Hydropower plays a key role in Europe’s renewable energy future, but it also puts pressure on rivers and freshwater ecosystems. To help hydropower operators and decision-makers better understand these impacts, ReHydro is developing a practical tool that assesses environmental pressures across the entire life cycle of a hydropower project.
This new approach doesn’t replace ecological assessments, but complements them by integrating insights from multiple fields: environmental sciences, ecology, and life cycle analysis (LCA). The goal is to offer a more complete picture of a new project or refurbishment measures affect biodiversity, both locally and globally.
The tool is designed to be used for support in the early stages of planning, when decisions about design and operation are still flexible. It uses publicly available and/or easily accessible data to help compare options and guide eco-conscious choices. Local indicators, such as habitat changes, species pressures, or water quality, will be considered to see which best reflect ecological impact, even when data is limited.
Ultimately, the aim is to create a biodiversity footprint index that supports sustainable decision-making. For a more in-depth look at the first stage of the work done, the deliverable is publicly available here in our knowledge hub.