28th ICOLD Congress and 93rd Annual meeting, Chengdu, China, 16-23.05 2025

From 16 to 23 May 2025, the 28th ICOLD Congress and the 93rd Annual Meeting of the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) were organized in Chengdu, China.

This important event was attended by more than 2700 experts in the field of dams, representatives of National Dam Committees from more than 100 countries around the world, representatives of major consulting and construction companies in this sector, as well as personalities in the design and construction of dams. Mr. Arjan Jovani-Chairman of ALBCOLD and Mr. Ermal Kacurri – member of ALBCOLD also participated in this congress.During the Congress, 4 main issues were addressed as follows:

1-Issue 108 – Dams and Reservoirs under climate change conditions. During the discussion of this issue, presentations were made on pumped water storage systems, floating PV panel systems, out-of-river dams for water storage and flood protection.

2-Issue 109 – Dams and Embankments in the Future. During the discussions of this issue, presentations were made on the management of old dams in terms of their operation and rehabilitation, the safety of dams during their construction and rehabilitation, as well as special cases for small dams and embankments

3-Issue 110 – Safety of dams and embankments in the face of extreme hydrological events. During the discussions of this issue, presentations were made regarding the assessment of extreme events in the context of climate change, the assessment of the safety of hydrotechnical structures for extreme flows, as well as the prediction of floods in real time and the proper management of hydraulic structures in large dams.

4-Issue 111 – Seismic Design and Safety of Dams with Local Material.

During the discussions of issue 110 regarding the safety of dams in the face of extreme hydrological events, the representatives of the ALBCOLD had a presentation entitled “Re-Assessment of the discharge capacities of the Drin River cascade dams in Albania” where several issues were addressed as follows

• General information about the Drin River cascade.
• Analysis and Hydrological Model of the Drin River.
• Flood Management and Operation of the Drin River Cascade Reservoirs.
• Conclusions and recommendations for measures to be taken for proper flow management.

On May 18-20, 2025, the meetings of the ICOLD Technical Committees were organized, where members of the ALBCOLD are permanent and active members of these committees. In these meetings, discussions were held regarding the preparation of new Bulletins in the dam sector as well as the issues that need to be resolved to increase the safety of dams and their monitoring.

On May 21, 2025, the meeting of the ICOLD General Assembly was organized, in which, in addition to the analysis of several important issues in the dam sector, the election of the new ICOLD President for the period 2025-2028 was also held. Mr. Devendra Kumar Sharma – former INCOLD President for the period 2018-2022 and Vice President of ICOLD was elected to this important post.

Also, during the ICOLD General Assembly meeting, the ICOLD Declaration on the Role of Dams and Reservoirs in the Energy Transition and Climate Change Adaptation was adopted. This Declaration was also signed by the leaders of international organizations such as IHA, IEA, WWC, IME, ICID

More details about the activities organized at this event can be found on the website: www.icold-cigb.org

During the General Assembly Meeting of ICOLD and the presentation of the representative of the ALBCOLD