The water-energy-food nexus is a critical issue in Central Asia, and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) has been at the forefront of conducting comprehensive analyses to address this challenge. Central Asia, which includes countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, is characterized by a complex web of interdependencies between water, energy, and food production. Water is a scarce resource in Central Asia, with the region being home to some of the world’s largest rivers, including the Amu Darya and Syr Darya. These rivers are critical for irrigation, hydropower generation, and transportation, making them a key component of the water-energy-food nexus. However, increasing demand for water for agriculture, urbanization, and energy production has led to over-extraction of water from these rivers, resulting in declining water availability for all sectors.

The Hydro4U partner IWMI has conducted in-depth analyses of the water-energy-food nexus in Central Asia, using interdisciplinary approaches that integrate hydrology, agriculture, and energy systems. These analyses have revealed the complex interactions and trade-offs between water use for irrigation, hydropower generation, and food production. One of the key findings of IWMI’s research is the significant impact of climate change on the water-energy-food nexus in Central Asia. Changing precipitation patterns, receding glaciers, and rising temperatures are altering water availability, leading to shifts in agricultural productivity and energy generation.

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) also has conducted extensive analysis of the water-energy-food nexus in Central Asia, taking into account the social aspects, including the role of women and children. Central Asia is a region where social dynamics and gender roles play a significant role in shaping water, energy, and food security outcomes. IWMI’s research has recognized that women and children are often disproportionately affected by water, energy, and food challenges in Central Asia. Women, in particular, play a crucial role in agriculture and household food production, as well as in water collection and management.

In Kyrgyz Republic, over 60% of the people live in rural areas, while in Uzbekistan, the urban and rural populations are split almost evenly at 50%. The challenge for these rural communities is the access to clean and running water, as the water supply systems established during the Soviet era have not been properly maintained or refurbished. Uzbekistan, located in a dry region of Central Asia, inherited a well-developed water supply and sanitation infrastructure, but the system is outdated, damaged by corrosion, operating inefficiently. Continuity in water services is lacking, and there is insufficient pressure in pipelines.

In both Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan, women are primarily responsible for collecting, distributing, and managing household water and sanitation practices. Research on Gender and Water (World Bank) in Uzbekistan shows that in households without access to drinking water, 61% of the burden of collecting water falls on adult women. This task is physically strenuous, time-consuming, and can be hazardous. Moreover, the time spent fetching water reduces opportunities for women to pursue education, generate income, develop skills, and engage in leisure activities.

The HYDRO4U project, funded by the European Union, is small hydropower installation that is making a significant impact on the water-energy-food nexus in rural Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, not only by providing clean and sustainable energy but also by bringing about crucial social benefits, particularly for women and children in these communities.

Find out more in our next Newsletter edition!

Author: Saida Usmonova, IWMI

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Picture Credits: Bertalan Alapfy

This year, the International Summer School will take place from 16 – 30 August 2023 in Kyrgyztan.

KSTU, as one of the partners of Hydro4U project, annually holds a two-week Summer School for students. This programme was already developed jointly by KSTU and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in 2019.

In 2023, the number of scholarships from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has been increased in accordance with the great demand among German students, amounting to 15 scholarships. Previously, there were only up to 8 scholarships and the rest participated at their own expense. The target group of the Summer School mainly focuses on civil or environmental engineering students currently enrolled in their master’s degree. A special focus is also on young engineers, who already gained professionals knowledge in water related topics.

The DAAD scholarship is only available for students from German Universities. Students from other Universities outside of Germany must find another way of funding themselves.

Make sure to apply and be part of the Summer School 2023!

The submission of documents and registration is open on the DAAD website Ausschreibung Go East – Sommer- und Winterschulen 2023 für ausländische Hochschulen – DAAD as well as on the KSTU website https://kstu.kg/en/summer-school-1 .

The application deadline for DAAD Scholarships is June 5^th 2023. The Deadline for self-funding applications is on June 20^th 2023.

