small hydropower plants. But at the same time, the countries of the
European Union have to take into consideration
the European directive establishing the increase in their share of
renewable origin electricity production.The future of small hydropower
shall therefore depend in part upon a good balance being achieved in the
transposition of these two directives.
In 2005, total capacity in
operation amounted to 11601 MW, i.e. an increase of 320.9 MW with
respect to 2004. Unlike the other sectors, the hydraulic sector is
extremely dependent on a country’s geography. In this way, 84.5% of
European capacity is located in six countries: Italy is leader (2405.5
MW), followed by France (2060 MW), Spain (1788 MW), Germany (1584 MW),
Austria (1062 MW) and Sweden (905 MW). The increase in production
capacities observed in most EU countries has not been accompanied by an
increase in electricity production, which declined 3.4% with respect to
2004, i.e. a production of 41925 TWh in 2005 (-1.479 TWh). A production
decrease in five of the six principal producers has been observed as the
result of rainfall deficits. This decrease is particularly significant
in France (-0,8 TWh) and Spain (-0.937 TWh). |
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1. Total small hydraulic capacity
(<10MW) installed in
the European Union
(in MW)
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2. Small hydraulic electricity
production (<10MW) in
the European Union countries
(in TWh)
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PROSPECTS FOR 2010
The situation of small hydropower remains contrasted between those
countries that have revalorised their purchase prices (Spain, Italy and
France) and those that want, on the contrary, to call their incentive
systems into question (Austria and Sweden). The positive point is that
the obligation of the member States to transpose the two European
directives incites the States to redefine much clearer regulatory
frameworks and to reconsider their national hydroelectric potential in
launching new studies. Our forecast, which is based on an average annual
increase of 2%, should lead the European Union to a total of approx.
12786 MW in 2010 vs. the 14000 MW advocated by the White Paper.
Furthermore, the objective of the “Sustainable Energy Europe” campaign
that targets the installation of 2000 MW of new installations in the 25-member
European Union between 2005 and 2008 will also be difficult to meet. Our
intermediate forecast for 2008 is of an additional 1030 MW, bringing
installed capacity up to 12290 MW at that date.
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3.Comparison of the current trend with
the
White Paper objectives (in MW)
EurObserv’ER 2006
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EurObserv ’ER 2006
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