Portugal and Norway shared best practices and scientific knowledge in sustainable hydropower through the SHAREe project (Sustainable Hydropower to Alleviate and Reduce Environmental Externalities). The project, led by Isabel Boavida (Instituto Superior Técnico / Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability – CERIS) and funded by the European Economic Area (EEA), brought together researchers over eighteen months to explore and understand environmental measures that can mitigate the impacts of hydropower development. This was particularly relevant in the two countries, which, as Boavida explains, “have made significant investments in hydropower and, with opposing hydrological regimes, explore different ways of balancing energy needs with ecological preservation.”
The initiative was a collaboration between Técnico and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). According to Isabel Boavida, the project “brought together professionals from academia, the hydropower sector, and the environmental field to explore best practices and innovative techniques for environmental conservation.” It also planted seeds for future developments, one of the most important being the creation of a Horizon Scan—an initiative aimed at identifying global challenges and opportunities likely to significantly impact hydropower’s environmental and social sustainability over the next five to ten years. “The Horizon Scan emphasised environmental and social sustainability, highlighting the need to align hydropower operations with ecosystem health and community engagement,” Boavida explained. Preliminary results indicate five key areas where hydropower plant operators, scientists, governments, and policymakers should focus their efforts: Strategies to adapt hydropower to climate change; Implementation of environmental flow regimes; Addressing the issue of sediment retention in reservoirs; Ensuring local community participation and equitable distribution of benefits; Balancing the growth of intermittent renewable energy sources with hydropower flexibility and associated environmental concerns.
Beyond scientific meetings, the partnership included Técnico researchers visiting four case studies on Norwegian rivers—Orkla, Surna, Driva, and Gaula—to observe hydropower projects that have benefited from innovative environmental design to protect and manage populations of Atlantic salmon and sea trout. Meanwhile, NTNU researchers travelled to Portugal to visit examples of best practices in aquatic system conservation at hydraulic facilities. These included the fish passage at the Açude-Ponte dam on the Mondego River in Coimbra, managed by the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), which is ecologically significant for species such as the sea lamprey and European eel. Other visits included the fish lift at the Belver hydropower plant on the Tagus River, operated by EDP, and the Castelo de Bode hydropower facility.
“The SHAREe initiative promoted the sharing of knowledge adaptable to different ecological contexts. The project, concluded in June 2024, is a successful example of the importance of this bilateral cooperation. By combining Norway’s expertise in hydropower with Portugal’s innovative research, the partnership not only generated scientific results—including a Horizon Scan on sustainable hydropower and a best-practices guide for impact mitigation—but also established a model for future sustainability-focused initiatives,” Boavida summarised.
