As Romania and Bulgaria revive decades-old hydropower plans, environmentalists call for redress

Its supporters say it will help increase energy security and improve connections between Romania and Bulgaria, but environmental NGOs say the environmental cost of building a hydropower plant on the Danube is too high.

A hydropower project on the Danube River, which has been on the European Commission’s list of infrastructure investment priorities for decades, may violate EU directives, WWF, CEE Bankwatch Network and 36 other environmental organisations from across Europe said this week.

The Turnu Măgurele – Nikopol Hydraulic Structures Assembly (TMNHSA) will allegedly harm communities, economies and vital ecosystems, and waste vast sums of EU taxpayers’ money, while undermining EU-funded conservation gains. It also threatens the survival of iconic species, including the critically endangered sturgeon.

Environmental groups now want EU decision-makers to use their mandate to remove the project from their priority list.

A project planned on the Lower Danube in Romania and Bulgaria threatens to flood large areas of land, leading to the resettlement of more than 100 towns and villages along a 280-kilometre stretch of the river.

Its backers, the Bulgarian National Energy Company (NEK) and Romania’s Hidroelectrica, counter that the project, which will have an annual capacity of 4,400 GW and cost around six billion euros to complete, could help protect against floods, increase energy security and improve connections between Romania and Bulgaria. A new road crossing over the Danube is part of the project.

“This is a cross-border project and electricity generation is just one of the benefits,” Martin Georgiev, director of NEK, said earlier this year.

Impact on the environment

However, the dam’s reservoir is likely to cause widespread flooding of farmland, homes and fishponds, affecting communities in both countries. The project is likely to result in the relocation of port infrastructure and thousands of citizens, disrupt agricultural production, fisheries, inland transport and tourism, and pose a threat to the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) – the only nuclear power plant in Bulgaria.

“This project, designed over forty years ago, has failed to find investors since then due to its enormous costs compared to the relatively low energy yields, and also because of its huge environmental impact,” says Andrey Ralev of the CEE Bankwatch Network, the largest network of grassroots environmental and human rights groups in Central and Eastern Europe.

“This will undermine conservation efforts worth millions of euros to protect biodiversity and restore the Danube.”

“The majestic Danube sturgeons are a symbol of the Danube River and a natural heritage of European importance,” adds Beate Striebel-Greiter, leader of the global sturgeon initiative at WWF.

“The construction of this dam will block their migration route and destroy their last spawning grounds. This could be the final nail in the coffin for these iconic species. Decades of conservation efforts will be thrown overboard, and the EU will have species extinctions on its hands.”

Contradiction with EU policy and law

WWF and Bankwatch say the project violates key environmental obligations and EU regulations, such as the Habitats Directive and the Water Framework Directive, which aim to restore freshwater ecosystems to good condition and prevent deterioration. The project would significantly change the hydrology of the Danube, causing irreversible damage to the river’s natural processes.

Although the EU has prioritised renewable energy production as part of the transition towards a low-carbon economy, the increasingly frequent occurrence of low water levels in the Danube will reduce the energy production of this hydropower plant.

NGOs believe there are much better options than the TMNHSA project, particularly wind and solar installations, for which the region provides ample space outside areas with high biodiversity.

“The energy produced by this hydropower plant is not worth the cost to biodiversity, to community livelihoods or to the non-compliance with EU regulations,” says Ralev. “Renewable energy must be used without destroying natural habitats.”

It’s time to act

NGOs are now calling on the European Parliament to seek a two-month extension of the scrutiny period for the European Commission’s delegated act, which adds the Turnu Măgurele – Nikopol hydrotechnical project to the list of cross-border renewable energy projects (CB RES) eligible for EU funding under the Connecting Europe Facility.

This extension would allow the European Parliament to properly assess the impact of this project. If not, the delegated act will be formally adopted on 24 September. Approval of the project would undermine the EU’s commitment to biodiversity protection and climate resilience, setting a dangerous precedent for future infrastructure projects.

“In the face of the biodiversity and climate crises, projects like this are a step backwards,” says Irene Lucius, WWF Regional Director for Environment in Central and Eastern Europe.

“We must prioritize sustainable energy solutions that protect both nature and people.”

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