Controversial dams

Energy — Jul 30, 2025
Michael Gams, CIPRA International

New dams for electricity and water supply are being planned across the Alpine region. Environmental organisations are warning of irreversible damage to the Alpine environment and calling for a rethink in favour of nature-friendly alternatives.

The environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the controversial expansion of the Kaunertal power plant in Tyrol/A has been underway since 14 July 2025. The plan is to build a reservoir with a 120-metre-high dam in the high-alpine Platzertal valley. WWF Austria criticises the project as “destructive to nature, dangerous and economically questionable”. The situation in the permafrost area is particularly risky: owing to the climate crisis, unstable slopes and rockfalls are a threat. There is also significant resistance among the local population. In the affected municipality of Pfunds, 85 per cent of citizens surveyed voted against the project in June.

Construction boom in the high mountains

Another major project is currently provoking debate in Switzerland: a new high-altitude reservoir is to be built on the Gorner Glacier near Zermatt to generate electricity, store drinking water and protect against flooding. Glaciologists charge that the construction could accelerate glacier melt, while there is also criticism from landscape conservationists. In the Soana Valley in northern Italy, a dam of up to 145 metres in height is also to be built to store millions of cubic metres of water. Environmental groups and local residents are calling for more transparency and a comprehensive assessment of the ecological consequences.

Nature-friendly alternatives

CIPRA demonstrated at its conference on energy transition and renaturation in early 2025 and in a position paper on hydropower use in the Alpine region in 2021 that nature-friendly alternatives exist. Instead of relying on massive dams, priority should be given to the most efficient hydropower plants with the lowest environmental impact. Compromises are also conceivable: the new lake below the Gorner Glacier, for example, could also supply energy without a large dam.

Sources and further information:

www.tirol.gv.at/buergerservice/kundmachungen/kundmachung/uvp-6-9-ausbau-kraftwerk-kaunertal-verfahren-nach-dem-uvp-g-2000/ (de), www.wwf.at/kaunertal-wwf-kritisiert-ausbauprojekt-als-gefaehrlich-und-naturzerstoererisch/ (de), www.tagesschau.de/ausland/europa/schweiz-gorner-gletscher-staudamm-100.html (de), www.cipra.org/de/medienmitteilungen/hochspannung-in-den-alpen (de), https://lasentinella.gelocal.it/ivrea/cronaca/2024/10/07/news/super_diga_soana_multinazionali_interessate_progetto-14694351/ (it)