Author: Venera Baichekirova

This year, the global water and energy community got together at the ASIA 2023 conference from 14^th to 16^th of March, where participants had the opportunity to attend various sessions on topics such as environmental aspects of hydro and dam development, but also on the topic of European innovations in Central Asia.

For this, a special session was jointly organized by the IEA Hydropower Technology Collaboration Program (TCP) and the Hydro4U innovation project. Recent activities of the IEA Hydro are increasingly focusing on valuating of and technical solutions for additional services provided by hydropower, such as flood control and drought management, flexibility on multiple scales, storage, or hybridization, not only for individual plants but also in large river basins.

Within Hydro4U, sustainable design and operation of innovative European small hydropower technology will be demonstrated at two pilot sites currently under development in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan as well as additional planning sites. The technological innovation at the two demo sites is based on the low-head Hydroshaft concept and a medium-head Francis container solution. Both technologies are developed in combination with sustainability aspects such as fish habitat protection and passage in both directions as well as a detailed analysis of climate change resilience.

The decision on the final design is expected at the end of May 2023, followed by detailed construction drawings to be prepared until the end of July 2023. After the authority approvals, expected in August 2023, the construction of the Demo Site in At-Bashy is planned to be started in September 2023.

Authors: Bertalan Alapfy, Klaus Jorde

Over the course of the last few decades, Hydropower has played a significant role within the energy sector. For this purpose, Hydro4U partner BOKU from Vienna, Austria further examined the topic of sustainable hydropower in the area of conflict between renewable energy and ecology.

With a focus on the evolution of hydropower in its historical context as well as its global position today, the following articles, published in the BOKU magazine, give an insight into research activities at BOKU while also highlighting the role within the Hydro4U project.

• BOKU magazine
• Factsheet

In Hydro4U, the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) is represented by two institutes: the Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and River Research (IWA) and the Institute of Hydrobiology and Aquatic Ecosystem Management (IHG). The BOKU team has been analysing Central Asian rivers through large-scale GIS datasets and conducting ecological and geomorphological sustainability assessments at the project’s demo sites in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Determination of the small-scale hydropower potential of Central Asia

A key task of the last year’s project work was to assess the small hydropower potential of Central Asia through a multi-step procedure. This was achieved by reducing the theoretical line potential towards a sustainable one by including various sustainability and technical aspects in the calculations. By achieving this milestone, a major step has been made in order to achieve one of the goals of Hydro4U: the development of a GIS-based decision support system for sustainable hydropower covering Central Asia.

The results show much untapped sustainable small-scale hydropower potential in the region. In the next step, the scenario building will be performed to assess hydropower development, for example, in the context of legal and regulatory frameworks but also ones based on different nature conservation levels.

Fish sampling campaign to At-Bashy River, Kyrgyzstan

In October 2022, Daniel S. Hayes and Bernhard Zeiringer (BOKU) travelled to the At-Bashy demo site in Kyrgyzstan to sample fish diversity with scientists from TIIAME and the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan.

The sampling campaign confirmed the presence of three fish species to be considered for sustainability assessments: the Tibetan stone loach (Triplophysa stoliczka), osman (Diptychus sewerzowi), and snow trout (Schizothorax sp.). The results indicate that fish species in the At-Bashy River system are reproducing naturally. However, the weir may hinder the spawning migration of adult fish, leading to a reduction in stock size upstream. The high abundance of subadult and adult fish, especially snow trout, in the lowest reaches of the river suggests that these areas serve as winter habitats, highlighting the importance of river connectivity for up- and downstream migrating fish.

Special Hydro4U session at IAHR 2023

The BOKU team is pleased to announce that a special session will represent the Hydro4U project at the 40th IAHR World Congress, held in Vienna, Austria, from 21-25 August 2023. The session titled “Introducing the “WFE” Nexus to Central Asia Focusing on Sustainable Development of Small Hydropower” will be chaired by experts from TUM (Nils Rüther and Hannah Schwedhelm), BOKU (Jan de Keyser and Daniel S. Hayes), and HSOL (Tobias Siegfried).

