Minutes_GB_Meeting_14.04.08

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ESHA – European Small Hydropwer Association

Renewable Energy House, Rue d‟Arlon 63-65, B - 1040 Brussels, Belgium

Tel: +32.2.546.19.45 Fax: +32.2.546.19.47, e-mail: [email protected]

ESHA Governing Board Meeting

14th April 2008, 14.00 – 18.00

STARHOTEL S SPLENDIDO, Viale Andrea Doria 4.

Milan, Italy

Participants:

Bernhard Pelikan ESHA

Hugues Albanel GPAE

Christer Söderberg SERO

Jacques Fonkenell HEA-E

Gema San Bruno ESHA

Lauha Fried ESHA

Ghislain Weisrock GPAE

Jean-Pierre Corbet SCPTH

Nino Frosio APER

Sara Gollessi APER

Janusz Steller –TBC Institute of Fluid-Flow Machinery

Marko Gospodjinacki SSHA

Petras Punys LHA

Fiacc O‟brolchain IHAP

Minutes

ESHA Governing Board (GB) met in Milan on the 14th

April 08 and the following

summarises the main points discussed during the meeting:

Opening of the meeting by Bernhard Pelikan, President of ESHA

Mr Pelikan opened the GB by welcoming everyone. From the participants, Mr Cryer

and Mr Steller were excused from attending the meeting while Mr Weisrock

(electrabel) and Mr O‟brolchain (IHAP) were present. Bernhard Pelikan took the

opportunity to introduce the new ESHA policy officer, Lauha Fried. Lauha started to

working for ESHA in the end of February and she will be following and monitoring

ESHA policy issues.

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Mr Pigni, the APER president, also attended briefly the meeting in order to introduce

himself and APER activities since the participation of APER as ESHA GB member

has been recently approved and therefore their contribution to ESHA activities will be

more relevant in the future.

Mr Pelikan introduced the Agenda which was approved with an introduction of one

new item requested by Mr Albanel who wanted to make a point about the situation of

the Eel regulation in France.

Overview of ongoing activities

The following current ESHA activities were summarised to the GB members:

1- Renewables Framework Directive – recent developments

Lauha Fried briefly presented key developments regarding the new renewables

Directive. Lauha explained that the legislative process is currently going on at the

European Parliament & Council. At the moment Claude Turmes, the rapporteur at the

EP, is preparing his report. This means that if there are issues related to SHP or if we

would like to influence anything in the Directive text this is the right time to do it.

Lauha also told about the ongoing debate on guarantees of origin. ESHA is together

with EREC and member associations trying to give heavy pressure in order to

safeguard national support systems. It is crucial that trade is only allowed once the

interim targets are met by the Member States. The main concern is trade at company

level. Even if the proposal introduces a system of prior authorisation that gives the

Member States a possibility to restrict the trade, experts have confirmed that this

system is legally unsure. Some members expressed their concerns about the GOs - Mr

Albanel and Mr Gospodjinacki will get back to Lauha with new proposals.

Other issues discussed were the importance of requirements for strong National

Action Plans (NAPs) and priority access to the grid. The Member States should

ensure that the NAPs include sectoral targets, detailed practical plans on how to

remove barriers, how to mainstream procedures and how to organise priority access to

grid. The directive together with two ESHA notes (one from Christine in January

2008, and another from Lauha at GB in Milan) have been uploaded at the members‟

area on the ESHA website.

a) Normalised Hydro

Gema San Bruno introduced the topic on Normalised Hydro. Annex 2 of the RFD

introduces a normalisation rule for hydropower in order to neutralise the effects of

climate variations. Gema made a presentation on the rule explaining its meaning and

the impacts of using such a formulation. In addition, she explained that ESHA has

been in contact with Eurolectric on this issue since they are preparing an amendment

to the Directive as far as the normalisation rule is concerned. This amendment is

based on deeper analysis carried out by one of Euroelectric members on the potential

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effects of using the calculation for Hydro. On these assumptions Euroelectric has

drafted a proposal of new formulation that will be presented to the European

Commission. Both documents on the analysis and the proposal have been circulated

to ESHA GB members. Members were asked to express their views and give some

feedback on these considerations for the SHP and to send their proposals on the

normalisation rule as far as small hydro is concerned to Lauha Fried by the 23th of

March.

