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Scientific article
Open access
English

Framework for Decision-Making Process in Granting Rights to Use Hydropower in the European Context

Published inWater, vol. 10, no. 7, 930
Publication date2018
Abstract

The European electricity landscape is facing an ambivalent situation between: (1) common market platforms; and (2) national and subnational jurisdictions, which impose their specific rules on energy sectors. This particularly affects hydropower, as the latter faces inequalities in the procedures needed for the attribution of water rights. Besides jurisdictional disparities, the European Union requires this attribution to follow competitive processes and the integration of sustainable development goals for energy projects, while other countries connected to the European grid such as Switzerland and Norway still know different procedures and requirements. Therefore, this article addresses concerns regarding the lack of harmonization of water regimes in Europe. Imposing a common jurisdiction to countries connected to the European grid would be politically very challenging. Our approach overcomes this challenge by proposing a process adaptable to specific local rules and allows a comparison of water rights attribution procedures. In this frame, we propose a nine-step process, based on three goals: (1) to enhance competitive access by ensuring the highest rent transfer related to water rights; (2) to prioritize projects closer to sustainability goals; and (3) to ensure the efficiency of the process itself.

Keywords
  • Hydropower
  • Water rights
  • Europe
  • Decision support
  • Sustainability
  • Rent transfer
Funding
  • Swiss National Science Foundation - NRP 70 - Energiewende
Citation (ISO format)
VOEGELI, Guillaume et al. Framework for Decision-Making Process in Granting Rights to Use Hydropower in the European Context. In: Water, 2018, vol. 10, n° 7, p. 930. doi: 10.3390/w10070930
Main files (1)
Article (Published version)
Identifiers
ISSN of the journal2073-4441
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143downloads

Technical informations

Creation08/10/2018 12:34:00 AM
First validation08/10/2018 12:34:00 AM
Update time03/15/2023 8:30:31 AM
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