The second edition of the Summer School on “HydroKG Kyrgyzstan – hydropower, ecology and hydromorphology” for international bachelor and master students was hosted by Hydro4U project partner Kyrgyz State Technical University named I. Razzakov (KSTU) in Kyrgystan during two weeks in August and September 2022.

Hydro4U aims to bring together stakeholders from industry, politics and science from both Central Asia and the European Union to contribute to a sustainable and climate-resilient future for the region by demonstrating European small hydropower equipment and technologies.

Moreover, one of the objectives of the Hydro4U project is to develop academic programmes and courses on sustainable hydropower for students.

In this regard, 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. The Summer School is mainly funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

From 20^th August to 5^th September 2022, students from Germany, Argentina and Kyrgyzstan visited hydroelectric power plants in the south and north of Kyrgyzstan and learned about the environmental consequences and sustainability associated with ecology and hydromorphology, as well as the hydro-electro-technical part of the stations.

The Summer School was led by Ms. Venera Baichekirova, head of the international department of KSTU. From the technical side, it was supported by Professor Nuridin Niyazov from KSTU (Karakoel site), by Hydro4U project partners as well as by IWMI-CA (Uzbekistan office).

The main programme of this year’s Summer School consisted of lectures and seminars at KSTU, combined with field trips to interesting places related to hydropower in the Kyrgyz Republic, small hydropower plants and natural river systems. Russian language courses were also organised teaching technical terminology. Moreover, cultural excursions to the mountainous regions and museums of Kyrgyzstan were offered.

Seminars were held by:

• Muktarbek Kubat “Perspektive und Entwicklung erneuerbarer Energiequellen” (engl. Perspective and development of renewable energy sources), “Wasser Ressourcen und Management in Zentralasien” (engl. Water resources and management in Central Asia),
• Saida Usmonova “Sustainable small-scale hydropower potential in Central Asia and role of Water-Energy-Food nexus” and
• Abdikhamid Urazkeldiev “Hydro4U project: case study of Water-Energy-Food nexus assessments from demonstration sites”.

The students received explanations about the ecological and agricultural background of Central Asia and painted a picture of future challenges of the region. They also visited the Orto-Tokoi reservoir on Issyk Kul’e (led by Mr. Nurbek Sadygaliev), where they received a lot of information about irrigation in Central Asia.

This Summer School offered again an exciting programme for students, professors and experts, who had the opportunity to gain new knowledge and share information about Central Asia as well as to get to know a new culture and an amazing country like Kyrgyzstan.

The organisers would like to thank the partners of the Hydro4U project for their contribution to this year’s Summer School.

Author: Venera Baichekirova, KSTU

Partner description: KSTU

Website: https://www.kstu.kg/

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Photo credits: Venera Baichekirova, KSTU