There was a vivid discussion on this issue among the members. French members

suggested the idea of including a limit for small hydropower installations on the

formulation. It was agreed that the current formula based on capacity is not reflecting

the reality of the sector and it should be rather based on generation. There was also a

consensus on the Eurelectric proposal in the sense that it does not look very feasible

that the European Commission (EC) will accept it. Italian members pointed out that

the current formula is beneficial for SHP showing more positive results for SHP

evolution “normalised” than „not normalised”. There was a general question on why

the formula has been only foresee for Hydro and not for other RES technologies and

why is based on capacities and not on generation. French members underlined that it

would make more sense to apply the normalisation rule to wind than to hydro.

b) Slovenian Energy Law

Mr Gospodjinacki informed the GB members of the ongoing new energy law in

Slovenia which include many changes affecting the whole energy sector and in

particular the RES and the SHP within. The draft Energy Law proposes to change the

support system in that way that it will correspond the EC's demand to take the trading

of RES-E from the system operators. That will be done in such a way that the market

operator (Borzen) will establish a »Support Center« which will be responsible to buy

all electricity from RES by the price which will be annually announced by the

government on the production costs principle (and by RE source). The Energy

Agency will annually prepare the economic market predictions as a base for the

govenment decission. The system remains a feed-in with the premium but the support

will be granted only to »eligible producers« which will be eligible if they aquire the

declaration and GO for the powerplant and produced electricity. The support will be

granted to the powerplants not older than 15 years for RES. The financial support will

last only until the electricity market price reaches the production costs. The transition

period will be 1 year (or less) or, in case the producer has already signed a long-term

contract, to 2011 – in the meantime the premium will decrease by 10% each year.

There is no indication what will be the economic calculations for the production costs

on which the price/premium will be calculated. The draft is in the government

procedure and it is planned to be adopted not later than 26th of June (which is exactly

the date to which the RES-E Directive has to be adopted as well).

Gema San Bruno encouraged ESHA GB Members to follow the Slovenian example

and brief ESHA about the different policy developments in each EU MS on the

ongoing legislation affecting RES in general and SHP in particular.

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c) Eels Regulation in France

Mr Albanel informed the GB about the situation of the European Eel Regulation

application in France. This regulation is really affecting the SHP sector since the Eel

management plans foreseen to be implemented will represent a 10% lost in

productivity for the SHP sector. It seems that the impact of this regulation is not only

affecting the sector in France but also in other EU MS like Spain, Ireland, Germany

and Italy. Mr Fonkenell explained the members that there is a new turbine specially

designed to tackle the eels problem and that it can actually reduce the eel mortality.

Fonkenell offered to distribute a presentation of this new machine to the interested

members.

2- WFD – Working Group updates

a) WG on Exemptions to environmental objectives

Lauha Fried started her work with ESHA with three WFD working group meetings

during her first two weeks. She gave a briefing about the main points discussed in

these working groups. The working group meeting on Exemptions to the

environmental objectives under the WFD took place on 29 February in Brussels.

This meeting focused on developing a common understanding on the application of

exemptions to the environmental objectives in the Water Framework Directive. (In

other words this means the cost of implementing measures to achieve the

environmental objectives required in the WFD).

In order to see Member States‟ examples on the assessment of disproportionate costs

a workshop was organized on 10-11 April in Copenhagen. Around 20 case studies

were presented including one hydropower case (Hydrological impacts due to

hydropower water use on Miller Hydropower Station in Spain. Example of economic

effects of alternative means). This case study demonstrates the consequences of

minimal environmental flow to hydropower production, i.e. implementing WFD

measures results decrease in electricity production, reduced income etc.

Based on this workshop and comments from stakeholders and the Water Directors the

Commission will prepare a comprehensive guidance document to help the Member

States in implementing the WFD. (Lauha circulated a draft discussion paper for

comments – the deadline was on 2 May).

b) WG on Ecological status

Lauha Fried explained that one of the requirements of the WFD is the inter-calibration

of the surface water ecological quality scales in all Member States. The purpose of

this exercise is to ensure comparability of the Ecological Quality ratio (EQR) scales

and to obtain common understanding of ecological status of the surface waters all

over EU, in other words good ecological quality should have the same ecological

meaning in every MS. The Ecostat working group facilitates information exchange

among the MS during the inter-calibration process and provides guidance on technical

issues.

