MedINA, in collaboration with Callisto and the Grammos Environmental Association, submitted a public interest stakeholder opinion form (D11) (available in Greek) in the public consultation for a newly proposed Small Hydropower Plant (SHP). The project is planned on the Chelimodi stream, a tributary of the Sarantaporos River, within the Northern Pindοs National Park.
Under the recently approved Special Environmental Study 11a (YPEN/DDFPB/48617/1253) for the protected areas of Epirus and part of Western Macedonia, the Peripheral Zones of the National Park — where the project is located — explicitly prohibit the installation of new hydropower plants and stations of any category. The project currently under consultation is therefore in direct conflict with the most recently enacted protection regulations for the area.
The project is also sited just 50 metres from the boundaries of the Protected Landscape and Protected Natural Formation (PLPNF) of the Sarantaporos, Aoos, and Voidomatis rivers – the first area in Greece to be formally designated as protected specifically to safeguard the ecological integrity and free flow of river ecosystems.
As the Chelimodi stream forms part of the hydrographic network of the main river, the construction of the proposed project would directly undermine the ecological connectivity and the conservation objectives of the PLPNF. The Aoos and its main tributaries constitute one of the last large free-flowing river systems in Europe, supporting significant biodiversity and rare fish species, some of which are found nowhere else in Greece.
The project’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) revealed substantial uncertainties regarding hydrological data. Estimates of flow rates and the calculation of ecological flow are not based on long-term measurements taken directly on the Chelimodi stream itself, making it impossible to reliably assess the impacts on the watercourse and its dependent ecosystems. The Sarantaporos is one of the most important rivers in the country. Based on scientific findings from the Sarantaporos Science Week coordinated by MedINA in 2024, it has been documented as the least disturbed river in Greece.
At present, the Natural Environment & Climate Change Agency (NECCA) and the National Technical University of Athens, in collaboration with MedINA, are implementing actions to restore its free flow by removing obsolete barriers, in line with the application of European Regulation 2024/1991 on Nature Restoration.
MedINA continues to monitor developments in the Aoos river basin and to contribute evidence-based interventions for the protection of Greece’s free-flowing rivers.