Qafë Mollë Reservoir is a long, narrow lake in the mountains of Mirdita in northern Albania, formed by an earth-fill dam on the Fan i Madh river a few kilometres north of Rrëshen. The reservoir, about 12 km long, was built for hydropower and finished in 2017; its earth-fill dam is 92 m high. Its arms reach into the side valleys of Shpërdheza and Dibër, and small villages lie on the slopes along its northern side.
How it formed
The lake is artificial. The dam closes the valley of the Fan i Madh, which also receives the Fan i Vogël, and floods a narrow mountain valley that had no larger settlement. It is counted as the eighth-largest reservoir in Albania.
History
The dam and its power plants were built and are operated by the Turkish company Ayen AS, with construction running from about 2012–2013 to 2017. The reservoir feeds the Fang power plant downstream, which has a capacity of 74.6 MW, and belongs to a cascade of plants on the Fan river with a combined capacity of about 110 MW.
Visit
Swimming
No reliable information
Tips
The lake lies only 2–3 km from the national road, which makes it easy to reach, and the A2 motorway runs between Rrëshen and the lake. The road from Bukëmira has been rebuilt and now crosses the dam. Restaurants stand along the shore, and the quiet water and the surrounding mountains make it a place for a rest by the lake.
Nearby lakes
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Sources & data
- Wikidata: Qafë Mollë Reservoir (Q116668028), Wikimedia Foundation
- OpenStreetMap: Liqeni Qafë Mollës (relation 10037420), OpenStreetMap contributors
- German Wikipedia: Qafë-Molla-Stausee, Wikimedia Foundation
- Albanian Wikipedia: Liqeni i Qafë-Mollës, Ndërfushaz, Wikimedia Foundation
- Albanian Tourism Agency: Qafë Mollë Lake, National Agency of Tourism of Albania