Financing for hydropower in protected areas in Southeast Europe
Publisher: CEE Bankwatch Network
Volume: 46 pages, pdf
Description:
During the last decade, southeast Europe (SEE) has experienced a wave of hydropower projects. Bulgaria moved fastest to hand out concessions on small rivers and streams in the late 1990s and early 2000s and was joined by others in the mid-2000s. Albania was the most active in this regard, awarding concessions for no less than 435 hydropower projects from 2007 to 2013. The negative social and environmental consequences have caused debate, protests and lawsuits in Bulgaria and Albania, yet other countries in the region have not learnt from their experiences. Macedonia, for example, is currently very active in awarding concessions for the construction of small hydropower plants (SHPPs). In Serbia the real number of planned HPPs is unknown – there are more than 800 small hydropower plants on the national register of SHPPs, but this is currently being revised.