Hydropower for Participatory Upscaling of Local Solutions and Ecosystem-based Strategies
Project number: 101268715
Project name: Hydropower for Participatory Upscaling of Local Solutions and Ecosystem-based strategies
Project acronym: HydroPulse
Call: HORIZON-CL5-2025-02
Topic: HORIZON-CL5-2025-02-D3-04
Type of action: HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
Granting authority: European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency
Project starting date: fixed date: 1 June 2026
Project end date: 30 November 2029
Project duration: 42 months
HydroPulse addresses the growing challenges facing Europe’s hydropower sector, from climate change and ageing infrastructure to increasing environmental and societal pressures. Through scalable, locally grounded innovations, the project combines digital transformation, ecosystem resilience, and community collaboration to support a more sustainable, flexible, and socially accepted energy future.
About the project
Europe’s hydropower systems are being asked to deliver more clean energy, greater ecological protection, and stronger climate resilience — all at the same time. HydroPulse is the European initiative exploring what sustainable and socially accepted hydropower must look like in practice. Across sixteen partner organisations, HydroPulse brings together expertise in engineering, ecology, hydrology, digital innovation, and social sciences to develop, test, and scale ecosystem-based hydropower solutions. Through five regional case studies and multiple demonstration sites across Europe, the project advances innovative tools, policy guidance, and community-centred approaches for the future of resilient hydropower systems.
Objectives
01. Respond.
Advance real-time hydropower operations through digital twins, predictive monitoring, and ecosystem-aware energy management systems.
02. Anticipate.
Develop near-term forecasting and adaptive planning tools to improve flexibility, water allocation, biodiversity protection, and climate resilience.
03 Restore.
Enhance river connectivity, ecosystem health, fish migration, water quality, and sediment management through ecosystem-based and nature-based solutions.
04. Collaborate.
Co-create socially accepted innovations through Communities of Practice (CoPs), stakeholder engagement, and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI).
05. Scale.
Design and validate transferable hydropower solutions, tools, and models that can be replicated across diverse European regions and energy systems.
Consortium:National Technical University of Athens (Ethnicon Metsovion Polytechnion), Aarhus Universitet, HES-SO Haute école spécialisée de Suisse occidentale, CETAND – Fundación Centro Andaluz de Investigaciones del Agua, Fundación CARTIF, Fundació Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya (IREC), Infersence Tsakalis Kai Sia OE, Uniwersytet Jagielloński, HEAS AG, ISOTECH Ltd, Cuerva Energía S.L.U., Universitatea din București, ARDITI – Agência Regional para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação, Tecnologia e Inovação, Associação, Alpiq AG, Brunel University London, EMASAGRA S.A. (Empresa Municipal de Abastecimiento y Saneamiento de Granada S.A.)
In HydroPulse, ISOTECH serves as the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) partner, adapting its DeCyDe-4 participatory decision-support methodology into the DeCyDe-4-Hydropower methodology and toolbox to support stakeholder engagement and increase the societal readiness of HydroPulse solutions.
Hydropower for Participatory Upscaling of Local Solutions and Ecosystem-based Strategies
Project number: 101268715
Project name: Hydropower for Participatory Upscaling of Local Solutions and Ecosystem-based strategies
Project acronym: HydroPulse
Call: HORIZON-CL5-2025-02
Topic: HORIZON-CL5-2025-02-D3-04
Type of action: HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
Granting authority: European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency
Project starting date: fixed date: 1 June 2026
Project end date: 30 November 2029
Project duration: 42 months
HydroPulse addresses the growing challenges facing Europe’s hydropower sector, from climate change and ageing infrastructure to increasing environmental and societal pressures. Through scalable, locally grounded innovations, the project combines digital transformation, ecosystem resilience, and community collaboration to support a more sustainable, flexible, and socially accepted energy future.
About the project
Europe’s hydropower systems are being asked to deliver more clean energy, greater ecological protection, and stronger climate resilience — all at the same time. HydroPulse is the European initiative exploring what sustainable and socially accepted hydropower must look like in practice. Across sixteen partner organisations, HydroPulse brings together expertise in engineering, ecology, hydrology, digital innovation, and social sciences to develop, test, and scale ecosystem-based hydropower solutions. Through five regional case studies and multiple demonstration sites across Europe, the project advances innovative tools, policy guidance, and community-centred approaches for the future of resilient hydropower systems.
Objectives
01. Respond.
Advance real-time hydropower operations through digital twins, predictive monitoring, and ecosystem-aware energy management systems.
02. Anticipate.
Develop near-term forecasting and adaptive planning tools to improve flexibility, water allocation, biodiversity protection, and climate resilience.
03 Restore.
Enhance river connectivity, ecosystem health, fish migration, water quality, and sediment management through ecosystem-based and nature-based solutions.
04. Collaborate.
Co-create socially accepted innovations through Communities of Practice (CoPs), stakeholder engagement, and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI).
05. Scale.
Design and validate transferable hydropower solutions, tools, and models that can be replicated across diverse European regions and energy systems.
Consortium:National Technical University of Athens (Ethnicon Metsovion Polytechnion), Aarhus Universitet, HES-SO Haute école spécialisée de Suisse occidentale, CETAND – Fundación Centro Andaluz de Investigaciones del Agua, Fundación CARTIF, Fundació Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya (IREC), Infersence Tsakalis Kai Sia OE, Uniwersytet Jagielloński, HEAS AG, ISOTECH Ltd, Cuerva Energía S.L.U., Universitatea din București, ARDITI – Agência Regional para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação, Tecnologia e Inovação, Associação, Alpiq AG, Brunel University London, EMASAGRA S.A. (Empresa Municipal de Abastecimiento y Saneamiento de Granada S.A.)
In HydroPulse, ISOTECH serves as the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) partner, adapting its DeCyDe-4 participatory decision-support methodology into the DeCyDe-4-Hydropower methodology and toolbox to support stakeholder engagement and increase the societal readiness of HydroPulse solutions.