ABSTRACT
The paper regards the preparation and implementation of emergency plans for large dams in hydroenergy production sector of Albania. Albania is a rich country with water. All 39 rivers discharge 1300 m3/sec in Adriatic and Ionian Sea. In a territory of 28 748 km2, the catchment areas of the above rivers are 43 305 km2 and average height of 786 masl. Albania had a peak for large dams construction after the Second World War up to the early 1990s. During this period, there are constructed 652 dams. 307 of them are registered in World Register of ICOLD as large dams. According to ICOLD register, for number of dams for km2 of country and number of dams for 1 million people, Albania is in first rank in the Europe. The 12 very large dams of Albania are used for energy production. They are the dams with highest risk in our country. They are part of 6 rivers cascades as Drini River Cascade, Mati River cascade, Devolli river cascade, Bistrica and Mati and Okshtun river cascades. The largest cascade is Drini River cascade. The height, location type of Dams, the basins they created, the installed power capacities and the dynamic of utilization of Power Plants make Drini river cascade unique in Europe The largest dam in Albania is Fierza dam 166.5 meters high. The main challenge for the future in this sector is the safety, maintenance and monitoring of existing large dams. Also, in our focus will be the construction of new dams for hydro energy on Vjosa river. This paper summarizes the performed analyses regarding the preparation and implementation of emergency plans, Albanian legal framework for them, selection of main scenarios regarding of the emergency cases, recommendations regarding of the design, implementation and testing of warning systems in the downstream areas with highest risk for losses of people.