The conveners look forward to an exciting session and welcome you to join!

Registration is open: Registration – IAHR World Congress

Authors: Daniel S. Hayes, Jan De Keyser, BOKU

Picture Credits: Daniel S. Hayes, Jan De Keyser et al.

The ecological sustainability of hydropower is one of the key aspects within Hydro4U. Lessons learned in Europe but also other parts of the world show that impacts of hydropower have caused a severe reduction of riverine fish in number and diversity. For instance, through hindering migration, changing the flow regime by lowering the base flows, generating fast artificial flow changes, or disturbing natural habitat structures.

At the demonstration site Shakimardan, Uzbekistan, the impacts of hydropower development on the river Koksu have been studied by SJE in cooperation with local experts such as the Central Asian partner TIIAME and European partners like BOKU and EVINBO. These results have been considered in the planning of the hydropower plant in collaboration with the project partners KJ Consult and TUM Munich.

A new cell phone-based mapping tool designed by SJE has been applied to collect habitat information along the affected, more than 3 km long section of the river Koksu and to integrate it into a GIS. Habitat information for the target species snow trout (Schizothorax eurystomus), has been jointly collected via E-Fishing by BOKU and TIIAME. This information has been used for simulations performed with the SJE-owned software CASiMiR (www.casimir-software.de) for various river flows to find a seasonally adapted E-Flow that protects the local fish population.

The existing diversion weir and intake structure are modernised and equipped with a state-of-the-art fish way respectively a bypass installation that enable up- and downstream migration for snow trout. A migration barrier within the diverted river section is made passable by building a fishway adapted to the local lack of space. Currently, a telemetry study is performed by TIIAME and EVINBO using fish tagging with passive integrated transponders and the mapping tool, to find out about the migration movements of snow trout. The gained insights will feed into the adaptive management of the future Hydro Power Plant.

Author: Matthias Schneider, SJE Ecohydraulic Engineering GmbH

Photos and figures by Matthias Schneider and Tobias Hägele, SJE GmbH

The European Commission funds project consortia with the aim of promoting Europe’s innovative strength and bringing innovations more quickly to the European market and establishing them sustainably. As an expert in innovation management, Steinbeis Europa Zentrum works as a catalyst for the European Commission and project consortia.

Within the application stage, Steinbeis Europa Zentrum already acts as enabler and, if desired, also as project partner by accompanying the development of solutions and innovations on the way to a successful market launch. Together with the partners, our systematic approach enables the development of solid exploitation strategies, action plans and business models for commercially exploitable project results. In this context, intellectual property management plays an important role: through purpose-driven knowledge transfer and solution-oriented exchange, partners are enabled to adequately protect their project results for later exploitation.

The challenge lies mainly in the complexity of the different expectations and goals of the individual project partners, since the number of European and international partners in EU projects can range between 10 to 40.

Innovation management in Hydro4U

Small-scale hydropower is not extensively exploited in Central Asia despite considerable potential to satisfy unmet electricity demand and chart a new way forward in cooperative cross-sectoral management of shared waters.

Hydro4U will offer innovative, modular and standardised hydropower solutions for both low-head and medium-head application. In addition to direct market access for the participating project partners, Hydro4U will facilitate market access for European hydropower manufacturers and service providers in Central Asia as a whole.

Steinbeis Europa Zentrum accompanies innovation processes

Starting from the very beginning with the project conception phase, Steinbeis Europa Zentrum supported the coordinating Technical University of Munich, together with the 11 other European and international partners and accompanied them through the application process.

