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Hydro4U is an EU project funded under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. In this project, ILF and 12 other partners from eight countries are working together under the coordination of the Technical University of Munich to develop solutions which boost sustainable small-scale hydropower in Central Asia. Two pioneering hydropower types shall be implemented in demonstration plants in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

To this day, small-scale hydropower remains largely unharnessed in Central Asia. Yet there is great potential to transfer European small-scale hydropower schemes to Central Asian regions. So far there are only few European reference projects in this region as they tend to be considerably more expensive than those of Asian competitors.

The Hydro4U project will now adjust two innovative technologies developed in Europe to the requirements in Central Asia. The aim of this project is keeping the costs as low as possible through concept simplification, modularization and standardization without compromising efficiency. At the same time, the project also focuses on key aspects such as sustainability, environmental compatibility and social acceptance.
In the course of the Hydro4U project two eco-friendly demo hydropower plants will be installed and assessed: one low-head plant with a capacity of up to 500 kW in Kazakhstan and one medium-head plant with a capacity of approx. 2 MW in Uzbekistan.

Project duration: 06/2021–05/2026

Countries involved: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Uzbekistan

Learn more here: Hydro4U