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4
Report of the
Board
– 2015
This has been our seventh year of operation, which means that we now are entering into the final stage of this eight-
year regime.
The Board has been focusing on the idea that during this final
year we need, even more than before, to emphasise com-
munication of the valuable results that are gradually taking
shape. Dig out “the diamonds from the gravel pitch”, or pre-
sent and disseminate “golden products” from CEDREN, has
been a topic at all our four Board meetings in 2015.
The Board meeting in October was of special interest, due to
the fact that it took place in combination with Hydro 2015 in
Bordeaux - an international conference and exhibition with the
headline “Advancing Policy and Practice in global hydropower
development”. More than 1000 delegates were gathered
for three days, and several lectures were given by CEDREN-
researchers and partners as well, leading to good discussions and
exchange of knowledge, both at day-time and in the evenings.
We are seeing contours of the climate change challenges at both
national and international levels, with for example more extreme
weather events such as floods. This drives European energy policy
towards de-carbonization and introduction of huge amounts of
renewable energy. Hence, the Board is convinced that the need
for environmental design of renewable energy will not become an
outdated topic in the future – rather quite the opposite!
In this context, the Board is also pleased to notice that the view
on hydropower seems to turn more balanced - probably not
only due to CEDREN, but most likely this FME has contributed
as well. Flexible hydropower with reservoirs has a potential to
be a major element in the future energy system, in interaction
with intermittent energy sources like wind and solar. In addi-
tion, reservoirs will also play an increasingly important role in
the light of protecting the society from floods and droughts,
linking water management to hydropower operations.
Even though CEDREN as a FME is entering the final year, we
are happy to see that several projects within CEDREN will
continue after 2016, and we foresee a wider use of results
from earlier activities in CEDREN, especially related to envi-
ronmental design of hydropower and wind power.
The Board is convinced that many of the “golden products”
from CEDREN will contribute to the future challenges in the
energy-climate-nature nexus, both for the industry and the
authorities, which now can benefit from the results. In addi-
tion, the development of knowledge through for instance so
far 13 PhDs and 85 Masters in CEDREN-topics has an impor-
tant value in itself!
So, finally the Board wishes to express its gratitude to every-
one involved for their first-class efforts during the past year,
and we do look forward to continuing our excellent collabo-
ration this last year!
On behalf of the Board of CEDREN
Jan Alne
Chair