The HydroES 2025 Symposium on Hydropower and Environmental Sustainability with the theme "Hydropower, Innovation & Resilience" will bring together stakeholders from the water and hydropower sectors on September 17-18, 2025, in Grenoble, France. The event will showcase advancements in technical, scientific, and innovative solutions. ETIP HYDROPOWER will feature a special session during the symposium. Participants are encouraged to present their research, and submissions are welcome until December 13, 2024, via the official website (click here).

Hydropower facilities contribute to the reduction of the impacts of climate change, including extreme events, floods and droughts, which tend to be increasingly exacerbated. It is a local energy, which cannot be relocated, anchored in the territories and its facilities play a key role in the management of water resources for the satisfaction of multiple uses such as drinking water supply, irrigation, navigation, tourism, and in the management of the electricity system through its flexibility. It makes it possible to compensate for the intermittency of other renewable energies and to stabilise the network in the event of the fortuitous unavailability of other means of production.
 
Hydropower must therefore respond to multiple technical, societal and environmental issues and challenges. We must continually innovate to seek the best balance, to reconcile the various uses, to preserve aquatic environments and biodiversity, to adapt to climate change, and putting science, societal services and the living at the heart of the debates.
 
This symposium will be organized in 4 sessions and a technical visit:

 
1. Climate Change (Adaptation & Mitigation):
Pressures on water resources (melting glaciers, water temperature, drought, etc.), resilience strategies in face of extreme events, revision of engineering practices in project design, technological innovation, etc.

2. Energy Transition and Water Resource Management:
Energy efficiency, new hydrometeorological forecasting tools, optimization of water production and resources, flexibility and role of hydropower in the energy mix, reduction of the carbon footprint and role of hydropower (gravity development and WWTP) in the energy transition, marine energies, Reconciling uses and consultation, the solutions of the future, etc.

3. Digital Transformation and Modernization of Operations & Maintenance (O&M):
Evolution of O&M practices (remote control of development chains, plant 4.0, digital twins, etc.), role of new sensors, existing communication protocols for facility monitoring and environmental monitoring, new generation of modeling systems capable of integrating new data sources, artificial intelligence (IA) and Big Data: best practices for operational implementation and decision support.

4. Issues and Challenges of the Hydroelectric Fleet:
Ageing of structures and equipment, sediment management, fish farming continuity, new legal, environmental and social constraints, etc.

Special Technical Visit
The event will conclude with a technical visit on September 19, 2025, allowing up to 40 participants to observe hydropower operations firsthand, providing practical insights into the technologies and strategies discussed during the symposium.