Interactive map published to improve hydropower in Austria
Alongside the fight against global warming, the issue of biodiversity is becoming increasingly important as the second major challenge of our time at European level. In the area of hydropower, which is often associated with interventions in existing ecosystems, this is an issue that needs improvement.
The European Water Framework Directive forms the basis for the protection, restoration and sustainable use of water bodies. Oesterreichs Energie, the association of the Austrian electricity industry, has now published the improvement measures that Austrian hydropower companies have already implemented as part of the National Water Management Plan in the form of a digital map.
Map with 170 improvement measures
Oesterreichs Energie has now published an overview of the measures already taken to improve the ecological status of Austria's waters in the form of a digital, interactive map.
This map currently includes around 170 projects to improve aquatic ecology - from fish migration aids and residual water adjustments to renaturation and structuring measures. The map is updated on an ongoing basis and thus shows the progress made in implementing the program of measures for aquatic ecosystems. In implementing these measures, hydropower producers have invested a total of more than 300 million euros in aquatic ecology in Austria.
In this context, Karl Heinz Gruber, spokesman for the generation division at Oesterreichs Energie, emphasizes the importance of hydropower for the domestic electricity supply:
"Around 60 percent of our electricity currently comes from hydropower plants. Due to climate change and the restructuring of the energy system, hydropower will retain its central role in our energy system in the coming years. We are involved in numerous research projects and are constantly implementing improvement measures to bring hydropower generation into even better harmony with water ecology in the future. We are convinced that we can also make a positive contribution to the ecological status of our domestic waters with an intelligent expansion of hydropower."
You can find the water measures map here.
