International Symposium on Himalayan Hydropower Development Successfully Held in Wuhan

The International Symposium on Himalayan Hydropower Development was held in Wuhan from October 19 to 22, 2024, with more than 40 experts and scholars from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), University of South-Eastern Norway (USN), Wuhan University (WHU), Kathmandu University (KU), as well as ICIMOD and the World Bank (WB) participating in the symposium. This symposium was organized by the State Key Laboratory of Water Resources Engineering and Management, the School of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering of Wuhan University and the Hydropower Research Center for Himalaya Region (HRCHR).

The opening ceremony was hosted by Prof. Zhongdong Qian, the leader of HRCHR. Ms. Xiaoli Liu, the vice director of the Office of Foreign Affairs of Wuhan University, and Ms. Chi H Truong from HUC-ICIMOD delivered welcome speeches respectively. Ms. Chunxiu Ren, the vice dean of the School of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering of Wuhan University, and Prof. Ole Gunnar Dahlhaug from NTNU jointly released the new book “Design of Francis Turbine and OpenFOAM Methods” published by HRCHR.

Prof. Ole Gunnar Dahlhaug, Associate Prof. Biraj Singh Thapa, Prof. Zhongdong Qian, and Associate Prof. Thomas Øyvang gave plenary lectures on the topics of “Sediment erosion in hydraulic machineries”, “Hydropower to Hydrogen pathway for energy transition”, “Effect of Interphase Interaction of Silt-laden Water on Sediment Erosion”, “Power System Operation and Control”. Associate Prof. Zhiwei Guo, Dr. Sailesh Chitrakar, and Dr. Zilong Zhao gave keynote presentations on “Possible Physical Mechanisms of the Erosion Wear in Hydraulic Machineries”, “Summary of the recent research studies related to sediment erosion at TTL”, “Erosion wear on the runner of Francis turbines with effect of the inter-blade vortex”. Six experts from ICIMOD and the World Bank gave presentations on the economy, ecology, water resources, and energy of the Himalayan region, and the attending experts and scholars had a lively discussion on related issues.

This symposium provided extensive exchanges on technical topics in the development of hydropower in the Himalayan region and further promoted in-depth cooperation among related countries and international organizations.