Digitisation is transforming the way hydropower plants will be operated and maintained in the future.

By 2030, over half of the world's hydropower plants are likely to need upgrading and modernisation, according to the International Hydropower Association's database.

Enhanced digital controls are part of a growing trend towards improving the performance of turbines and overall plant operations, by increasing efficiency, reducing outage time and optimising asset management, and ultimately reducing operating costs.

Digitisation is also playing a key role in enabling hydropower to support the increasing penetration of variable renewable resources, such as wind power and solar photovoltaics.

This webinar is suited to hydropower operators and industry experts, to learn about the revolution in digital technology, including new approaches and innovative solutions being brough in to improve and enhance the operations and maintenance of existing and future hydropower facilities.

The webinar will take place at 14:30 GMT on Tuesday 28 November 2017. Registration closes at 13:00.

To register your participation, please click here. The webinar is for employees of IHA member organisations and individual IHA members only. If you would like to join the webinar and are interested in becoming a member of IHA, please contact Greg Tracz, Chief Development Officer (gt[at]hydropower.org).

About the speakers    

Felix Flemming is Vice President Incubation at Voith Digital Solutions, where he and his team are globally responsible for the development of Industrie 4.0 and Internet of Things solutions for hydropower and other industries.    

Robin Goodman leads GE's global hydro service business, based in Paris. With an active portfolio in O&M, retrofit and maintenance offerings, GE is a proud leader in hydropower services. GE is committed to supporting customers with safe, clean, affordable and reliable services for the installed base, and has recently launched the Digital Hydro Power Plant and PRIME suite of support agreements.    

Bill Girling is a Senior Hydropower Analyst at the International Hydropower Association (IHA), focusing specifically on our climate resilience and operations and maintenance work topics. Bill joined IHA in 2016 as interim director of our hydropower development work programme.

Bill has 35 years of experience in the Canadian hydropower sector, having worked for most of his career as a hydropower planning engineer at Manitoba Hydro.