Series of iAMP-Hydro Co-Development Workshops has started

On 11 April 2024, the first of five Co-Development Workshops of the iAMP-Hydro project (iAMP stands for intelligent Assessment Management Platform) was held. It was an online workshop, braodcasted from Granada, Spain, where the iAMP-Hydro consortium has gathered for a regular general meeting. 

The iAMP-Hydro Co-Development Workshops are open for interested stakeholders to learn about new findings of the project and to openly discuss them with stakeholders from all target groups.

The first Co-Development Workshop was dedicated to inform the participants about the project in general, and secondly to update the participants about the detailed approach that shall lead to results in prospect as planned. Moreover the approach of use cases of considered data was revealed.

In the beginning of the workshop, iAMP-Hydro coordinator Aonghus McNabola (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland) welcomed the participants and informed about the energy world in transition. It is clear that hydropower will play a decisive role to enhance grid flexibility. However, the European hydropower fleet is aged, and there is a strong need for it to get digitalised. He explained then the approach which the iAMP-Hydro project is using for a safe digatalisation and revealed the expected results of the project.
Following, Miguel Crespo (Easy Hydro, Ireland) gave insights about the current status of the works on condition monitoring. He explained the approach, challenges and implementation of the sensors installations needed for the intended digitalisation. In addition, he revealed the very first resultes of the work carried out.
Spiros Kousouris from project partner Suite5 (Cyprus) presented then the draft Use Cases for the iAM Platform. Altogether, 17 different data layers will be developed in the project. 

Co-Development Workshop Presentation

Following, the participants could share their views and opinions on a set of X questions:

• What benefits do you hope to get from digitalisation of hydropower?
• Do you foresee any impact of digitalisation of hydropower on future jobs?
• Do any policy or regulation barriers exist to the digitalisation of hydropower plants (existing or emerging e.g. nature restoration law...)?
• Do you foresee any technical barriers to hydropower digitalisation (data security, data com challenges, climate change, water use demand)?
• Are there any skilly shortages in the hydropower sector in light of coming digitalisation?
• Are there economic barriers or incentives required for hydropower digitalisation and resulting grid flexibility services?
• Do you feel the initial use cases defined for the project are sufficient for addressing HPP operastional challenges?   

The questions and provided answers can be seen HERE.

Stay tuned to find out more in the upcoming iAMP-Hydro Co-Development Workshops.