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Lauha updated the GB on the current status of the work: The results of the first phase

of inter-calibration were delivered in June 2007. Some problems with the

comparability of the results occurred and there is a need to improve national

monitoring and assessment methods. One of the key issues is to develop and agree on

more harmonized and precise procedures for setting reference conditions. An

agreement on a general work program for 2008-11 to continue the inter-calibration

process (second phase) has been made. A detailed work plan and schedule is currently

under preparation. A large river expert meeting will be organized in autumn 2008.

Lauha also pointed out the increasing importance of Climate Change related issues.

The CC impacts the reference conditions and ecological boundary settings. The WFD

Climate Change and Water Steering Group is working on including climate change

check to the river basin management plans. A paper will be prepared for the Water

Directors‟ meeting in June in Slovenia. Next WG meeting will take place on 18-19

June in Brussels. In case of further interest in these matters Lauha invited GB

members to join her in the WG meetings.

c) Strategic Coordination Group

The Strategic Coordination Group coordinates the activities of different WFD

Working Groups. Lauha informed the GB about principal issues that were discussed

at the SCG meeting. The Water Directors agenda for 2008: There will be one meeting

(16-17 June in Ljubljana) under the Slovenian presidency and two meetings under the

French presidency (24-27 November 2008 in Strasbourg, timing for the second

meeting not yet confirmed).

The Commission was concerned about some legal and compliance issues in the

transposition of WFD into national laws. There were major issues in the transposition

in 19 Member States. Nine cases were recently launched against 9 MS: DE, DK, IE,

SE, UK, HU, SI, FI and FR.

A European Water Conference will be organised in March 2009 in Brussels. The main

topic is the River Basin Management Planning and public participation. The update

from the Climate Change and Water WG included news from DG Environment task

force who are currently preparing a White Paper as a follow up to the Green Paper –

the aim is to get it adopted before the end of the year. A stakeholder meeting will take

place on 16 May 2008.

This WG will meet again on 14-15 May in Brussels.

d) WG on Floods

Lauha informed the GB about Working Group on Floods which was established in

2006 in order to coordinate the implementation between the WFD and the Floods

Directive. This WG underlines the important role of floods in relation to other WFD

related activities. Since SHP can also play a crucial role in flood prevention

ESHA will participate in the meetings – next one will take place on 16-17 April in

Brussels.

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3- Projects

3.1 On-going projects:

Gema San Bruno introduced the latest updates on the different ESHA ongoing

projects:

SHERPA

SHERPA fourth project meeting took place on the 14th

April in Milan in the morning.

The different WPs were reviewed and the planning for the future development of the

project was settled. The most relevant points to inform the GB about were the

approval of the Interim Reports and the funding from the EC. In addition, Gema asked

Mrs Gollessi to briefly inform on the policy workshop to be organised on the 15th

April in Milan in the framework of the project. Gema reminded all GB members that

information on the project as well as the deliverables are available upon request.

SHERPA project is running until October 08 and it is partially funded by the EACI

under the IEE programme.

SHAPES

Gema informed the GB members about this new DG-Research funded project (FP6)

that started in January 2008 and will run for two years. SHAPES stands for Small

Hydro Action for the Promotion of Efficient Solutions and its goal is to facilitate and

strengthen the co-operation between EU small hydropower research and market actors

with the overall objective of streamlining future research and development and

promote R&D results in order to enhance penetration of SHP and know-how with the

EU on new markets in developing countries. At the moment the consortium is

working on preparing the detailed work program, identifying a logo, setting the

website and developing some marketing material (leaflet, poster, etc). Gema pointed

out that some items of SHAPES will be presented at Hidroenergia08 and the second

project meeting will take place there as well on the 11th

June morning.

RESTMAC (RES Technology Marketing Campaign)

RESTMAC project, creating markets for RE technologies, is coordinated by EREC

and ESHA contribution as partner covers the issue of sustainability taking as basis the

IHA sustainability protocol. This project is partly funded by DG-TREN for three

years. The project was supposed to be finished by May 20008 but the contract has

been postponed so that the Final Conference of RESTMAC would take place under

the French Presidency. Gema reminded the members that more info can be found at

ESHA website and upon request.

