Sustainable regional energy planning: The case of hydro

The study is dedicated to analysis of sustainable regional energy planning challenge's in order to reach carbon‐free economy in 2050. The case study of hydropower development in selected region of Poland provides good example how to deal practically with identified sustainable regional energy planning problems to address restrictions of environmental requirements and natural conditions on the least costs hydropower generation planning in a given region. The aim of the article is to develop a model for optimizing hydropower production and to apply this model for selected region. The West Pomeranian region was selected for this case study, and the time range for planning is from 2019 to 2030. The selected region is particularly predestined for the production of renewable energy sources. Constructed model and obtained results for optimization of hydropower development in selected region is useful for fostering usage of renewable energy sources in Poland and moving forward towards carbon‐free economy target set by European Union for 2050.