The Yusufeli Dam is an

arch dam An arch dam is a concrete dam that is curved upstream in plan. The arch dam is designed so that the force of the water against it, known as hydrostatic pressure, presses against the arch, causing the arch to straighten slightly and strengtheni ...

on the

Çoruh River The Chorokh ( ka, ჭოროხი ''Ch'orokhi'' , , ''Chorokh'', , , ''Akampsis'') is a river that rises in the Mescit Mountains in north-eastern Turkey, flows through the cities of Bayburt, İspir, Yusufeli, and Artvin, along the Kelkit Rive ...

near

Yusufeli Yusufeli (, Berdagrak; ka, ახალთი, Akhalti) is a town and district of Artvin Province in the Black Sea Region, Turkey, Black Sea region of Turkey. It is located on the bank of Çoruh River 104 km south-west of the city of Artvin, ...

Artvin Province Artvin Province (; Armenian language, Armenian: Արտվինի նահանգ ''Artvini nahang''; ka, , ''Artvinis p'rovintsia''; Laz language, Laz: ართვინიშ დობადონა ''Artvinish dobadona;'') is a Provinces of Turke ...

within the eastern

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

region of

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. The Yusufeli Dam will be the second largest dam within the larger Çoruh River Development Plan, which plans to build 13 dams, of which two are operational and another two are under construction. The dam's main purpose is

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

power production and it will support a 540 MW power station. The dam is controversial because of its projected impact on the biodiversity within its reservoir area along with the relocation of the locals. On February 26, 2013, the foundation stone was laid in a ceremony attended by Minister of Forestry and Waterworks Veysel Eroğlu and Minister of Labor and Social Security Faruk Çelik. It is expected that the construction of the dam will cost 487 million (approx. US$270 million). The dam's opening date was initially set to May 29, 2018. In 2018, the expected opening date was pushed back to 2021, and the dam finally became operational at the end of 2022. As of 2023, Yusufeli Dam is the highest dam in Turkey and the 9th tallest dam in the world.

History

The first studies on the Yusufeli Dam were carried out in the 1970s and it was included in the Coruh River Hydropower Development Master Plan in 1982. The feasibility report was completed in 1986 and the project was added to the national plan in 1997.

Design

Situated southwest of

Artvin Artvin (Laz language, Laz and ; ; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in northeastern Turkey about inland from the Black Sea. It is the seat of Artvin Province and Artvin District.thalweg In geography, hydrography, and fluvial geomorphology, a thalweg or talweg () is the line or curve of lowest elevation within a valley or watercourse. Normally only the horizontal position of the curve is considered (as viewed on a map); the c ...

(lowest point of river bed). It will have a crest length of and crest width of while being composed of of concrete. The dam's crest will sit at an altitude of above sea level while the normal operating level of its reservoir will be , maximum will be and the minimum . The reservoir surface area of will have a total storage capacity of and an active or "useful" storage of . The dam's spillway will be a service controlled chute type with a maximum discharge capacity of . The dam will have an underground power station that is long, wide and high. Within the power station will be 3 x 180 MW vertical shaft

Francis turbine The Francis turbine is a type of water turbine. It is an inward-flow reaction turbine that combines radial and axial flow concepts. Francis turbines are the most common water turbine in use today, and can achieve over 95% efficiency. The pro ...

s. Design activities will be carried out by Su-Yapi Engineering and Consulting Inc. Construction is to be carried out by a

Limak Holding Limak Holding A.S. is a Turkish conglomerate, with major interests in construction, energy, cement, and tourism. Its assets include the Limak Cement and Limak Energy companies and the Limak Tourism Group. In 2022, it had around $2.5 billion reve ...

Cengiz Holding Cengiz Holding A.S. is a Turkish conglomerate, with major interests in construction, energy, mining, and tourism. Its assets include the Eti Copper and Eti Aluminium mining companies. It is owned by Mehmet Cengiz. In 2012 it had around $470m reve ...

-Kolin consortium.

Relocation of residents

In April 2023 the reservoir behind the dam began filling, thus submerging the town of Yusufeli, population 7000. The residents were relocated by the government to newly built apartment blocks nearby.