Target Group perspective and expectations

In Hydro4U, partners from both Central Asia and the European Union are working together on project implementation to contribute to sustainable and environmentally friendly energy production for Central Asia through scientifically supported activities and the testing of technological solutions. Close cooperation between all stakeholders and investors involved is an essential aspect of Hydro4U. The different expertise of the partners (including industry, science, politics) leads to diverse perspectives on the interrelationships between ecology, technology and society, which have to be taken into account in innovation management, especially in exploitation strategies.

Innovation management and exploitation

Steinbeis Europa Zentrum, as partner in Hydro4U responsible for exploitation, is meanwhile working systematically with the project partners to describe the innovative project results in terms of content, to define the exploitation intentions as well as to clarify ownership and access rights. The project partners, through their different expertise, co-develop very good approaches to solutions for the common challenges. Steinbeis Europa Zentrum for instance, organised interactive pitching sessions on individual project results. In a pitch, each of the participating partner organisation had presented its favoured project outcome and the associated challenges to the consortium. Through the resulting feedback from different perspectives as well as through the targeted exchange, further synergies between the partners could be established. Overall, these pitching sessions received very positive feedback and resonance from the partners.

This collaborative approach is consistently promoted and encouraged by Steinbeis Europa Zentrum. The most promising project results are selected in the course of the project and, in a next step, small working groups will then elaborate different aspects, for instance the Central Asian framework conditions for market entry and adequate business models. Furthermore, future steps and responsibilities for a successful and effective utilisation of the project results are also determined within these groups.

With the involvement of Steinbeis Europa Zentrum, a clear demarcation and description of the jointly developed project results is ensured, which further enables the clarification of the Intellectual Property situation including the access rights as well as responsibilities for further exploitation steps. In addition, the development of an exploitation strategy is secured as well as the results of joint partner contributions. This also extends to market analysis from different perspectives. Moreover, with Steinbeis involvement in the project, participatory approaches are further established in Central Asia as well as future steps and responsibilities for successful exploitation of the project results.

Author: Isabelle Dubreuilh, Steinbeis Europa Zentrum

Picture Credits: Bertalan Alapfy, Technische Universität München

During the last 12 months, the Muhr Group worked on the scalable design approach for the new hydroshaft power plant. Now they finalised all the relevant steps and submitted the associated final report, the time was right for an interim summary.

The assessment is consistently positive: Very little time has passed between the first prototype design and an achievement of product readiness level. To have increased the marketability of the hydroshaft power plant to such an extent – and so early in the product’s life cycle – is a great success for Muhr. The level of marketability achieved is made possible through Muhr’s scalable design approach.

From Concept Study to CAD Model

The aim of the design work was to achieve a level of optimization that would allow to meet the ambitious goals of the Hydro4U project (funded under the Horizon 2020 research programme). Muhr started with concept studies, which were further developed into CAD models, based also on feasibility tests and FEM simulations. These 3D models are much more than three-dimensional technical drawings. They were designed in such a way that they can be used for cost calculation, procurement, and manufacturing of the planned power plants. The scalable approach allows power plants to be designed and implemented in less than a year.

All products were prepared for future use based on lessons learned from the operation of the first two commercial power plants. The first two power plants are also equipped by Muhr and successfully generate green energy for about 900 households.

The Muhr Group’s involvement in Hydro4U

The Muhr Group supplies the following products for the new plant type hydroshaft power plant:

• Inlet and outlet stop log including frames, for damming up the power plant in case of maintenance work.
• Control gate including downstream fish pass for regulating the dam height, allowing the turbine to produce power as efficiently as possible. The control gate also serves as a flushing opening for the passage of bedload in the river course, as a fish pass for fish and other aquatic creatures downstream of the power plant, and as an opening of the discharge cross-section in the event of a flood.
• Shaft trash rack with cleaning bar for cleaning the turbine water (to protect the turbine) and the shaft trash rack, which ensures the efficiency of power generation.
• Mounting frame with mounting points for shaft trash rack and control gate. These are pre-assembled at the factory, allowing for easy and quick installation on site. This results in a significant reduction in construction effort, construction time and construction costs.

