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 strengthe ...

on the

Çoruh River The Chorokh ( ka, ჭოროხი ''Ch'orokhi'', tr, Çoruh, hy, Չորոխ ''Ch’vorokh'', el, Άκαμψις, ''Akampsis'') is a river that rises in the Mescit Mountains in north-eastern Turkey, flows through the cities of Bayburt, İs ...

near

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

Artvin Province Artvin Province ( tr, ; ka, , ''Artvinis p’rovincia''; Laz: ართვინიშ დობადონა ''Artviniş dobadona'') is a province in Turkey, on the Black Sea coast in the northeastern corner of the country, on the border w ...

within the eastern

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean 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 bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

region of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. 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 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 locals. On February 26, 2013, the foundation stone was laid in a ceremony attended by Minister of Forestry and Waterworks

Veysel Eroğlu Veysel Eroğlu (born 18 August 1948) is a Member of Parliament for Afyonkarahisar of the ruling Justice and Development Party and a former Minister of Forestry and Water of Turkey. Early life Eroğlu was born on 18 August 1948 in the Şuhu ...

and Minister of Labor and Social Security

Faruk Çelik Faruk Çelik (born 17 January 1956) is a Turkish politician and a Member of Parliament for Bursa ( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative ...

. 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. As of 2018, the expected opening date was delayed to 2021. As of 2023, Yusufeli Dam is the highest dam in Turkey and the fifth 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 and ; hy, Արտուին, translit=Artuin) is a city in northeastern Turkey about inland from the Black Sea. It is located on a hill overlooking the Çoruh River near the Deriner Dam. It is a former bishopric and (vacant) Armeni ...

, the Yusufeli will be a double-curvature arch dam with a height of from its foundation and from the river's

thalweg In geography and fluvial geomorphology, a thalweg or talweg () is the line of lowest elevation within a valley or watercourse. Under international law, a thalweg is the middle of the primary navigable channel of a waterway that defines the boun ...

(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 An underground power station is a type of hydroelectric power station constructed by excavating the major components (e.g. machine hall, penstocks, and tailrace) from rock, rather than the more common surface-based construction methods. One or mor ...

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 proces ...

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 2012 it had around $260m revenue from c ...

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 revenu ...

-Kolin consortium.

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 Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...

'') of which all except one are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found elsew ...

to Turkey. Of these threatened species 2

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural 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 nam ...

are limited to

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

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a 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. The city uses the double-headed eagle as ...

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 threate ...

(''Capra aegagrus''), chamois (''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 usually said to have first been described in 1778 ...

(''Sciurus anomalus''),

forest dormouse The forest dormouse (''Dryomys nitedula'') is a species of rodent in the family Gliridae found in eastern Europe, the Balkans and parts of western Central Asia. It is categorized as being of least concern in the ''IUCN List of Threatened Specie ...

(''Dryomys nitedula''),

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is ...

(''Ursus arctos''),

Eurasian badger The European badger (''Meles meles''), also known as the Eurasian badger, is a badger species in the family Mustelidae native to almost all of Europe. It is classified as least concern on the IUCN Red List as it has a wide range and a large s ...

(''Meles meles''), gray wolf (''Canis lupus''),

Mediterranean horseshoe bat The Mediterranean horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus euryale'') is a species of insectivorous A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can ...

(''Rhinolophus euryale''), lesser horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus hipposideros''),

greater mouse-eared bat The greater mouse-eared bat (''Myotis myotis'') is a European species of bat in the family Vespertilionidae. Description ''Myotis myotis'' is a large bat with a long, broad muzzle and big, long ears. The body's dorsal side is brown to reddish-b ...

(''Myotis myoti''s), Schreibers’ bat (''

Miniopterus schreibersii The common bent-wing bat (''Miniopterus schreibersii''), also known as the Schreibers's long-fingered bat or Schreibers's bat, is a species of insectivorous bat. They appear to have dispersed from a subtropical origin and distributed throughout ...

'') 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 word , meaning "bat" (from Latin "bird of evening, bat"). The size of the genus has been consi ...

(''Pipistrellus pipistrellus''). Of these species the Mediterranean bat and wild goat are internationally listed on IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. *Adversely affecting 2 nationally threatened fish species, the Black Sea

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

(''Salmo trutta labrax'') and brown

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmoni ...

(''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 insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

and 1

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

regionally rare species (''

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

poseidon'', ''

Pseudophilotes vicrama ''Pseudophilotes vicrama'', the eastern baton blue, Retrieved April 23, 2018. is a small butterfly found in Asia, east to Tian Shan and parts of China, west to the Balkans, Turkey, eastern Europe to southern Finland. It belongs to the lycaenids ...

'', ''

Pyrgus cirsii The Cinquefoil Skipper (''Pyrgus cirsii'') is a species of skipper butterfly (family Hesperiidae). Description This species has a wingspan of 26–28 mm and, typically of its genus, can be very difficult to identify in the field. ''Pyrgus c ...

'', '' Scolitantides orion'', ''

Thymelicus acteon The Lulworth skipper (''Thymelicus acteon'') is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. Its name is derived from Lulworth Cove in the county of Dorset, England, where the first specimens in Great Britain were collected in 1832 by English natural ...

'', and '' Onychogomphus assimilis'') of which 2 are listed in the IUCN Red List ''Pyrgus cirsii'' and ''Onychogomphus assimilis''.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

Projected biological impacts

See also

References