The State Of Development of Hydropower in the Bóbr River Catchment in Poland

Hydropower is one of the important renewable energy sources and is responsible for about 47% of global electricity produced from renewable energy sources [1].The paper focuses on the analysis of the development of hydropower in the Bbr River catchment located in the southwestern part of Poland [2,3].This catchment has been used for hydropower since the 13th century due to favorable hydrographic and geomorphological conditions [4].The analysis, based on documentation provided by the State Water Holding Polish Waters, revealed the existence of 71 operating hydropower plants with a total installed capacity of almost 150 MW.The oldest of them has been operating since 1898, and the newest -since 2019.The largest of them is Dychw on the Bbr River with a capacity of 79.5 MW.The dynamics of the growth of hydropower plants in this area indicates that the largest number of facilities were put into operation during the Third Polish Republic -after 1989 (an average of 1.2 per year), while the largest increase in terms of installed capacity was recorded during the Polish People's Republic -1945Republic - -1989 (an average of 1.8 MW per year).These changes result from differences in the energy policy pursued in the indicated periods [4,5,6].The facilities in operation are located mainly on the Bbr River (46.5%) and Kwisa River (16.9%).The dominant types are run-of-river hydropower plants (90.2%), with Kaplan turbines (45.7%), with medium head height (49.3%), in derivation channels (70.4%), and small -with installed capacity less than 10 MW (97.2%).The presented results are important from the point of view of sustainable development goals, adaptation to climate change and environmental policies.