Greater marketability through scalable approach

Hydro4U’s goal is to increase the marketability of the new type of power plant and to create an overall economic concept for shaft power plants. Muhr’s scalable approach meets this goal: The modular components are designed in such a way that they can be re-dimensioned for all future power plant designs. There is no need to design parts for individual projects, which results in considerable time and cost savings.

Supply chains and manufacturing plans are also created and improved to increase marketability. Muhr has solved the new requirements for the scope of supply due to the NEXUS approach of the EU:

• The fish pass is flexibly adaptable to the respective species at the site, and the corresponding insert parts can be individualized.
• The onward transport of bedload is optimized. As a result, the riverbeds retain their natural morphology.
• The plant is prepared for climate change and can be equipped with a high and a low temperature option.
• The moving parts are not driven hydraulically, but by electric motors, meaning that oil spills cannot occur.

Proof of concept: Power plant At-Bashi, Kyrgyzstan

The feedback from others has been excellent so far. In October 2022, representatives of Orion (Kyrgyzstan) visited the Muhr Group’s headquarters in Brannenburg, Germany. Orion was extremely satisfied with the state of development. There was also praise at the general meeting of the Hydro4U project consortium in Uzbekistan in June 2022: Muhr’s work was highlighted as well thought-out and versatile.

Looking back on what has been achieved since the beginning of the project, there is unanimous agreement that the chosen approach is the right one. This will be proven with the construction of the power plant at the At-Bashi site. All products are scheduled to be shipped there by end of November 2023, with construction to start on the beginning of 2024. The final commissioning of Uzbekistan’s first shaft power plant is scheduled for end of November 2024.

Author: Fabian Böttger, MUHR Group

Images:

1) The CAD models, which are designed using Muhr’s scalable approach, can also be used for cost calculation, procurement, and manufacturing.

2) The modular components can be re-dimensioned for all future power plant designs, eliminating the need to design parts for individual projects.

Photo credits: Muhr

Beginning with the first site visit in June 2022, ILF together with other project partners started the site-specific field works on the planned Hydro4U demonstration hydropower plant in At-Bashi (Kyrgyzstan). The main focus of the site visit was to obtain basic information for the subsequent detailed design works and, in particular, to specify the planned geotechnical subsurface investigations. As part of the planning and design works for hydropower projects, direct subsurface investigations are relevant to be carried out in accordance with international standards (e.g. Eurocode 7) for the geological-geotechnical characterisation of the site-specific ground conditions and to minimize project-specific subsurface risks.

Consequently, site surveys including aerial surveys using a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle, to create digital terrain models) have been carried out for the Hydro4U project.

Based on these, rotary core drillings have been planned before the end of 2022. The drilling works will be performed in thick alluvial soils (sandy gravels with intercalated silts). In order to obtain information on grain size distributions, packing density, hydraulic permeability, shear strength, groundwater characteristics, and other parameters, continuous core recovery and in-situ geotechnical borehole testing as well as sampling will be required for subsequent laboratory analyses. The drilling works are expected to be performed by the local investor Orion LLC.

ILF will take up these results to carry out the detailed design and perform structural calculations for the concrete structures of two Hydroshaft Power Solution modules and associated structures, verify the stability of the dams of the tailrace channel and design the related erosion protection measures. Finally, ILF will prepare the construction drawings and provide site supervision services during the construction of the demonstration hydropower plant.

The ILF Group is an international engineering and consulting firm that helps its clients successfully execute technically demanding industrial and infrastructure projects all over the world in the following main business areas: Energy & Climate Protection, Water & Environment, Transportation & Urban Spaces and Oil, Gas & Industrial.

Authors: Gabriel Pojer, Christoph Prager, ILF Austria

Partner Description: https://hydro4u.eu/project/partners/?pid=ilf
Website: www.ilf.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ilf-consulting-engineers

Photo credits: ILF