September 12, 2024
We are happy to report that Store2Hydro kicked-off with its inaugural meeting in Brussels on February 1. It was a charged atmosphere in Brussels as tractor protests had descended on to the city, many of which were very close to the kick-off meeting venue! Nevertheless, the meeting proceeded without problems, ably chaired by the project coordinator Staffan Lundstrom. We were also joined by the Project Officer (PO) from CINEA, Sebastien Mortier, for the duration of the meeting.
Day 1 was an opportunity for the coordinator, Staffan Lundstrom, to reintroduce the project to all team members and for everyone to finally meet in person after many virtual meetings preparing the proposal. Staffan gave an overview of the project along with the proposed timeline for delivery (Gantt chart). The CINEA PO then presented a reminder of the expectations of all partners from the Commission, including project accounting. Each Work Package Lead then presented an overview of their tasks and commitments, including short-term plans for 2024. The consortium then met in the evening for a delicious meal at Le Troisième Acte.
The second day started with the Executive Board (Team Leaders) meeting, with one of the primary tasks being to nominate 3 internal members for the Advisory Board. These were agreed as Mats Billstein (Vattenfall), Petter Hessen (Aker Solutions), and Mark Langley (WRG Europe). Options for external members were also discussed, and these will be pursued over the coming months. The EB Meeting was then followed by break-out sessions for each Work Package members to discuss short-term actions and approaches for the coming year. We were also honoured to be joined by Policy Officer Thomas Schleker who showed a strong interest in the project and hydropower in general.
We are all very much looking forward to starting work on this exciting project!
