On 15-17 October 2018, another HYDRO conference was held at the Amber Expo exhibition and conference centre in Gdańsk. As usual, combined with hydroenergy fairs and studio visits. The Institute of Flow Machines of the Polish Academy of Sciences provided logistical support to the Organizers during the preparation, which was clearly appreciated in thanks submitted during plenary sessions, opening and closing the conference. The Institute noted its presence not only in plenary sessions. The employees of the IMP PAS Hydrodynamic Centre were authors or co-authors of 4 lectures delivered in technical sessions. The Institute also participated in the exhibition section.
HYDRO hydroenergy conferences and fairs are held annually by British Aqua Media International, publisher of the prestigious International Journal on Hydropower & Dams bimonthly. They are among the biggest events of this type in the world, in terms of the number of participants giving way only to hydrovision conventions held in the United States. The permanent partners (supporting organisations) are the International High Dam Committee (ICOLD) and the Water Energy Section of the International Energy Agency (IEA). This year, the support organizations were also among IMP PAN: Itaipu Binacional, the Energa Group, the Water Power Plant Society and the Small Water Power Plant Development Society (TRMEW). The national media partner of the conference was the quarterly "Water Energy". The choir of Gdańsk University of Technology provided an excellent musical setting for the inaugural session.
This year's edition of HYDRO gathered about 1,200 participants from 75 countries. Some of them represented a group of 170 exhibitors. In total, the participants were slightly less than last year, in Seville. However, HYDRO 2018 was the largest event of this kind in the history of Polish hydroenergy. This may not change over the next few years or decades.
The HYDRO 2018 theme was "Progress through partnership". The conference focused on cross-border and multi-tasking projects - especially river cascades used simultaneously for shipping and hydroelectric purposes. A lot of time has been devoted to pump and peak energy and its operation in the electricity system. As usual, there have been legal, economic and environmental issues and numerous scientific and technical reports. The financial sector was strongly represented, among others, by specialists from the World Bank. The sessions were held in 36 sessions, some of which were divided by breaks. The conference material included 215 papers. Poland was represented by 80 participants and 10 exhibitors. Among the national participants of the conference were representatives of equipment and services providers and research and development centres - Gdańsk University of Technology, Institute of Energy, Institute of Flow Machines PAS. National energy companies, PGE EO and Energia, as well as PGW Polish Waters and ZEW Niedzica, made their facilities available to explore. There was a lack of representatives of national central and local authorities and institutions
On the occasion of HYDRO 2018, a special issue of the International Journal on Hydropower & Dams was released, with a review article on the state of water power in Eastern Europe. The next issue will see a conference report. The selected photos are already from the website https://www.hydropower-dams.com/hydro-2018/. And in 2019 HYDRO will travel again to the Iberian Peninsula - with another visit to Porto.
Source: Aqua Media
