Abstract
Small hydropower (SHP) plays an important role in the Baltic States as a reliable and efficient source of electricity from renewable sources. This study presents the historical development, current status, and possible trends for the future development of SHP in the Baltic States with insights into the legal background and development policies for SHP in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. For the assessment of hydraulic structures in the Baltic States, the historical data was used supplemented with data from hydropower associations, the national departments of statistics, electricity transmission systems operators, etc. The currently recommended best practice for SHP development is the utilisation of existing sites with available infrastructure. These include old water mill sites and existing dam sites, which, in the Baltic States, number more than 1500. The majority of these sites have their power potential attributed to micro-hydro (<100 kW). In this study the potential of the hydropower capacity at historic, currently nonpowered dams is evaluated and the distribution of the micro-hydro sites within the EU network of protected areas under Natura 2000 and nationally designated areas is presented. The potential electricity generation from such historic sites in the Baltic States is more than 200 GWh/year.
Highlights
Since the adoption of the EU Renewable Energy Directive in 2009, most Member States have experienced significant growth in renewable energy deployment
The official small hydropower classification in terms of capacity in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania is below 10 MW
These data were supplemented with data from the Lithuanian and Latvian hydropower associations, national statistics departments, electricity transmission system operators, etc
Summary
Since the adoption of the EU Renewable Energy Directive in 2009, most Member States have experienced significant growth in renewable energy deployment. Renewable energy consumption rose from a 9% share in 2005 to 16.7% in 2015. The “Clean Energy for all Europeans” package adopted in November 2016, included a Renewable. Energy legislative proposal that introduced further targets of a minimum of a 27% share of renewable energy consumed in the EU by 2030 [1]. According to the Eurostat data, in 2018, hydropower was Europe’s second largest renewable energy resource accounting for 11.8% of the total electricity production from renewable energy in the EU-28 countries, topped only by wind with 12.2%. Hydropower, excluding pumped storage, was a source of renewable electricity production amounting to 363.3 TWh in 2018 in the EU-28 countries
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