The European Commission has called on 8 countries (Austria, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom) to improve and bring their national legislation on hydropower generation into line with EU law.
The European Commission has doubts about the rules on the granting of permits for the construction and production of energy from hydroelectric power stations, which are issued without clear procedures.
Hydropower plants are the largest source of renewable electricity in the EU, accounting for 40% of the EU RES mix in the electricity sector. Brussels assumes that hydroelectric power stations can account for 20% of renewable energy consumption in the EU per year and for at least 27% in the next 10 years.
On the list of national renewable energy sources, as at the end of 2018, the Energy Regulatory Office lists 586 installations using hydropower with an installed electrical capacity of up to 0. 3 MW, 98 hydroelectric power plants with an installed electrical capacity of up to 1 MW, and 68 hydroelectric power plants with an installed electrical capacity of up to 5 MW.