Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 59 (2016) 1493–1503 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser Small-scale hydropower in the Netherlands: Problems and strategies of system builders Tanja N. Manders n, Johanna I. Höffken, Erik B.A. van der Vleuten School of Innovation Sciences Technology Innovation, Society, Eindhoven University of Technology, De Zaale, 5612 AJ Eindhoven, The Netherlands article info abstract Article history: Small-scale hydroelectricity (hydel) currently receives worldwide attention as a clean, green, and socially Received 7 May 2015 just energy technology. People generally assume that downsizing hydel plants reduces harmful impacts. Received in revised form However, recent debates call for careful circumspection of small hydel’s environmental, social, and 11 December 2015 economic sustainability, if we are to avoid conflicts, costly setbacks, and hype-disappointment cycles. Accepted 17 December 2015 This paper provides such a circumspect case for the Netherlands, an interesting country thanks to its highly institutionalized water sector. We highlight the importance of studying hydel power as part of a Keywords: larger, interconnected Large Technical System. For selected cases, we identify what tensions small hydel Small-scale hydropower ‘system builders’ are facing and discuss which strategies they use to address these problems. We dis- Sustainable energy tinguish ‘yield to fitin’, ‘confirmative policy focus’, and ‘hydel legitimation’ strategies for the develop- Large technical systems ment of small-scale hydropower in the Dutch highly-institutionalized wet network. Social aspects of sustainable energy & Sustainability transitions 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction.......................................................................................................1494 2. Theory and approach. 1495 3. Small-scale hydel sustainability vision and case selection . 1496 4. Hydropower problems in The Netherlands . 1497 4.1. The logics of location. 1497 4.1.1. Roeven-Nederweert . 1497 4.1.2. Hagestein............................................................................................1497 4.1.3. Borgharen. 1497 4.1.4. Bosscherveld . 1497 4.1.5. Synthesis . 1498 4.2. Problems related to fish....................................................................................... 1498 4.2.1. Traveling fish.........................................................................................1498 4.2.2. An acceptable fish damage benchmark. 1498 4.2.3. Catering to the interests of stakeholders . 1499 4.2.4. Synthesis . 1499 4.3. The lack of momentum for developing hydropower . 1499 4.3.1. Synthesis . 1499 5. System builder strategies: addressing the problems . 1499 5.1. Yield to fitin................................................................................................ 1500 5.2. Confirmative policy focus . 1500 5.3. Hydel legitimation . 1500 5.3.1. Legitimation through emphasizing architectural value . 1500 5.3.2. Legitimation through involving people. 1500 n Corresponding author. Tel.: þ31 40 247 2349. E-mail address: [email protected] (T.N. Manders). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.12.100 1364-0321/& 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1494 T.N. Manders et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 59 (2016) 1493–1503 5.3.3. Legitimation through emphasizing comparative green advantages. 1500 5.3.4. Legitimation through establishing best practice design. 1501 6. Discussion and conclusions. 1501 References............................................................................................................1502 1. Introduction studies of village-scale hydel in India reveal local conflicts and power struggles that tend to escape the attention of regional and Small-scale hydroelectricity (hydel) is currently attracting national policy makers and scholars. In fact, it took meticulous on- worldwide attention as a clean, green, and socially just energy site ethnographic research to uncover such conflicts [17]. These technology. Already favored for some time as an option for elec- authors conclude that small-scale hydel’s environmental, social, tricity generation in emerging economies, more recently, small- and economic sustainability needs careful evaluation and cir- scale hydel has also made headway in industrialized economies. cumspection. If we proactively identify, rather than ignore, sus- For example, in its 2009–2012 Small Hydropower Roadmap, the tainability problems, we may be able to anticipate or remedy European Small Hydropower Association (ESHA) proposes that these, and perhaps avoid the costly setbacks, hype-disillusionment small-scale hydel, defined as systems with a power output up to cycles, and tensions that sustainable energy analysts have 10 MW, can contribute significantly to the European Union's observed for biofuels, wind, energy, fuel cells and hydrogen, and renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction targets. In 2010, PV systems [18–21]. some 21,800 small-scale hydel plants made up about 8 percent of This paper scrutinizes small-scale hydro from a sustainable the EU’s renewable energy mix, and there are prospects for further energy policy and innovation sciences – the social science of growth: over half of the EU’s economically feasible small-scale (sustainable) innovation – perspective and makes three contribu- hydel potential remains untapped [1]. Even in a flat country such tions. First, it provides the required circumspection of small-scale as the Netherlands, at the very bottom of the list of EU countries hydel. We identify the problems faced by small-scale hydropower with small–scale hydel systems, new plants are currently being practitioners in the Netherlands and their coping strategies. Others proposed by pioneers. should pose this question about other countries. As for the Neth- This renewed policy and practitioner interest in small-scale erlands, scholarly studies of Dutch small hydel are rare, and as hydel is underpinned by promises of sustainability, climate change noted, the country is lagging behind in EU small-scale hydel mitigation, and avoidance of the problems of large-scale hydro- development. Yet even here, small-scale hydel’s promise of “cheap, power [2–4]. Especially in emerging economies, the environ- renewable and endless” energy that can “be developed without mental, social, economic, and technical sustainability of large-scale significant impact on the existing surroundings” (p.1459) [22] is hydropower has been severely criticized [5–8]. Proponents of mini, alive and kicking, and new plants are currently being erected [23]. micro, and pico hydel systems usually present small-scale hydel as Moreover, the Netherlands makes for an interesting case study a more sustainable alternative to large dam projects [3,9–12].1 In because of its highly developed and institutionalized water sector. Europe, an additional problem of large-scale hydropower is that This country lies in the common delta of the rivers Rhine, Meuse, most suitable sites have already been exploited. Here small-scale and Scheldt, and over two-thirds of its land territory would be hydel promises to generate electricity at low-head sites in a sus- subject to regular flooding without its elaborate flood protection tainable way [13]. For example, the above-mentioned ESHA infrastructure. Inland shipping as well as land reclamation have roadmap emphasizes that small-scale hydel systems produce a been policy priorities for centuries. Intensive urbanization and steady flow of green energy, “are mainly run-of-river with little or agriculture further challenged and propelled the institutionaliza- no reservoir impoundment”, that “blend in with [their] sur- tion of Dutch water management, and the country’s wet infra- roundings with no environmental impacts”. Next to environ- structure became comparatively tightly-coupled [24,25]. Höffken mental sustainability, the roadmap promises economic sustain- found that sustainability tensions of small-scale hydel plants in ability: small-scale hydel features “incomparable high efficiency India were often related to competing water uses, rather than …, time availability of the resource, long life time (up to 100 energy [17]. We will show whether and how such tensions play years), higher unit power investment”, and indirect benefits such out in the tightly-coupled, highly institutionalized Dutch water as power grid stability and enhanced water resource management sector, and the implications for Dutch small-scale hydel [14]. If policy makers create “regulatory stability” and “fair market development. rules”, the roadmap argues, small-scale hydel will be a promising Our second contribution is to propose a Large Technical Sys- sustainable energy option for Europe. tems perspective for identifying small-scale hydel sustainability Across the board, people assume that downsizing hydel plants problems. This perspective provides an actor-centered and will reduce harmful effects. Their green, clean, socially just, and problem-centered systems approach to studying the dynamics of small-scale features make small-scale hydel a rather uncontested complex infrastructure. It has previously examined how poten- technology in the sustainable energy literature. Its revival echoes tially conflicting uses of water, as well as transnational (inter) familiar discourses on “small is beautiful” [15]. However, several dependencies, were negotiated, accommodated,