Vjosa River in Europe May Change Forever

The Vjosa River is in northwestern Greece and southwestern Albania.

Its total length is about 272 kilometres, of which the first 80 kilometres are in Greece, and the remaining 192 kilometres are in Albania.

It is one of Europe’s last wild rivers. But for how long?

The government of Albania has a plan to place a total of eight dams across the river to help produce electricity.

For a decade or so, a 90 MW power plant at Kalivaç is under construction, but with no progress lately. The hydropower additional potential of the river is being studied by the Albanian Government. Seven additional hydroelectric power plants along the Albanian part of the river would have 400 MW total capacity (2,155 GWh/year).

Environmental groups like River Watch and EcoAlbania, which urged authorities to halt such plans and declare it a national park.