Sustainable development |
Above: Komani hydropower Dam is part of the Drin River Cascade
j Devoll River Cascade Europe’s largest generator of renewable energy,
Norwegian developer Statkraft, first became involved in Albania in 2008. The company says it is committed to the global challenge of climate change and to sustainable and responsible business practice. It said it will always try to understand project impacts, implement measures when needed, and work throughout with transparency. At the webinar, Rigela Gegprifti, Albania Country Manager at Statkraft, noted her team’s experience in successfully using the Hydropower Sustainability Tools at the 269MW Devoll hydropower project in southeast Albania.
“One of the ambitions for the Devoll hydropower
Below: The 500MW Fierza Dam in Albania
project was to be able to transfer technology, expertise and know-how to local Albanians. I strongly believe that this technological expertise has been transferred to many young Albanians that are the next generation of ambassadors of sustainable project development,” she said. The Devoll River cascade comprises the 72MW Banja hydropower project and the 197MW Moglice. Construction began in 2013 with operations beginning at Banja in 2016 and Moglice in 2020. An IHA sustainability assessment was carried out in 2017. An independent assessment is a pre-requisite for
every project, according to Gegprifti. She said it is important that sustainability standards identify good practice, facilitating the transfer of good expertise and creating a robust basis for new projects to be implemented in a sustainable way. Statkraft believes the Devoll project has been completed with “full respect to the environment and community”. The company says it has worked with transparency, been a good neighbour to the community and offered support with its various initiatives. For example, the construction of 100km of roads within the region has improved connectivity for more than 50,000 inhabitants; social development has been encouraged through professional training programmes; and more than 50 new homes have been built. Furthermore, afforestation programmes cover more than 900ha and over 1.8M seedlings have been planted. Gegprifti says that Statkraft will continue with such support within the operational phase of project. “We believe that renewables are definitely the
future and hydropower will continue to play its key role,” Gegprifti concluded. With Albania’s hydrological resources she added that “there is enormous potential for further optimisation of hydropower assets”.
Strategic priority Alain Kilajian from the IHA spoke about how the
Balkans webinar was framed “through the lens of the World Commission on Dams”. One of WCD’s strategic priorities was benefit sharing and Kilajian explained that the Devoll scheme was a good example of how a community can be engaged with and benefit from a hydropower project. At this stage in the history of hydropower, he said that every hydropower project should be designed, constructed and implemented with such a level of community involvement. “It’s always interesting to start a timeline from the
WCD report which was a remarkable pivotal moment in the history of the hydropower sector,” Kilajian said. He believes that the hydropower sustainability tools are in some way an outcome of the wide body of research which was carried out by the commission: 21 years later some of its strategic priorities are still being implemented.
Rewrite the script Eddie Rich explained that the IHA is keen to work
with countries such as the Western Balkans to embed the hydropower sustainability tools into policies and regulations and ensure that the relevant stakeholders can implement them.
“With all of that,” Rich said, “we hope we can rewrite the script about hydropower and ensure it can play its role in fighting climate change; setting the bar high for the sustainability of all renewables.” ●
References The IHA and KESH organised webinar on sustainable hydropower in the Western Balkans was held on 3 March 2021 and can be viewed in full at
https://www.hydropower.org/events/webinar- launch-of-iha-led-sustainability-capacity- building-programme-in-western-balkans?utm_ source=e-shot&utm_medium=email&utm_camp aign=HydropowerTodayMarch2021
44 | August 2021 |
www.waterpowermagazine.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53
