Last week, a meeting of the Eurelectric working group for hydropower was held at the Energy Industry Chamber of Slovenia, at which our co-worker Karina Medved Bregar was elected vice-president for a two-year term.

On the first day, members of the working group, which consists of experts in the field of hydropower and related regulation and policies, and who come from as many as twenty European countries, discussed the current reform of the electricity market concept with a representative of the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), and the following day they visited the Medvode Hydropower Plant.

Hydropower is an important element of electricity supply reliability and an indispensable flexible renewable energy source, both in Slovenia and throughout Europe. At the same time, pumped-storage hydropower plants are still the largest electricity storage technology, so the role of hydropower in the energy system and in achieving climate and energy goals must be better recognised, not only among decision-makers, but also by the general public, members of the working group concluded.

Five committees and a total of seventeen working groups are currently operational as part of the Eurelectric energy industry association, which is based in Brussels. The working group for hydropower (WG Hydro) operates as part of the Generation & Environment Committee. The HSE Group, which is planning a series of hydroelectricity projects, is an active member of the association through the Energy Industry Chamber of Slovenia.

The latest publication of the WG Hydro working group: https://cdn.eurelectric.org/media/6471/2023-04-25_1st-hydropower-short-story_upgrading-hydropower_final-h-DB2AAA52.pdf.