Vau i Dejës Hydroelectric Power Station

3 dams; Shurdhahi island with archeological ruins

The Vau Deja Reservoir ( Albanian Liqeni i Vaut të Dejës ) is the lowermost dam in a series of three large hydropower plants on the Drin in northern Albania. With the construction of three dams was begun in the 1960s. In the years 1971-73 the hydroelectric power station was built, which could be put into operation in 1973. It was planned and built with Chinese assistance. The performance of the five turbines is 250 MW. The water table is at 74 m above sea level. A. height, the maximum depth of the water is 52 meters, the capacity of 319 million m³.

The Vau Deja Reservoir is part of a series of hydroelectric power plants along the Drin River. Little above connects to the Koman dam, at the same Fierza follows the reservoir. The water of Drin is passed at Vau Deja just below the dams into Spathara dam, which will be used for energy when under construction Ashta hydropower plant. The three old plants of Koman, Vau - Fierza and Dea were renewed in recent years, with foreign assistance in order to ensure the important for Albania current production better.

A term coined by many small bays shore course characterizes the shores of Vau Deja reservoir. The lake consists of several basins that are connected by channels. A first pool of about four square kilometers, called Gjiri i Gomsiqes, located just east of the main course just behind the dam. The main course, 500 meters wide, about five kilometers ends after the dam in the central basin, which is about eight square kilometers. In this central part of the small island Shurdhahi, had fixed in ancient times, a Castle Hill on the Drin, the Illyrians and Romans and in the Middle Ages the small town of Sarda, a bishop's seat, is developed. In the years 1967 to 1972, the whole Gegendvon Sarda was archaeologically investigated, as the pent-up lake buried a considerable part of the former settlements among themselves. Behind this basin of the lake in the Drin valley is getting narrower until it is more of a river. A few kilometers before Koman follows but again one last small basin where the lake widens again to almost a kilometer.

The Drin was dammed at the village of Vau Deja where it emerges from the northern Albanian mountains to the coastal plain. A total of three dams had to be built to close several incisions in the coastal mountain range.

• The dam of Qyrsaq is Laç - Qyrsaq, the center of Vau Deja. The 375 -meter-long rockfill dam has a height of 46 meters above the foundation level and an apparent height of 44 meters. Below the dam is the power house. On the north side there are three overflow shooters are on the spillway.
• The Zadeja Dam is located about half a kilometer north-west. He closes the main valley of the Drin. The rockfill dam is 380 meters long. The crown is 59.5 meters above the foundation level and 59 meters above the valley floor. The dam has two spillway tunnels.
• The Rragam Dam is located five kilometers further north near the village Rragam in the east of Shkodra. It is a 240 meter long, curved earth dam. The dam reaches a height of 21 meters above the foundation level and 18 meters above the valley floor. Originally Rragam dam was also provided with an overflow. Since the construction of Fierza Reservoir flood risk but low and the overflow was removed.

In the flooded river valley experienced older cards still various villages. The area around the Vau Deja Reservoir, however, was only sparsely inhabited since the congestion. The almost unlimited omitted nature, making it suitable as a tourist recreation. Currently, there are very few restaurants with some hotel rooms. The island Shurdhahi with the historic ruins of Sarda and a church can be visited by Rragam from the ship.

Along the southern bank follows a winding road that ends in Koman for the ferry to Fierza.