C ertification for H ydro: I mproving C lean E nergy Contract number: IEE/07/704/SI September 2008 – February 2011

Certification for Hydro: Improving Clean Energy 2 CH 2 0ICE aims at developing a technically and economically feasible certification procedure for hydro power generation facilities of high environmental standard, being explicitly coherent with the requirements of the Water Framework Directive, to be implemented in "green labelled" electricity products, and being integrated, as much as possible, with existing EU tools, such as Ecolabel, EMAS, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). GENERAL OBJECTIVE Slovenia : LIMNOS Company for applied ecology Ltd., Holding Slovenske Elektrarne d.o.o. (HSE), Institute for the Promotion of Environmental Protection (IPVO), Slovenian Small Hydropower Association (SSHA). PARTNERS AND COUNTRIES Italy : Ambiente Italia, Centro Italiano per la Riqualificazione Fluviale (CIRF), WWF Italia, Associazione Produttori Energia da Fonti Rinnovabili (APER), Studio Frosio. France : Comité de Liaison Énergies Renouvelables (CLER). Spain : Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM). Slovakia : Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC). European Small Hydropower Association (ESHA). MAJOR OUTPUTS AND RESULTS General methodological approach for WFD-coherent certification agreed by project partners. National operational method for certification defined and tested in Italy and Slovenia, based on consultation of national experts and stakeholders. Guidelines for Decision Makers and hydro power generation company, for siting, construction and management of new “green hydro” plants. Analysis document for Spain including a roadmap for the development of volunteer certification of hydro power generation facilities of high environmental standard in Spain. Proposals and feasibility analysis on the integration of the label scheme in existing procedures, with focus on Italy and France. Mini hydroelectric power plant (Photo by ESHA, 2007 “Guida alla realizzazione di un piccolo impianto idroelettrico” – Progetto SHERPA) Hydroelectric power plant (Photo by Endesa italia: Project summary

Certification for Hydro: Improving Clean Energy 3 Background In several EU Member States strong conflicts are arising due to the lack of harmonisation between two major directives: on the one side the Water Framework Directive (WFD, 2000/60/EC), whose implementation requires to achieve a good status for all water bodies by 2015, on the other the Directive on the promotion of Electricity from Renewable Energy Sources (RES-e, 2001/77/EC), aiming at significant increase of renewable energy production, including, hydropower, source of river scale impacts of hydromorphological nature, making it often challenging to attain a good status. The recent deregulation of the electricity market in many European countries gives the opportunity to foster the production of energy with less impact on the environment, through the marketing of energy products labelled according to transparent and agreed certification procedures. The certification of hydropower production of “highest environmental standard” entails the evaluation of the impact of production facilities on the local environment as well as at catchment scale, especially on aquatic and related terrestrial ecosystems. This certification procedure must ensure the coherence between Directives 2001/77/EC (RES-e) and 2000/60/EC (WFD).

Certification for Hydro: Improving Clean Energy 4 Objectives The proposed action aims at developing a technically and economically feasible certification procedure for hydro power generation facilities of high environmental standard, being explicitly coherent with the requirements of the Water Framework Directive, to be implemented in labelled electricity products, and being integrated, as much as possible, with existing EU tools, such as Ecolabel, EMAS, EIA and SEA. This includes developing a general, agreed and widely transferable approach for such a certification, discussed by all relevant stakeholders, and developing an operational methodology, which will be tested for 2 partner countries -Italy and Slovenia. The certification methodology will primarily refer to existing plants. However, to allow a wider use of the results of the project, the issue of hydropower plants (re)licensing will be considered. Following the same logical approach used for the certification of existing plants, a set of guidelines will be produced, to be used by decision makers during planning and licensing procedures and by plants proposers in their EIA and SEA studies. Specific objective for the partner country France is to evaluate the possibility of upgrading the existing "green" energy label integrating an explicit reference to the WFD. Specific objective for Spain and Slovakia is to build interest on the approach among key actors and to identify main problems and feasibility issues to be tackled, in order to pave the way for near future implementation as in Italy and Slovenia.

Certification for Hydro: Improving Clean Energy 5 In the long run, the project is expected to have a positive impact on hydro power generation in Europe, focusing the conception of new plants towards more sustainable solutions and making easier authorization procedure. Achieved Results Reports on main technical tools and regulatory frameworks related to hydropower certification. General methodological approach for WFD-coherent certification agreed by project partners. National operational method for certification defined and tested in Italy and Slovenia, based on consultation of national experts and stakeholders. Guidelines for Decision Makers and hydro power generation companies for siting, construction and management of new hydropower plants of higher environmental standard. Analysis document for Spain including a roadmap for the development of volunteer certification of hydro power generation facilities of high environmental standard in Spain. Report on the feasibility of implementing the certification method developed into existing labelling schemes in Europe (focus on Italy and France). Technical proposal of rules and criteria for an independent body issuing a WFD- compliant hydropower certification label. Achieved results

Certification for Hydro: Improving Clean Energy 6 Coordinator name: Maria Berrini Organisation: Ambiente Italia Via Carlo Poerio 39, Milano Contacts: Giulio Conte telephone number: +39 Participant nameParticipant short name Country Ambiente ItaliaAIItaly Centro Italiano per la Riqualificazione FluvialeCIRFItaly WWF ItaliaWWFItaly Associazione Produttori Energia da Fonti RinnovabiliAPERItaly Studio FrosioFROSIOItaly LIMNOS Company for applied ecology Ltd.LIMNOSSlovenia Institute for Water of the Republic of SloveniaIzVRSSlovenia Holding Slovenske Elektrarne d.o.o.HSESlovenia Institute for the Promotion of Environmental ProtectionIPVOSlovenia Slovenian Small Hydropower AssociationSSHASlovenia European Small Hydropower AssociationESHABelgium Comité de Liaison Énergies RenouvelablesCLERFrance Universidad Politécnica de MadridUPMSpain Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern EuropeRECSlovakia Partners and contacts