Exploring the two sides of the green economy: small hydropower development in the EU and its close neighbourhood (Green2Green)

Small-scale hydropower (SHP), with generating capacity of up to 10MW, is rapidly growing.

A diverse set of public, private and civil society actors make claims about the benefits associated with SHPs, such as generating cheap low-carbon electricity or providing fast and effective flexibility to energy systems.

Nevertheless, research increasingly shows that SHPs can have significant socio-cultural and environmental impacts, such as local biodiversity loss or water supply issues.

This 4-year project aims to support European science-based decision-making on sustainable and equitable energy transitions by 1: Critically analysing the role of SHP in energy narratives to provide a better understanding of the politics of energy transitions; 2: Objectively and rigorously estimating positive and negative social, energy, economic and environmental basin-level SHP impacts, to establish a credible global open access scientific evidence base of the subject; 3: Providing rigorous evidence-informed policy recommendations to public, private and civil society stakeholders to better plan and invest in SHP, as the shift away from fossil fuels is increasingly urgent, both for climate and security reasons.

This project will provide both novel academic findings and policy-relevant knowledge that contributes to adjusting the SHP development so that it becomes as sustainable as possible.