Construction of 8,700 hydro power plants planned in Europe – More than 3,000 could be located in the Balkans

There are 21,387 hydro power plants operating in Europe, and another 8,779 are either being built or are in planning, mostly in the Alps and in the Balkans, as shown by the first pan-European list of the existing and planned HPPs.

As warned by NGOs EuroNatur and Riverwatch, the new projects will destroy the previously intact rivers, especially in the Balkans.

Furthermore, around 2,500 HPP projects are planned in protected areas, mostly national parks or those within the EU network Natura 2000.

The report lists 946 HPPs in Serbia – 85 existing ones, 830 planned and 31 under construction, a total of 105 in Kosovo, 692 in Albania and 426 in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In Europe, the majority of them are or will be located in Germany – 4,839, followed by Austria (4,485), France (2,663) and Norway (2,453).

The study commissioned by EuroNatur, Riverwatch, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Group for the Study of Territory and Environment GEOTA emphasizes the failure of governments in and outside the EU to protect rivers and biodiversity and documents the lack of compliance with the EU laws, especially the Water Framework Directive.

– We are facing the end of free-flowing rivers in Europe and a collapse of biodiversity if we do not stop this hydropower madness. The EU Commission under Ursula von der Leyen and the national governments have to stop this expansion. Above all, they must put an end to subsidies for hydropower and improve river protection. It is unacceptable that our electricity bill finances hydropower investors and thus the destruction of Europe’s lifelines – says Ulrich Eichelmann of Riverwatch.

EuroNatur CEO Gabriel Schwaderer says that the largest number of hydropower plants – more than 3,000 – is planned to be constructed in the Balkans. He says that most of these rivers are still intact, some even untouched.

– We urge the European Union to address these developments in the accession negotiations and to insist on compliance with nature conservation legislation. In the Balkans, there is excessive investment in hydropower, while the potential for solar power – a truly renewable energy source – remains largely untapped – says Schwaderer.

Hydropower dams destroy rivers and their surroundings, and they substantially contribute to biodiversity loss. They interrupt the natural flow of the river, block fish migration – affecting fish stocks and the survival of endangered species – and intercept sediments that protect river banks and deltas from flooding and rising sea levels. Local communities are literally being dried up. In addition, over 90 percent of the planned hydroelectric power plants generate only small amounts of electricity (less than 10 MW), i.e. they are so-called ‘small’ hydropower plants that cause great damage to nature with little economic benefit, EuroNatur and Riverwatch say in a joint press release.

In order to tackle freshwater biodiversity loss, they demand from all European countries and the EU a Blue New Deal for European Rivers, no more subsidies, better protection of valuable river stretches and a new pan-European river restoration program.

EuroNatur

Riverwatch

World Wildlife Fund

WWF

Group for the Study of Territory and Environment

GEOTA

Ulrich Eichelmann

Gabriel Schwaderer

hydro power plants

construction of hydro power plants

HPPs

mini HPPs