92-nd annual meeting of ICOLD in New Delhi, India, 29.09-03.10 2024

From September 29 to October 3, 2024, the 92nd annual meeting of ICOLD was organized in New Delhi of India.

During the days of the annual meeting, many presentations were held regarding the issues that were addressed in this meeting. There were two presentations from Albania, which were received with great interest by the participants.

In the presentation prepared by G.Darbre, F.Maho and A.Jovani entitled “Evaluation of institutional aspects for the safety of dams in Albania” several important issues were addressed as below :

• Evaluation of the dam sector in Albania and the legal and regulatory framework for dam safety.
• State control for the safety of dams.
• Ownership and Operation of large dams in Albania.
• Institutional gaps and problems related to the safety of dams.
• Conclusions and recommendations for improving state control of large dams and the necessary institutional and legal reform in the dam sector in Albania.

In the presentation prepared by A.Lazareni and G.Mason entitled “Identification and mitigation of risk through the monitoring and control of dams” the experience of the Statcraft company during the operation and monitoring of the Moglice and Banje dams in the Devoll river was discussed, where the processes were identified and activities undertaken by this company to identify and reduce the risks that may occur through a professional process of monitoring and monitoring these dams by means of the instruments installed in these dams, staff training in various workshops and the analyzes performed regarding the necessary measures to reduce the risk in these dams

On October 01-02, 2024, the meetings of the technical committees of ICOLD were organized where members of ALBCOLD are permanent and active members of these committees. In these meetings, it was discussed about the preparation of new Bulletins in the dam sector, as well as the problems that need to be solved to increase the safety of dams and their monitoring.

On 03.10.2024, the meeting of the General Assembly of ICOLD was organized, in which several important issues were addressed as follows:

• Approval of ICOLD bulletins with No. 199 to No. 206.
• World Declaration on the Role of Dams in the Framework of Energy Transition and Climate Change.
• World register of large dams. Based on this register, it appears that large dams have been built in 166 different countries around the world.
• Creation of a Technical Committee to review the terms of reference for the establishment of a technical panel of engineers certified by ICOLD.
• Data base for incidents in dams and the participation of the ICOLD board in the analysis regarding incidents of dam ruptures in Derna, Libise.
• Inclusion of women in the National Committees of dams.

At the meeting of the Assembly, it was decided that the ICOLD Congress in 2028 will be organized in Madrid, Spain, while the annual meetings of ICOLD for 2026 and 2027 will be organized in Guadalajara, Mexico and Daejon, South Korea.

Also, at the meeting of the General Assembly, two vice presidents of ICOLD for Europe and Asia were elected, Mr. L. Mauvent/ Switzerland and Chen Guanfu/ China as well as the Secretary General of ICOLD, Mr. Frederic Correge / France.

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