Introduction to hydropower for European students under the Athens program

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1 Introduction to hydropower for European students under the Athens program Ånund Killingtveit Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Department of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering N-7491 Trondheim, Norway Introduction Recruitment of hydropower engineers is becoming increasingly important in Norway and many other countries in Europe, since many are retiring and too few have new have chosen this career. One of the reasons seems to be that students are not aware of the importance of hydropower, and maybe believe that this is an old technology without a future. Even the strong focus on renewable energy has not helped much, because most students seem to think that it is only wind and solar energy that contribute to renewable power generation, while hydropower seem to be forgotten. In 2014 NTNU decided to give a short course on the topic Sustainable hydropower for students in the European ATHENS program, in an attempt to give students an introduction to hydropower technology and show the wide area of epertise that is needed for planning, construction and operation of modern hydropower plants. The ATHENS program is a network of 14 European universities from equally many countries, where students are offered to participate in specialized courses in topics not covered at their own home university. This paper describes the structure and contents in the course and eperience from running the first course for 20 students in March Keywords: Hydropower, training, recruitment 1. Background The main idea behind the course has been to introduce hydropower to students who are interested in renewable energy, but without previous knowledge about hydropower technology. It was hoped that such a course would give general knowledge about this important technology, and also stimulate students to become interested in hydropower and take further studies, at NTNU or at other universities. The challenge was of course to give the students a good understanding of the most important topics within the limited time of only one week. Number of lecture hours in ATHENS courses is 30 hours maimum during five days, ending with an eam on day 6. We also wanted to present the many scientific topics that must be included, in particular during the planning stage of hydropower development, and the meaning of Sustainable hydropower. The main objective of the course was eplained in the following declaration given on the ATHENS web page: Hydropower is today the most important source of renewable electrical energy, more than 80% of all renewable electricity generation worldwide is hydropower. Globally, only about 1/3 of available hydropower resources have yet been developed, in Europe about 50%. Many studies confirm that also in the future, hydropower will be one of the main sources of renewable electricity, together with wind and solar power. Hydropower can also play a major role in balancing generation from other, more intermittent sources, wind and solar power. The main objective of this course is to give the students an overview of hydropower technology, hydropower resources in Europe and globally, hydropower planning including environmental impacts of hydropower, and how it can contribute in a sustainable way together with other renewables

2 2. The ATHENS program The ATHENS Program (for Advanced Technology Higher Education Network/Socrates) is a one-week echange session, held twice a year (in March and in November), by a network of European higher education institutions (Universities, Universities of technology, Grandes Ecoles ) within technology. During the week, the host university is supposed to organize activities for the foreign students in the city, to help them discover another culture. In 2014 the following 14 universities are members: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Budapest University of Technology and Economics Czech Technical University in Prague Delft University of Technology Instituto Superior Tecnico Lisboa Istanbul Technical University KU Leuven Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) ParisTech Politecnico di Milano Universidad Politecnica de Madrid Technische Universität München Technische Universität Wien Warsaw University of Technology Information about the ATHENS program can be found on /1/ More information about the implementation at NTNU can be found on /2/ 3. The ATHENS course Sustainable Hydropower Development The course was composed of 5 days each with a combination of lectures, field trips, field work and laboratory visits, and a final eam on day 6. The program for the 5 days consisted of the following topics: 1.day 2.day Introduction to Hydropower Role of Hydropower in the global Renewable energy mi Hydropower in Europe Hydropower in Norway + Ecursion to Nidelva & Leirfossene Underground Hydropower Plant Hydropower Hydrology Hydropower resources assessment Floods and Droughts Climate Change impacts on water and hydropower + ½ day ecursion to Sagelva Hydrological Research Basin 3. Day Hydropower technology Run-of-River, Storage and Pumped-Storage Plants Dams, Tunnels & Underground caverns Electrical and Mechanical equipment Hydropower Planning + Ecursion to Hydropower Turbine Laboratory 4. Day Hydropower and the Environment ESIA processes IHA Sustainability guidelines Water resources management issues + Ecursion to research center CEDREN 5. Day Hydropower hydraulics Introduction to Numerical and Physical Hydraulic models

3 Design of hydraulic structures (Spillways, tunnels, canals, etc) Sediment problems in Reservoirs and waterways + Ecursion to the Hydraulics laboratory The ecursions/field trips included a visit to a modern underground hydropower plant and to the Sagelva Hydrological Research Basin. The visit to Sagelva included demonstration of various hydrological and meteorological instruments, and also practical eperiments and data collection done by the students. The results were brought back in the classroom and used to demonstrate how hydrological data are needed in order to assess hydropower potential in a river. In another fieldtrip the students were introduced to hydraulic measurements in rivers, and how to use these data for ecohydraulics studies, a vital part of the environmental impact study of a hydropower project. The Nordic weather, with heavy snowfall during the fieldwork, was an etra challenge but also an eotic eperience for most of the students, as seen in Figure1below. Figure 1 ATHENS Students at fieldwork in river Nidelva Two important laboratories were visited, the Hydropower laboratory and the Norwegian Hydraulic laboratory. Most students find field work and laboratory work very stimulating, and we therefore wanted to show that both are important for hydropower education, research and planning. 4. Students participating in the first course Since the course was new in the ATHENS programme catalogue, and it was announced quite late, it was feared that there might not be enough applicants to fill up the minimum number of participants, which was set at 15. But within short time more than 80 students have epressed an interest for participation. For practical reasons, we had to limit the uptake to 20 students. These came from 12 different countries, as shown in Figure 2.

