The European Union has taken the ambitious challenge of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. To meet this goal, several measures have been introduced, first through the directives of the Fit for 55 package and then with the REPowerEU Plan, to decarbonize the energy system, responsible for 75% of greenhouse gas emissions. These measures have boosted the exploitation of wind and solar sources, making our country’s generation less dependent on energy imports and fuel prices, strongly correlated to geopolitical situations.

However, the renewable production of these sources, typically discontinuous, has made urgent the availability of balancing services to maintain adequate levels of reliability of the electricity network and ensure the end user security of supply. This need has led to a renewed interest in the hydroelectric sector that has different potentials to play a strategic role in the energy transition process. However, there are some aspects that need to be addressed as a matter of urgency in order not to stop at the starting blocks this sector, thus creating repercussions on our country and, therefore, on the community.

In order to have a holistic vision of the aspects that require in-deep studies and further investigations to relaunch the hydroelectric sector, attracting funding, RSE has been collaborating for years with various operators, associations, universities and institutions at national, European and international level, addressing technical but also social issues. In 2023 several themes were examined: seismic safety of concrete dams; predictive monitoring for the preventive diagnostics of structural anomalies; the social acceptability of hydroelectric infrastructure in central-southern Italy and Europe; the methods of control and verification of penstocks.

Technical and scientific activities contribute to maintain under safe conditions the existing infrastructures, while communication activities help to raise awareness of the role that these plants can play in the socio-economic and environmental fabric.

The document is available on the site in Italian