Hydropower for Participatory Upscaling of Local Solutions and Ecosystem-based strategies

The hydropower sector is at a crossroads: while supplying ~30% of renewable electricity in Europe, its future integrity is constrained by ageing infrastructure, climate change pressures, biodiversity concerns, and social acceptance barriers. HydroPulse aims to become the heartbeat of sustainable EU hydropower innovation. Drawing from 5 case studies across Europe — Switzerland, Romania, Spain (2), Portugal — HydroPulse will respond to the unique environmental, societal, and energy challenges of each region. While these case studies differ in landscape, societal dynamics, and energy needs, they share common hydropower-related obstacles, such as sediment accumulation, noise pollution, fish migration, river connectivity, hydropeaking, water quality and allocation concerns, and the need for digital transformation. Through, its socio-technological interface, involving local Communities of Practice (CoPs), Case Study Leads, Framework partners and of course, Social Sciences and Humanities partners, HydroPulse will design, develop and validate at TRL 4-5 a set of 10 innovative tools and 5 innovative models in a Responsible Research and Innovation process. Most notably, HydroPulse will tackle all timescales by developing innovative tools to respond (real-time), anticipate (near-term) and plan (long-term) the hydropower operations and its (eco)systems facilitated by the first-of-its-kind hydro-energy-biodiversity data hub. HydroPulse is set to unlock €50–75 M in ecosystem services by 2030, with global applicability to 5,000+ hydropower plants, enabling climate-adapted operations that meet >90% of peak demand, protect biodiversity in 85–90% of extreme events, reduce sediment erosion and nutrient loss by 25–35%, decrease hydropeaking effects by 20–30%, improve fish migration by >40%, cut noise pollution by 25%, and support resilient landscapes. Driving the sector towards a future that is not only more resilient and flexible, but also ecologically balanced and socially embraced.