European-backed Small HPPs Damaging Environment in Balkans
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Government
The CEE Bankwatch Network, a non-governmental organisation based in the Czech Republic, said that eight hydropower plant (HPP) projects in Albania, Croatia and Macedonia financed with European public money have damaged biodiversity and should carry out restoration measures.
Representative image, source: Pexels
The Ilovac HPP in Croatia, the Rapuni 1-2 and Ternove HPPs in Albania, and five plants in Macedonia - Brajcinska reka 1, Brajcinska reka 2, Tresonecka reka, Lipkovo and Tearce 97-99 - are affecting endemic and endangered species, and in some cases they have also hampered the local communities’ water use, CEE Bankwatch said, citing the results of a study.
The plants were built in 2013-2015 with support from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), it added.
According to Bankwatch, the HPPs are blocking fish passes, releasing insufficient or no water at all downstream, and creating significant erosion with access roads. " [...] these projects have caused the destruction of habitat of the endemic Prespa Trout in Macedonia and the filling of the glacial Black Lake in Albania with sediment, among other impacts," Bankwatch commented.
"Our research shows that so-called small hydropower plants have large impacts. It is high time for financiers to stop investing in any industrial activity in ecologically sensitive areas," Igor Vejnovic, Bankwatch’s hydropower policy officer and the author of the study, is quoted saying.
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