For two days - 9th and 10th go October 2019. - The holiday home "Atrium" in Polańczyk was the venue of the 9th Polish Hydroenergy Conference. The return to the traditional name HYDROFORUM marked a clear reference to the series of scientific and technical conferences and seminars organized by the Institute of Flow Machinery PAS until 2005. Referring to the tradition of years ago, the conference was connected for the second time with a technical visit - this time at the Solina Water Power Plant.
Participants of a technical visit to Solina Water Power Plant
Although the first conferences of HYDROFORUM covered the whole subject of rotor hydraulic machines, hydroenergy has been at the centre of interest from the beginning. The issues of its development strategy were increasingly present in the 1980s. Other non-technical issues - also legal and economic - have occupied a large part of the meeting since the beginning of the annual cycle initiated in 2011 and continued jointly by the Water Power Society, the Institute of Flow Machinery PAS and the Society for the Development of Small Water Power Plants. Until recently, in close cooperation with the REECO GmbH Group, the organizer of RENEXPO events in the Central European and Balkan countries, as well as with the Trade Department of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway in Warsaw
This year's conference was covered by the patronage of the Minister of Energy and the Minister of Maritime Economy and Inland Shipping. She has benefited from in-kind support from PGE Renewable Energy SA and the Institute of Energy O/Gdansk and media patrons including the journals “Water Energy” and “ZEK Hydro” and the CIRE portal. Financial support (sponsoring) was provided by PGE EO SA and the RES Institute and WTW, Neostrain and Inora.
The number of participants – 90 people – turned out to be close to the 2017 record. This number would probably be even higher if it were not for a time collision or too small a time interval from events such as HYDRO 2019, the Electricity Market or POLEKO. The sessions were divided into 7 sessions, with 26 lectures and one panel debate. The high evaluation of the conference by its participants was undoubtedly influenced by the large share of technical and scientific-technical papers. These were presented in five sessions covering successively: small hydroelectric power and energy recovery in industrial and municipal hydraulic installations, environmental protection, design and operation of hydrotechnical infrastructure, operation, modernization and testing of hydroelectric machinery and equipment, design of water turbines and other research and development work. The first session was devoted to strategic and economic and legal issues, and the place of water power in the strategic documents of Poland and the countries of the region – panel debate conducted traditionally by the honorary president of TEW – Stanisław Lewandowski. The strong presence of scientific and technical topics of the organizers is regarded as a success, as they sought this with varying happiness for many years. There were no occurrences containing information on operational experience. However, the organisers are aware that rather complex internal procedures often prevent the increased activity of energy companies
Participants included representatives of all major energy corporations, equipment and services providers, design offices, universities and research and development centres. The source of satisfaction for the organizers was the participation of representatives of the Ministry of Maritime Economy and Inland Shipping, as well as multi-member delegations from Ukraine and Lithuania. The latter included members of the board of directors of national hydro-energy companies, including the chairman of the board of the association “Hydroenergetics of Ukraine”, Mr Semen Potashnik, and the honorary president of the Lithuanian Hydro-energy Society, Prof. Petras Punys. The conference was also attended by Mr. George Thomson, co-owner of the Canadian company Thordon Inc. As usual, the deliberations were conducted using simultaneous translation.
A more comprehensive report from the conference will be released within the next month. The summary book is already available from the "Library/Developments and Publications" tab on the Water Power Plant Society website. From the beginning of 2020, the conference presentation pdf versions will also be available from the Conferences tab. The authors of selected papers will be invited to prepare post-conference articles for scientific quarterlys “Acta Energietica” and “Transactions of the Institute of Fluid-Flow Machinery”.
