Open debate on hydropower rights at the European Parliament

15 March 2016

After the successful Luncheon debate last January, the FSR is pleased to announce a second edition of the Open debate on Hydropower rights, which will be kindly hosted by the European Parliament in Brussels, on 15^th March 2016.

The recently published FSR report on ‘Regimes for granting the right to use hydropower in Europe’ will be presented by the authors and commented upon by high-level representatives of the European Parliament and Commission.

An interactive “open debate” with the wider audience will be encouraged: attendees from EU institutions, NRAs, industry and academia, as well as with any other relevant stakeholder are welcome to join the event.

Please register no later than 6^th March. No request for registration will be accepted after this date.

Further information on the discussion theme

Over the last decade, the EU Commission has launched several investigations in different countries (e. g. France, Spain, Italy, and Portugal) regarding the compatibility of hydropower rights with European laws and regulations. Nevertheless, a few regimes (i.e. Austria or Sweden), despite not being grounded on competitive process, were excluded from the inquiry.

Although hydro is key to EU energy transition, two complications can be identified:

Member States have totally different and non-harmonised frameworks,
The EU Commission has three diverging voices on this topic: competition, environment, and “only last” energy.

The report aims to provide a balanced benchmark of hydropower concession regimes, by analysing and comparing 14 countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, the UK, Greece, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland) and regions when appropriate (cantons in Switzerland or Lands/States in Germany).