ITCOLD, the Italian Committee on Large Dams, set up a Working Group to assess how dam owners’ actions addressed to the sustainable host territories development are perceived by the other stakeholders present in the same territory. The main aim of the ITCOLD activity is to facilitate the dialogue and the intercommunication between two worlds that often have conflictual or even opposite interests.

So far, five workshops have already been organised:

1. Bolzano in the north of Italy, May 2014;
2. Copanello in the south, October 2015;
3. Bologna in the north-central part, November 2016;
4. Rieti in 2017
5. Genova in 2018.

In 2019, HYDROPOWER EUROPE has participated in the sixth workshop in Palermo, Sicily. The mission was to inform owners of the EU consideration for hydropower as a source of flexibility and storage and to engage them in the consultation.

The investigation has covered two complementary aspects.

1. From one side, the pro-activity of dam owners has been highlighted by means of the feeding of a questionnaire, based on a model organised in three macro-fields:
   1. environmental management actions,
   2. promotion of local development,
2. transfer of water and money resources to the host territory.
3. From the other side, the assessment of the stakeholders’ point of view has been duly taken into account in the frame of workshops, organised on different territories, that have allowed the direct confrontation with the dam owners.

The analysis of data gathered through questionnaires proposed to dam owners and discussed during the workshops has provided a sketch of the state of interaction between dam owners and the multifarious world of stakeholders.

Thanks to this event, the relationship between ITCOLD and HYDROPOWER EUROPE has strengthened and ensured a partnership for the next year. The presence on the event gathered good examples and feedback needed for the Strategic Industry Roadmap. Dissemination of opinions of other stakeholders was explained in the consultation.