HERI – Research Organisations Database

Welcome to the HERI Research Organisations Database. The database provides details of organisations actively driving research projects, strategic actions, and other endeavours within the hydropower sector.

Explore the database to discover active organisations or contribute by adding your organisation's details to enrich this collaborative resource.

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AEA - Albania Energy Association

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ALBANIA

Support the future of renewable energy, innovation, decarbonization, and the energy transition.
With a team of energy consultants, engineers, and experts, we support our members and different companies or investors in:
Market & Regulation
Energy project feasibility studies
Advocacy Governance & Regulation
Energy Project Development and Management
TSO and DSO infrastructure
Energy events management

Areas of Research

 

Departments
  • Energy
  • Research
  • RET
  • Smart Grid
  • Solar

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne - EPFL

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SWITZERLAND

EPFL is Europe’s most cosmopolitan technical university. It welcomes students, professors and collaborators of more than 120 nationalities. EPFL has both a Swiss and international vocation and focuses on three missions: teaching, research and innovation. EPFL collaborates with an important network of partners, including other universities and colleges, secondary schools and gymnasiums, industry and the economy, political circles and the general public, with the aim of having a real impact on society.

Areas of Research

 

Departments
  • Distributed Electrical Systems Laboratory
  • Hydraulic Constructions Platform
  • Technology Platform for Hydraulic Machines
Research Actions

EDF Hydro - EDF R&D

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FRANCE

EDF (Electricite de France) is one of the largest power Utility in Europe. As regard to Hydropower, it owns and operates a fleet of more than 20,000 MW Hydro domestic capacity in France, including 430 power stations, more than 240 large dams, and one of the largest tidal range power plant at la Rance.
R&D and Engineering teams of EDF group are very active in all fields of research and innovation areas related to hydropower : civil engineering, dam safety, mechanics, hydraulics, hydrology, environment and river/ocean ecology, sustainability, electro-technics, economy and markets, SCADA, digitalization ... covering the whole life cycle of hydropower assets : design, construction, refurbishment, operation and maintenance, decommissiong. R&I activity.
These teams are closely connected to research partners in France, Europe and worlwide. EDF Hydro research teams are also involved in many R&I projects in France and Europe.

Areas of Research

 

Departments
  • EDF Hydro : Centre d'Ingenierie Hydraulique (CIH)
  • EDF Hydro : Division Technique Generale (DTG)
  • EDF R&D : LNHE, OSIRIS, ERMES departments
Research Actions

HES SO Valais

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SWITZERLAND

Hydro Alps is an applied research and development laboratory specializing in improving the monitoring and production of Alpine high-pressure and run-of-river power plants.

Areas of Research

 

Departments
  • Hydro Alps Lab

International Hydropower Association

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UNITED KINGDOM

The International Hydropower Association (IHA) is a non-profit membership organisation and the global voice for sustainable hydropower.

As an association, we believe that all new hydropower projects should be developed and operated responsibly and sustainably.

IHA's mission is to advance sustainable hydropower by building and sharing knowledge on its role in renewable energy systems, responsible freshwater management and climate change solutions.

We seek to deliver on our mission through advocacy, research and policy initiatives and championing sustainable good practices.

Encompassing over 100 organisations operating in more than 120 countries, IHA's members include the world's leading hydropower developers, operators and manufacturers committed to the delivery of sustainable hydropower under the guidelines of the San Jose Declaration.

Areas of Research

 

Research Actions

Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre (LVGMC)

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LATVIA

The Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre (LVGMC) is a state-owned research and service institution responsible for environmental monitoring, hydrology, meteorology, and climate services in Latvia. The centre provides data collection, modelling, and analysis related to water systems, including river flow monitoring, flood forecasting, and climate impact assessments. LVGMC supports national policy, environmental protection, and risk management through applied research and operational services, including hydrological modelling, early warning systems, and long-term environmental data management.

Areas of Research

 

Departments
  • Climate and Meteorology Department
  • Environmental Monitoring Department
  • Hydrology Department
  • Water Monitoring Department
Research Actions

Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet - NTNU

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NORWAY

NTNU, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, is a university with a main profile in science and technology. With more than 40 000 students and 7 100 employees, it is Norway’s largest university. NTNU has four strategic areas of research in 2014-2023: sustainability, energy, oceans and health. As a supplier of high quality graduates, NTNU has a broad range of contacts with the industry. The annual budget of NTNU is around € 950 million. Four departments from NTNU are involved in the HydroFlex project.

The Department of Energy and Process Engineering at NTNU is an international driving force within education and research on the total energy chain from resource to customer. The focus is how to produce energy, which can be used by man and machine in a sustainable way, taking into consideration health, climate changes and available resources. One of the department’s principal focus areas is hydropower research, where most of the activity takes place in the Waterpower Laboratory, which combines 100 years of experience with state-of-the-art facilities that are unique in Europe. It plays a leading role in the development of global hydropower, including efficient design of hydro turbines.