Technology at Work

Technology at Work program partly funded by DG-Research under the FP6 in which

ESHA collaborates as partner is getting to its end (April 08). Gema reminded the

members that this project which aimed at promoting sustainable energy technologies

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at carbon markets with focus on EU ETS and CDM markets in Asia has been running

for two years and ESHA contributed in developing CDM markets for SHP as well as

in supporting communication and dissemination activities. She explained the

members that one of the latest actions concerning this project has been the

incorporation to the ESHA March Newsletter issue of a special edition on the project

and its outcomes. In addition, ESHA organised a Workshop on “CDMs and RES

projects” at the REH in Brussels on the 28th

March. This event included interesting

presentations from different investment companies working with CDMs and ETS

trading and funding as well as the International Hydropower Association.

Interventions from Mr Zimmer and Mr Corbet from ESHA were also very valuable.

Representatives from the different RES associations made the event at an advantage.

Presentations and the report on the workshop are available to ESHA members upon

request.

Building Capacities in Pakistan

Gema San Bruno informed the members that this project is still running due to an

extension of the contract justified by the political situation in Pakistan what makes the

implementation of the project very difficult. One of the major contributions of ESHA

as partners is the participation as expert trainer and lecturer in a seminar organised in

Pakistan in April 08 to cover the financial and technical aspects of developing SHP

projects. In principle, Mr Frosio was identified as the expert for this seminar but

unfortunately the small hydro section of the seminar has been removed because they

considered that there is enough technical capacity amongst the hydro companies in

Pakistan. Gema pointed out that she would try to find out more reasons and how this

action is going to affect the planned ESHA contribution to the project.

3.2 New Projects:

Gema San Bruno informed the ESHA GB members that at the moment there are three

European projects in negotiation with the European Commission in order to be

awarded and in which ESHA is participating as partner. Gema circulated a paper to

the members summarizing the most relevant information about these projects.

HydroAction

Hydroaction stands for “Advance Optimization Procedure for the Design of Small

Hydro Trubines. Assessment and Validation through Lab Testing”. Gema explained

that this project is partly funded by DG-Research under the FP7 programme and that

its main action is to develop a methodology in order to improve the productivity and

reduce the cost of small hydro turbines. The generic methodology will be tested and

validated on Pelton, Turgo and Matrix turbines and it is orientated to tailor-made

design. The project is coordinated by NTUA (Technical University of Athens) and it

will run for three years. ESHA participation includes the support in data collection

and economic analysis of the new methodology as well as the coordination of the

dissemination and awareness activities. Other partners of the consortium are VATEC

CH, WIP from Germany, VATEC AT, Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble, Ecole

Centrale de Lyon and TH2E (Techniques Hydro Electrique).

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RURAL-RES

Gema explained that RURAL-RES is a project partly funded by the EACI trough the

IEE program. This project concentrates on the promotion of the use of renewable

energy small scale systems in mountain territories and it is coordinated by the

Diputación de Huelva in Spain (County Council of Huelva). ESHA participation in

the project includes basically the coverage of the small hydropower sector since the

project in concentrated in promoting good practices in the uses of small scale

renewable energy systems of mini-hydro and wind power in mountain areas. The

project will run for two years and the consortium includes Energikontor Sydest from

Sweden, the Energy Centre of Western Thessaly from Greece, the Association of

North Bohemian Municipalities from the Czech Republic, AGENA from Italy and

Sun Valley from Rumania.

CHOICE

CHOICE project stands for Certification for Hydro: Improving Clean Energy. This

project is partly funded by the EACI under the IEE programme and it will run for two

years. It is coordinated by Ambiente Italia and other partners in the consortium

include CIRF (Italian Centre for River Restoration), WWF Italy, APER from Italy,

Studio Frosio from Italy, LIMNOS Company for applied ecology from Slovenia, HSE

from Slovenia, Institute for promotion environmental protection from Slovenia, the

Slovenian Small Hydropower Association, CLER from France and The Technical

University of Madrid from Spain. Since the objective of the project is to develop a

technically and economically feasible certification procedure for hydro power, ESHA

participation is covering several working packages dealing with the methodology and

its implementation. In addition, ESHA is coordinating together with WWF the

preparation of a policy document.

