Strategy and goals
Strategy and goals
HydroCen shall:
- Secure and develop research and education in hydropower.
- Contribute to increased value creation and societal benefits from the hydropower sector, through research on technology, economics and the environment.
- Contribute to strengthening Norway's position as a leading hydropower nation.
- Help reduce the environmental footprint of hydropower.
- Demonstrate the role of hydropower in a renewable and sustainable European market.
- Help decision-makers make the right choices in climate issues.
Strategic research areas
Norwegian hydropower in Norway and Europe - flexible systems
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Develop knowledge of the future national and European energy systems
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Map markets for flexibility and system services, including costs and operating patterns, new energy technologies, storage solutions and end-user flexibility
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Map hydropower's business opportunities and potential barriers
Environmental design and technology
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Map what makes environmental measures good. Cost-effective and realistic measures in a socio-economic perspective
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Environmental design in dynamic minimum water flow
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Environmental design in reservoirs to mitigate the consequences of variable operation and pumping
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Fish migration - needs and solutions
Digitalization and operation
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Better monitoring, earlier fault detection in the power plants, predictive maintenance, dynamic classification
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Contribute to systems for standardization, storage and making measurement data available for research purposes
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Waterway monitoring and instrumentation; use of drones, robots and sensors
Climate effects on hydropower
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Map the market for flood mitigation and the societal value of the absence of floods
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Map socio-economics in relation to dam safety
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Power production in relation to the use of more and unpredictable «climate water». Map when in the season extra water will come and whether the power system has the capacity to utilize this.