The Department of Electric Power Engineering at NTNU covers the broad interdisciplinary aspects of power engineering in its research and education: generation, transmission, conversion and the use of electric energy, including the accompanying techno-economic aspects. Its mission is to contribute to the fundamental and applied knowledge of electric power engineering, and to develop technology and systems for the planning, operation and maintenance of efficient, sustainable energy systems.

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at NTNU provides competence and technological solutions within our areas of expertise for application in both the public and private sectors. Students and researchers graduating from our programs provide our partners with expertise and skills in the areas of civil and transportation engineering, structural engineering, water and wastewater engineering, and hydraulic engineering.

The Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at NTNU has broad interdisciplinary expertise in the fields of logistics, machine design, product development, materials science and risk and reliability of complex systems. The research at the department focuses on development, optimisation and improvement of industrial processes and production systems. One of our goals is to secure the Norwegian industry and administration with access to knowledge and expertise on an international level.

Areas of Research

 

Departments
  • Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
  • Electric Power Engineering
  • Energy and Process Engineering
Research Actions

SuperGrid Institute Hydropower

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FRANCE

SuperGrid Institute Hydropower develops technologies for future electricity transmission & distribution systems. We play a key role in the field of grid balancing and energy storage solutions. Our experts are particularly involved in the economics of grid balancing services including energy trading and optimised management of storage assets. They also focus on enhancing the flexibility of hydropower plants through hybridisation technologies for hydraulic systems as well as improving the performance of hydraulic turbines through expertise, simulations, and testing. Testing activities are supported by two test rigs, one dedicated to validation of model test for Francis and PSP runners according to IEC60193 standard, and another one dedicated to real-time and transient tests.

Areas of Research

 

TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN

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GERMANY

The Technical University of Munich (TUM) ranks among Europe’s most outstanding universities in research and innovation – an achievement powered by its distinctive character as an entrepreneurial university. The university is characterised by a unique profile with its core domains natural sciences, engineering, life sciences and medicine.

The Chair of Hydraulic and Water Resources Engineering of TUM has broad experience in hydropower, sediment transport, sediment management, river morphology, habitat modelling and flood management control. It was involved in various hydropower investigations mainly by doing physical or numerical model test.

Areas of Research

 

Departments
  • Hydraulic and Water Resources Engineering
Research Actions

University of Leeds

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UNITED KINGDOM

SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY
River Basin Processes and Management
We provide international leadership in understanding and managing environmental processes and feedbacks that control and link water, sediment, solute and biotic dynamics in river basins, estuaries and marine systems.
We are particularly renowned for our research strengths in peatland science, glacial and ice-marginal systems, hillslope processes, and water resource management.

Our expertise:
Hydrology and hydraulics: Hillslope hydrology, soil water, river hydraulics, shallow groundwater, natural flood management.
Geomorphology: Soil erosion, hillslope and river sediment flux, peatland processes, 3D modelling.
Biogeochemistry: Carbon and nitrogen cycling, metals, emerging contaminants including pharmaceuticals, isotopes.
Aquatic ecosystems: Biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, invasive species, macroinvertebrates, Water Framework Directive (WFD).
Glaciology: Glacier dynamics, glacial landforms, outburst floods, surface energy balance modelling.

As part of water@leeds we develop and use innovative observational science, field and laboratory experiments and modelling approaches in interdisciplinary research projects across the globe.


Ecology and Global Change
Working in biomes across the world from tropical rain forests to Arctic tundra, the Ecology and Global Change (EGC) group aims to determine the nature of environmental change at a range of temporal and spatial scales. EGC has made major advances in understanding the sensitivity of vegetation to orbital millennial scale climate forcing, carbon cycling in tropical forests and ecohydrological responses of peatlands to past climate change.

One of our key research areas has been the global monitoring of forests by setting up and leading international projects RAINFOR, FORESTPLOTS, AFRITRON, AMAZONICA and TForces. As a result, our work has made important contributions to both international and national climate and environmental management policy agendas.

Our research:
Ecosystems and evolution
Understanding ecological patterns of diversity, composition and ecosystem function in time and space
Quantifying the magnitude, rate and timing of ecosystem response to current and future climate change
Identifying the drivers of evolution in tropical ecosystems

Palaeoecology, palaeoclimate and chronostratigraphy
Understanding the nature and timing of climatic and environmental changes over millennial to decadal timescales
Quantifying past human impact on ecosystems
Examining the long-term ecohydrological dynamics of peatland environments
Developing high-resolution chronologies of past environmental change

Biogeochemical cycles
Analysing regional and global CO2 records to identify trends and the onset of feedbacks in the coupled climate-carbon cycle system
Dynamic vegetation modelling to predict the response of land vegetation to climate change
Analysing recent changes in the tropical hydrological cycle and plant functioning using tree ring isotopes
Analysing and modelling soil development
Understanding the importance of soil physical and chemical properties to ecosystem function in the tropics

Global environmental science
Designing and implementing measurement schemes to characterise and reduce global environmental uncertainties
Assessing dryland degradation and the sustainability of environmental management
Modelling long-term trends in national land use and land cover
Managing multiple ecosystem services
Communicating science concerning global environmental governance to policy makers

Areas of Research

 

Departments
  • SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY
Research Actions