Gema reminded the members that ESHA represents the interest of its members and

therefore ESHA participation in any project means the active participation of its

members as well according to their knowledge, expertise, will and preferences. In this

respect, Mr. Albanel from France showed their interest in collaborating actively

within the CHOICE project.

3.3 New project ideas:

Gema San Bruno informed the members about future plans for EU funded projects

and she pointed out that at the moment a new call for proposals has been launched by

the European Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI).

EACI: New call for proposals

Gema made firstly a presentation to the members on the new framework program

from the EACI (CIP programme) and the new call within this framework. The

presentation was introduced together with a more detailed paper summarising the

guidelines about the priorities and the procedures of the new call for proposals. Both

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documents were distributed to the members. In addition, Gema prepared a paper to be

discussed with the Members where some ideas for proposals were introduced and

explained.

The current call is open until 26th

of June and the granted amount will cover up to

75% of the total eligible cost. The total budget is 44€M.

ESHA has identified four major areas where a proposal could be submitted: SHP

roadmap, sustainable hydro for Europe, SHP public image and removing

administrative and environmental barriers. Gema pointed out that even if the four

identifiedy fields are very important for the SHP sector at the moment, ESHA will

only present one proposal. Therefore, she encouraged the members to take these

initiatives aboard and prepare their own proposals as well. Gema described the

“potential” ground, funding, impact, description, deliverables, partners, duration and

budget of each proposal. After a discussion with members it looked like the proposal

for a SHP roadmap seems the most relevant at the moment. Therefore, Gema will start

working in making the potential proposal real and will be back to the members for

their contribution.

4- Collaboration with industry

Bernhard Pelikan informed the members of the new cooperation and representation

agreement signed between ESHA and HEA-E. This formal collaboration has been

concluded for a trail period of two years. Some of the several points of collaboration

include the HEA-E representation in the ESHA Board through its SG, Mr Corbet; and

the presence of ESHA president in the HEA-E Board meetings. Mr Corbet explained

the members the nature and goals of this collaboration.

5- Participation in events

Bernard reported the members the different events in which he took place as ESHA

President. (Please Bernard can you mention the most relevant?)

Gema San Bruno briefly introduced the main outcomes of the European Sustainable

Energy Week which took place end of January 08 in Brussels and where ESHA

material was distributed. ESHA participated in the EREC Policy Workshop held

during the events. Mr Pelikan participated as speaker representing the SHP sector.

6- Update on Hidroenergia 2008, Bled, Slovenia

Marko Gospodjinacki updated the GB on the latest developments of Hidroenergia08

organisation. Marko explained the GB that the program has been finalised and that the

early bird registration was lunched. In addition he reported the situation as far as

sponsors and exhibitors are concerned and explained other logistic issues like the Gala

Dinner, transfers from/to the airport, etc.

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Marko pointed out that for the closing session would like to have an interesting

participative event including some media coverage (press) and would like to have the

feedback from the GB members. He reminded the Members as well to promote the

event trough the different network facilities like the websites, members, etc

7- Collaboration, communication and marketing activities

ARE

Gema San Bruno explained that ESHA is member of ARE (Alliance for Rural

Electrification) and that we collaborate with each other on a permanent basis.

Nevertheless, this collaboration has strengthen in the latest months due to different

reasons like the ARE intervention at the ESHA workshop on CDMs and RES

projects, where Mrs Llamas (ARE Secretary General) pointed out the relevance of the

small hydropower in developing countries like one of the most feasible ways to

deliver energy and the CDMs mechanisms as the tool to finance the projects. Gema

pointed out that ESHA even if covering only the European Union should work

together with ARE in order to develop more SHP projects around the world especially

in those places where the energy is needed the most. She communicated the members

that ESHA contributed to the Editorial of the latest ARE Newsletter and that ESHA

was invited as representative of the SHP industry to a workshop on investment

opportunities in developing countries to be held in Brussels on the 23th April 08.

