Assessment of the electro-mechanical equipment’s weight of the European hydropower fleet

Abstract Hydropower structures are typically made of materials that are available in most parts of the world, such as steel, concrete, and—to a lesser extent—copper, and do not use critical materials. The weight of hydropower structures is an important input data, as it is used to perform Life Cycle Assessments and to estimate the cost and the economic value of materials, both during the design and in case of dismantling or retrofitting. The weight of material is of interest also for policy-making purposes and for strategic development planning, for example to estimate impacts on resources. In this study, available literature equations are, for the first time, applied at a regional scale (the European Union) to estimate the weight of the hydropower fleet’s electro-mechanical (steel-made) equipment. The total weight of the electro-mechanical equipment (runner, distributor, generator, draft tube and casing) amounts to 877 ktons. The average ratio of weight to installed power is R = 5.7 ton/MW and it is lower in mountainous countries ( R = 4–6 in alpine areas, R = 30 in Denmark), where hydropower plants exploit high heads and low discharges.