HYPOSO Study Tour in Europe

The HYPOSO Study Tour had the aim of bringing together potential business partners from the HYPOSO target countries with the European hydropower industry. It was planned that selected African and Latin American stakeholders, especially project developers, investors and multipliers could visit various European manufacturers, research institutes and reference hydropower plants, to get information on latest European hydropower technologies.
The Study Tour lasted eleven days, from 3 to 13 May, 2023, and took place in four European countries: Germany, Austria, Italy and the Netherlands. Eight site visits at hydropower plants were organised (Jochenstein, Vöcklabruck, Obervellach II, St. Anton, Wiesen, Sellrain, Fotsch, Möhne) as well as nine visits at headquarters or production facilities of hydropower equipment producers (Global Hydro, Voith Hydro, Gugler Water Turbines, Andritz Hydro, Braun Maschinenfabrik, Troyer, Wild Metal, TRM Tiroler Rohre GmbH, Ossberger). The group stayed in nine cities and travelled around 2,500 kilometres. The organisers hosted 24 guests from Cameroon (6 participants), Uganda (5 participants), Bolivia (6 participants), Ecuador (2 participants) and Colombia (5 participants). All of them were directly connected with the hydropower sector in the target countries, in positions of presidents or general directors of hydropower plants operator companies, HYPOSO pilot sites owners, project developers, general managers or project managers, lord mayors, civil engineers and energy planning specialists.

Site visit at Obervellach II hydropower plant

Read the complete report here, and don't miss the chance to watch the HYPOSO Study Tour Video.

The main conclusion from the Study Tour and Final Event shows that the end of the HYPOSO project is the starting point for many interesting activities identified around Latin America and Africa during the project and the beginning of wider cooperation between stakeholders from target countries and European hydropower industry. Moreover, there is clearly noticeable need for international cooperation in order to facilitate the development of hydropower worldwide. Established and maintained business contacts during the HYPOSO Study tour will surely be continued in the future.

The entire tour, as well as individual visits, took place in compliance with the relevant safety rules, thanks to which the trip was completely safe, without any incidents and problems. During the Study Tour various activities allowing participants to spend time in an active and engaging way were organised, enabling learning via participation in company presentations, site visits, discussions, and networking. Time for business meetings and matchmaking was also provided. The organisers were available to the participants throughout the tour, helping to meet the participants' current needs related to participation in the Study Tour. 

During the Study Tour there was an interest in organising further study tours for participants from Latin America. Considered were two kinds of study tours. The first one would be an educational tour for representatives of public administration entities, involved in issuing permissions for hydropower plant investments to learn about the best practices in hydropower in Europe. The second type included business tours for representatives of hydropower operators to visit certain hydropower equipment producers, necessary to find the best solutions for their schemes. It shows that the HYPOSO project with its task of the Business Cooperation Study Tour organisation could be replicated in the future due to considerable interest about this kind of knowledge exchange and b2b matchmaking. The results of the HYPOSO Study Tour are satisfactory, the objectives of the trip were fully met and similar projects are expected to continue in the future.
The HYPOSO consortium thanks the organisers a lot. This was a masterpiece of organisation.