Eurelectric

Gema San Bruno explained the GB that the contacts with Eurelectric have been

reactivated. ESHA has been collaborating with Eurelectric on the Water Framework

Directive working groups at the Commission since both are representing the interests

of the hydro sector as a whole. Nevertheless, since Eurelectric represents the

electricity industry in the European Union and has a strong lobby pressure in Brussels,

there is potential scope for further cooperation as regards several issues. In this

respect, Gema San Bruno and Bernhard Pelikan were invited to the 18th

WG Hydro

meeting in Brussels held on March 11th

, 2008. Gema pointed out that the

collaboration would be very fruitful since they are working very deeply in issues like

the Water Framework Directive, RES-E Directive and the EU Climate Package. In

return, Eurelectric is very interested on ESHA works on environmental integration,

public image and European projects. Even if Eurelectric represents in general the big

hydro producers an interest was shown about HEA-E ESHA group and the possibility

of becoming ESHA members. Gema explained that at the moment both associations

are envisaging the way of cooperating in a more formal way and she reminded that

the minutes of this meeting are available to GB Members upon request.

International Hydropower Association

Gema San Bruno reported to the GB Members that due to the ESHA workshop on

CDMs and RES projects where the IHA was invited as speakers an informal meeting

between ESHA & the IHA took place after the workshop on the 28th

Mach 08. Mr

Corbet, Mr. Zimmer, Mrs Fried and Mrs San Bruno were present at the meeting from

ESHA side and Mr Fink from the IHA. Gema pointed out that starting collaboration

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with the IHA could be beneficial for ESHA especially as regards sustainability. The

IHA has settled sustainability criteria for hydropower protocol including different

working groups and forums for meetings and discussions. ESHA has asked the IHA to

be part of this protocol in order to follow-up the outcomes of the different working

groups and be able to attend the forums. The IHA showed their interest in ESHA

lobby activities in the EU and the work done with European projects and would like

to collaborate with ESHA in that respect. Gema explained that at the moment both

associations are envisaging the way of further collaboration. Mrs Fried also pointed

out that the IHA had an especial interest of following-up closer developments in EU

policy as far as RES and hydro issues are concerned. They were also interested in

learning more about EU-funding.

Media

Gema San Bruno just briefly reported that ESHA continues its contacts with the

Media and several articles have been published in different magazines including the

promotion of Hidroenergia.

European Environmentergy Agency

Gema San Bruno explained that the European Energy Agency (EEA) visited the REH

in order to have a meeting with all RES technologies. The aim of the meeting was to

collect information and points of view of the environmental dimension as far as RES

are concerned; how some RES technologies are affecting the environment (like

hydropower) but also how the environmental constrains are affecting the development

of RES technologies. These issues are going to be presented in a publication that the

EEA is currently preparing and that will be published by the end of the year. The EEA

will collect the inputs from the different RES and the publication will include a

chapter per technology. In this respect, Gema explained that this meeting was very

important in the case of SHP since hydropower is the only RES technology that is

experimenting the environmental dimension in both senses; who to reduce the impact

on the environment and how these constrains are slowing down the SHP development

at the same time. Gema explained the GB that together with Lauha they are working

on the contributions to the publication.

Greenpeace

Lauha Fried updated the GB about collaboration between Greenpeace and EREC

within “energy [r]evolution a sustainable world energy outlook” –publication. There

will be an updated version of this publication for 2008 – ESHA edited some figures

and text regarding hydropower.

8- Other Issues

Mr Pelikan launched a new initiative of creating a second ESHA office in the Balkans

due to the enormous SHP potential for investment in this area. Bernhard explained

that he is being in direct contact with some projects in Macedonia, Bosnia and

Albania and that there is a booming market with a lot of opportunities for small hydro

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and therefore to settle a centre to follow-up and monitor these activities closer would

make sense. After a round of discussion among ESHA GB members no conclusion

was reached but there was an initiative that a kind of information office like an ESHA

contact for the Balkans could be establish in Bucharest (Romania) since the

Romanians are in the process of creating a new SHP association and are in close

contact with Mr Pelikan.

No more issues were discussed and Mr Pelikan closed the meeting by thanking

everyone for its participation and contribution to the meeting and by reminding the

Members that next GB meeting would take place in Bled, Slovenia on the 11th

June

afternoon in the context of the Hidroenergia08 Conference.

ESHA Secretariat

April 08 – Brussels

Belgium

Documents

Minutes_GB_Meeting_14.04.08