A climate-proof and water-robust delta. This is the aim of the National Knowledge and Innovation Programme Water and Climate (NKWK). The 14 lines of research bring supply and demand together. One of the lines of research is ‘Water and Energy’. Together with the Water Boards and Provinces, Rijkswaterstaat is focusing on using the integral water system to generate sustainable energy in combination with energy buffering. This is done through joint programming and matching of research by universities and knowledge institutes and the implementation of innovative pilots with the business community.

In order to gain insight into the knowledge landscape of Water and Energy, discussions were held with 25 experts from the breadth of the field. On the basis of these discussions, seven fact sheets were drawn up giving an overview of technology development, modelling and impact assessment of the most important forms of energy generation and buffering with the water system. The figure below provides a summary (in Dutch):

The interviews show that knowledge development in the Netherlands in the field of Water and Energy is diverse and spread across a large number of universities and knowledge institutions, often without any noteworthy programmatic coherence.

In addition, the attention paid by water managers to sustainable energy from water does not seem to be the same as that paid by the knowledge institutions. For example, water managers pay attention to generation of energy from low-depletion hydropower (from streams and rivers). On the other hand, the knowledge institutes place little emphasis on this due to the relatively limited contribution of low-depletion hydropower to the total energy needs of the Netherlands.

Finally, almost all parties in the study indicate that it is difficult to secure funding for new research. However, clustering of research does seem to make a positive contribution here (e.g. WETSUS, Tidal Testing Centre), in which both government and industry can be the binding factor.

The next step within the research line is to match supply and demand in order to create new nuclei (clustering) of research and innovation aimed at accelerated practical implementation, including through pilots.

Click here for more information:

• request the knowledge inventory
• read more about the NKWK

_{Source photo: https://beeldbank.rws.nl, Rijkswaterstaat / RWS Afdeling Multimedia}