On September 11-12, 2024,  was held the 10th International Conference "Development of hydropower in mountain areas as a basis for further development of regions".

The experience of the countries of the «European Union for Ukraine» on the initiative and organization of the Public Union "Association "Hydropower of Ukraine" and with the support of the Office of the President of Ukraine, the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine and the Zakarpattia Regional State Administration in the village of Kamenytsia, Zakarpattia  region.

Representatives of the state institutions and institutes of Ukraine, members of the Association "Hydropower of Ukraine, other public organizations, institutions of higher education and enterprises of Ukraine, foreign associations and companies from a number of countries of the European Union, Austria, Norway, the Republic of Poland and their representative offices in Ukraine and relevant regional offices of banks and funds from the United States of America participated in the work of the conference. Also, representatives of the Department of Hydropower, Thermal Power and Hydraulic Machines, Hydrotechnical Construction and Hydraulics of the NUWEE led by Andrii Safonyk, the Director of the Institute of Energy, Automation and Water Engineering (IEAWE) also took an active part in the work of the conference.

Conference participants listened to reports on the current state of hydropower and the United Energy System in Ukraine, opportunities for the development of regional distributed generation in the Carpathian region of Ukraine with priority use of clean energy and renewable sources based on the construction of hydroelectric power plants and hydroelectric storage power plants, small and medium capacity, experience of a number of European countries in the development of the hydropower potential of mountain rivers and the development of the economy of the respective regions of these countries and the problems and prospects for the development of communities in the mountainous regions of Carpathian Ukraine.

The aggressive full-scale war against Ukraine, waged by the russian federation, aims, in addition to the direct and undisguised genocide of the people of Ukraine, to destroy both individual energy facilities of the country and the entire United Energy System of Ukraine.

Right now is the time to think about the restoration of the UES with a change in its configuration in the conditions of accelerated development of renewable energy sources, including small hydropower, with a transition from a purely centralized to a gradually decentralized, more flexible and resistant to military conflicts system, the basis of which will be the facilities of the regional distributed generation. To solve these problems, it is necessary to train highly qualified hydropower specialists, hydraulic engineers and power engineers, which is a direct task of our university.

Andrii SAFONYK,
Director of the IEAWE