4 Figure 2 Country of origin for the 20 students attending the course Of the 20 who were admitted, there were 17 male and only 3 female students. We feel that the gender balance were not satisfactory, and will try to improve this in net uptake. The number of students was restricted to maimum 3 for each country, in order to get a varied mi of students. 5. Evaluation and conclusions from first course All students took the eam and all passed. A survey about the students eperience and satisfaction from the course was distributed during the eam, and 12 of the students also answered the questionary. The reply was generally positive, with some good suggestions for improvements, especially concerning some of the practical arrangements. We have later also received inquiries about possibility of further studies, and feel that the course has led to increased knowledge about hydropower and possibly increased interest in studying this topic some of the students that participated. Those who seek a Master program will be advised to apply for uptake on the 2-year MSc program Hydropower Development, a program where more than 300 students have finished with a MSc in hydropower technology during the last 20 years. Based on the positive response from those who participated and the high number of applicants who had to be turned down in the application process, we will recommend that the course should continue, and advice for another uptake in March The formal decision and approval has not been taken yet, but will probably be done in November Further Hydropower studies at NTNU The HPD program At NTNU, there are several possibilities to study topics of Hydropower, but for International students we think the 2-year MSc program in Hydropower Development (HPD) offers the best possibility. The HPD-program is open for both International and Norwegian students, all teaching and supervision is given in English. It is Norwegian Policy that all study programs are free of charge, there is no tuition fee, not even for International students. Students must cover their own cost of living, but there are stipend programs for students from developing countries to cover also these costs. The HPD-program takes two years, each study year is divided in two semesters, an autumn semester from late August to middle of December, and a spring semester from middle of January to early June.

5 During the two months summer between 1 st and 2 nd year, most students will be busy doing fieldwork in their home country, as a preparation for their MSc Thesis work at the end of Year 2. The first year consists of a series of 6 foundational courses and a two group projects. In one of the projects students apply knowledge from the other courses by conducting a reconnaissance study of the development alternatives in a Norwegian river system, followed by a pre-feasibility study of the best alternative. This involves learning how to combine resource assessment, technology, environment and economy to secure find the best projects. The second and final year consists of four compulsory advanced courses in the autumn, while the entire spring semester is dedicated to the master s thesis. Regarding the master s thesis, there are numerous options, and most students choose their topic within areas where NTNU offers special qualifications such as: planning, hydrology, hydraulics, sediment engineering, engineering geology and power plant engineering. It is both possible and recommended to write the thesis in connection with projects abroad, usually together with a consultant or power company who is working on real projects in the country. Both projects and Thesis work has to be presented by the students, for an audience of students, teachers and if possible the companies involved. A brief overview of the HPD program is given in Figure 3 below. For more information, including instructions of how to apply, please visit the HPD Web site /3/. Master of Science in Hydropower Development (HPD) Course no Course Title Credits Eam 1 sem 2 sem 3 sem 4 sem First year with Basic Courses TVM4105 Hydrology 7.5 Written TVM5125 Hydraulic Design 7.5 Written TVM5115 Planning and Design of dams 7.5 Written TVM5135 Planning of Hydropower 7.5 Written TVM5132 Prefeasibility study in Hydropower Development(Project work) 7.5 Report TVM5140 Economic Assessment of Hydropower Projects 7.5 Oral TGB5110 Engineering Geology and Tunnelling 7.5 Written - Eperts in Teamwork (Project work) 7.5 Report Second year with Advanced Courses TGB5100 Rock Engineering 7.5 Written TVM4106 Hydrological Modelling 7.5 Written TVM5160 Headworks and Sedimentation Engineering 7.5 Oral TVM5171 Environmental Impact Assessment of Hydropower 7.5 Written TVM4915 MSc Thesis 30 Report Other Major activities Introduction week Ecursion to Hydropower plants Fieldwork Ecursion to Project site(s) Ecursion to Hydropower Institutions and Industry Figure 3 Courses included in the 2-year HPD-program (Academic years ) 7. References /1/ About the ATHENS program: /2/ ATHENS program at NTNU: /3/ International MSc program Hydropower Development: The Author Ånund Killingtveit is Professor at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Department of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering. He received a MSc in Civil Engineering from the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH), Trondheim in 1969, and a Dr.Ing also from NTH in He has a background in research in hydrology and hydropower, including planning, operation and environmental design for hydropower projects. He is also Professor in Charge for the International MSc program Hydropower Development at NTNU, Deputy Director in Centre for Environmental Design of Renewable Energy (CEDREN).