Rehabilitation of the Drin river hydraulic gates

The progressive rehabilitation of the major hydro plants in Albania has been ongoing for about 25 years, depending on the availability and extent of financing. The rehabilitation of spillway equipment at the Fierza and Komani plants on the Drin river in northern Albania took place from June 2018 through to early 2022. The bidding documents initially included the rehabilitation of spillway gates at the Vau Dejes plant but, for reasons explained in this paper, were finally treated in a separate contract. The program of work and the measures applied for the Drin river cascade are shared, along lessons to be learnt from the rehabilitation of the spillway gate equipment.