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A review of hydropower dams in Southeast Europe
- Currently, Southeast Europe (SEE) is witnessing a boom in hydropower plant (HPP) construction, which has not even spared protected areas. As SEE includes global hotspots of aquatic biodiversity, it is expected that this boom will result in a more severe impact on biodiversity than that of other regions. A more detailed assessment of the environmental risks resulting from HPP construction would have to rely on the existence of nearby hydrological and biological monitoring stations. For this reason, we review the distribution and trends of HPPs in the area, as well as the availability of hydrological and biological monitoring data from national institutions useable for environmental impact assessment. Our analysis samples tributary rivers of the Danube in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro, referred to hereafter as TRD rivers. Currently, 636 HPPs are operating along the course of TRD rivers, most of which are small (<1 MW). An additional 1315 HPPs are currently planned to be built, mostly in SerbiaCurrently, Southeast Europe (SEE) is witnessing a boom in hydropower plant (HPP) construction, which has not even spared protected areas. As SEE includes global hotspots of aquatic biodiversity, it is expected that this boom will result in a more severe impact on biodiversity than that of other regions. A more detailed assessment of the environmental risks resulting from HPP construction would have to rely on the existence of nearby hydrological and biological monitoring stations. For this reason, we review the distribution and trends of HPPs in the area, as well as the availability of hydrological and biological monitoring data from national institutions useable for environmental impact assessment. Our analysis samples tributary rivers of the Danube in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro, referred to hereafter as TRD rivers. Currently, 636 HPPs are operating along the course of TRD rivers, most of which are small (<1 MW). An additional 1315 HPPs are currently planned to be built, mostly in Serbia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As official monitoring stations near HPPs are rare, the impact of those HPPs on river flow, fish and macro-invertebrates is difficult to assess. This manuscript represents the first regional review of hydropower use and of available data sources on its environmental impact for an area outside of the Alps. We conclude that current hydrological and biological monitoring in TRD rivers is insufficient for an assessment of the ecological impacts of HPPs. This data gap also prevents an adequate assessment of the ecological impacts of planned HP projects, as well as the identification of appropriate measures to mitigate the environmental effects of existing HPPs.…
Author details: | Helena HuđekORCiD, Krešimir Žganec, Martin T. PuschORCiD |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2019.109434 |
ISSN: | 1364-0321 |
ISSN: | 1879-0690 |
Title of parent work (English): | Renewable & sustainable energy reviews |
Subtitle (English): | distribution, trends and availability of monitoring data using the example of a multinational Danube catchment subarea |
Publisher: | Elsevier Science |
Place of publishing: | Amsterdam [u.a.] |
Publication type: | Report |
Language: | English |
Date of first publication: | 2020/01/01 |
Publication year: | 2020 |
Release date: | 2023/07/07 |
Tag: | environmental impact assessment; environmental monitoring; fish; hydrology; macroinvertebrates; renewable energy; water framework directive |
Volume: | 117 |
Article number: | 109434 |
Number of pages: | 11 |
Funding institution: | German Federal Environmental Foundation (Deutsche Bundesstiftung; Umwelt); collaborative research project 'River Ecosystem Service Index'; (RESI) - German Ministry for Education and Science (BMBF) within the; framework programme FONA3 [FKZ 033W024A] |
Organizational units: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Umweltwissenschaften und Geographie |
DDC classification: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 50 Naturwissenschaften / 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik |
5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 55 Geowissenschaften, Geologie / 550 Geowissenschaften | |
Peer review: | Referiert |
Publishing method: | Open Access / Hybrid Open-Access |
License (German): | CC-BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International |