HARNESSING OF THE HYDROENERGETIC POTENTIAL IN THE UPPER BASIN OF THE ARGES RIVER, ROMANIA

Laura Ana Mititelu

Administraţia Bazinală de Apă Argeş-Vedea, Piteşti, România

Abstract

Harnessing of water resources for various purposes (hydroenergetic, water supply, irrigation, fishing, leisure, etc.) represents an area of great interest, with broad implications for impact and environmental protection. Arges River Basin is a place with high hydroelectric potential, but also for other uses, especially, river Arges, was the target of several hydro facilities. Ever since the 60s of the twentieth century, by means of elaborate hydraulic works (dams and adducts) Vidraru lake has been one of the almost important hydro power in Romania (located in the Carpathian Mountains, dam 166 m, among the top 30 in the world, vol. 465 mil. cubic meters, underground hydroelectric power with a power of 220 MW, depending on hydro power and drinking water. Later, the development plan of Arges was extended, currently there are far downstream of Lake Vidraru (up to Golesti), still 10 lakes and 16 power plants. Beginning in 2011, following Romania's commitments to the European Commission related to green energy, a project was developed to build micro hydropower plants (MHPs), a project to harness the energy potential of the river tributaries in Vidraru Lake. So, there are proposed for development on the rivers Capra - 5 MHPS, the Buda - 4 MHPS and 1 MHP on the Otic, totaling an installed capacity of 14.7 MW that may be used by about 30,000 families. This paper presents the scheme of current harnessing and the proposed scheme, as well as the pros / cons related to green energy on this issue in recent years.

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