Small Hydropower in the Baltic States—Current Status and Potential for Future Development

Egidijus Kasiulis, Petras Punys, Algis Kvaraciejus, Antanas Dumbrauskas and Linas Jurevičius
Additional contact information
Egidijus Kasiulis: Institute of Water Resources Engineering, Vytautas Magnus University, 10 Universiteto Str., Akademija, LT-53361 Kaunas, Lithuania
Petras Punys: Institute of Water Resources Engineering, Vytautas Magnus University, 10 Universiteto Str., Akademija, LT-53361 Kaunas, Lithuania
Algis Kvaraciejus: Institute of Water Resources Engineering, Vytautas Magnus University, 10 Universiteto Str., Akademija, LT-53361 Kaunas, Lithuania
Antanas Dumbrauskas: Institute of Water Resources Engineering, Vytautas Magnus University, 10 Universiteto Str., Akademija, LT-53361 Kaunas, Lithuania
Linas Jurevičius: Institute of Water Resources Engineering, Vytautas Magnus University, 10 Universiteto Str., Akademija, LT-53361 Kaunas, Lithuania

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 24, 1-21

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.

Keywords: small hydropower; current status; potential; historic nonpowered sites; micro-hydro; protected areas; Baltic States (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/24/6731/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/24/6731/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:24:p:6731-:d:465436

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().