Projected biological impacts

If built, Yusufeli Dam is expected to have significant biological impacts including: *Adversely affecting 21 nationally listed threatened plant species, (including '' Iris taochia'') of which all except one are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to Turkey. Of these threatened species 2

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

are limited to

and its surroundings, 8 are limited to the Çoruh Valley, and 6 to the

Artvin Artvin (Laz language, Laz and ; ; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in northeastern Turkey about inland from the Black Sea. It is the seat of Artvin Province and Artvin District.Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. It is the site of an ...

area. Turkish Red Book for Plants shows that of these, 7 species are critically endangered, 5 are endangered and 9 are vulnerable. *Adversely affecting 12 nationally listed threatened mammal species including the;

wild goat The wild goat (''Capra aegagrus'') is a wild goat species, inhabiting forests, shrublands and rocky areas ranging from Turkey and the Caucasus in the west to Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan in the east. It has been listed as near threaten ...

(''Capra aegagrus''),

chamois The chamois (; ) (''Rupicapra rupicapra'') or Alpine chamois is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope native to the mountains in Southern Europe, from the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Apennines, the Dinarides, the Tatra Mountains, Tatra to the Carpa ...

(''Rupicapra rupicapra''),

Persian squirrel The Caucasian squirrel (''Sciurus anomalus'') or Persian squirrel, is a tree squirrel in the genus ''Sciurus'' found in temperate broadleaf and mixed forests in south-western Asia. The species is traditionally said to have first been described i ...

(''Sciurus anomalus''), forest dormouse (''Dryomys nitedula''),

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear native to Eurasia and North America. Of the land carnivorans, it is rivaled in size only by its closest relative, the polar bear, which is much less variable in size and slightly bigger on av ...

(''Ursus arctos''),

Eurasian badger The European badger (''Meles meles''), also known as the Eurasian badger, is a badger species in the Family (biology), family Mustelidae native to Europe and West Asia and parts of Central Asia. It is classified as least concern on the IUCN Red L ...

(''Meles meles''),

gray wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...

(''Canis lupus''), Mediterranean horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus euryale''), lesser horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus hipposideros''), greater mouse-eared bat (''Myotis myoti''s), Schreibers’ bat ('' Miniopterus schreibersii'') and

pipistrelle bat ''Pipistrellus'' is a genus of bats in the family Vespertilionidae and subfamily Vespertilioninae. The name of the genus is derived from the Italian language, Italian word , meaning "bat" (from Latin "bird of evening, bat"). The size of the ge ...

(''Pipistrellus pipistrellus''). Of these species the Mediterranean bat and wild goat are internationally listed on the

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological spe ...

. *Adversely affecting 2 nationally threatened fish species, the Black Sea

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

(''Salmo trutta labrax'') and brown

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

(''Salmo trutta macrostigma''). The Black Sea salmon's migration will be blocked because of this and the other planned and built dams. Existing populations of fish will be adversely affected by the construction of the dam and another 6 species populations may not recover due to the reduction of creek and river habitat needed for breeding. *Potentially adversely affecting 5

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

and 1

dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threat ...

regionally rare species (''

Polyommatus ''Polyommatus'' is a genus of butterfly, butterflies in the family Lycaenidae. Its species are found in the Palearctic realm. Taxonomy Recent molecular studies have demonstrated that ''Cyaniris'', ''Lysandra (butterfly), Lysandra'', and ''Neoly ...

poseidon'', '' Pseudophilotes vicrama'', '' Pyrgus cirsii'', '' Scolitantides orion'', '' Thymelicus acteon'', and '' Onychogomphus assimilis'') of which 2 (''Pyrgus cirsii'' and ''Onychogomphus assimilis'') are listed in the IUCN Red List.Eken G, Bozdogan M, I˙sfendiyaroglu S, Kılıç DT & Lise Y, (editor) 2006, Key biodiversity areas in Turkey, Doga Dernegi, Ankara, Turkey.

References

{{Çoruh River dams Hydroelectric power stations in Turkey Dams on the Çoruh River Dams in Artvin Province Underground power stations Arch dams

History

Design

Relocation of residents

Projected biological impacts

See also

References