The nature of the Meuse River is more than any other major river in the Netherlands formed by the presence of weirs. These were constructed almost one century ago to enable transport of coal; nowadays, the boundary conditions have changed and will continue to change in the future. The weirs reach the end of their lifetime around 2030; during their replacement, the uncertain future has to be considered. This paper presents an adaptive river design, which is able to adapt to the changing requirements. Special attention is given to the design of an adaptive weir in the Meuse River to replace the present weir at Belfeld. A new design methodology has been developed and applied. The methodology results shown in an adaptation scheme, give an overview of the required regional and weir adaptations. These adaptations are required to serve the scenario-dependent purposes in the future.@en

In the Lower Rhine river two hydro-power plants have been built at weirs. The third, most upstream weir at Driel was considered as well, but at the time (1988) could not be made feasible due to the low head difference at Driel. Developments in low-head hydro-power have given new possibilities and reason for reassessment. Locations such as Driel, where a discharge and a small head-difference are available, are common, but many are not utilised for power production. Additionally, a large number of existing weir complexes are nearing the end of their design life-time or are in need of renovation. Combining the construction and/or renovation works with the implementation of hydro power can significantly lower the costs, increasing the economic feasibility for low head locations. The research shows that it is indeed possible with current state of the art technology to extract sufficient amounts of power. Turbines that start at low head-differences or enhancements to increase the pressure difference over the turbine can be used to make sure the turbines reach comparable capacity factors (percentage of full-load-hours in a year) to existing run-of-river-plants with larger head-differences. In terms of economic performance it is necessary to use every opportunity to keep investment costs as low as possible, like using planned maintenance work to also implement the power-house.@en

In the Lower Rhine river two hydro-power plants have been built at weirs. The third, most upstream weir at Driel was considered as well, but at the time (1988) could not be made feasible due to the low head difference at Driel. Developments in low-head hydro-power have given new possibilities and reason for reassessment. Locations such as Driel, where a discharge and a small head-difference are available, are common, but many are not utilised for power production. Additionally, a large number of existing weir complexes are nearing the end of their design life-time or are in need of renovation. Combining the construction and/or renovation works with the implementation of hydro power can significantly lower the costs, increasing the economic feasibility for low head locations. The research shows that it is indeed possible with current state of the art technology to extract sufficient amounts of power. Turbines that start at low head-differences or enhancements to increase the pressure difference over the turbine can be used to make sure the turbines reach comparable capacity factors (percentage of full-load-hours in a year) to existing run-of-river-plants with larger head-differences. In terms of economic performance it is necessary to use every opportunity to keep investment costs as low as possible, like using planned maintenance work to also implement the power-house.@en