Action towards increase in sustainable hydropower: a pan-european assessment and startegy

Hydropower plays a pivotal role in Europe's energy landscape, offering significant contributions to its power generation mix. However, amidst the global imperative for sustainable development, there is a pressing need to focus on the sustainability of hydropower resources. This entails not only mitigating its social and environmental impacts but also adapting to the challenges posed by climate change. To face these new challenges, it is imperative to develop new technologies and new policy measures. These dimensions were identified in the COST networking Action 21104 - Pan European Network on Sustainable Hydropower (PEN@Hydropower). PEN@Hydropower consists of five working groups incorporating technical, environmental, economic, and social issues. More than 275 working group members exchange their research topics, results, and experiences leading to new views and common studies at a European level. The paper provides a review of PEN@Hydropower discussions in Workgroups. We reviewed reasons for unused hydropower technical potential in four European countries. We identified a reason for this as a legislative gap in the EU level of stakeholders' interaction between climate neutrality (i.e. European Green Deal) and environmental protection (i.e. Water Framework Directive).