Description
The Belmeken dam is situated in the Rila Mountains in Bulgaria and is the highest reservoir on the Balkan peninsula. There is a pumped-storage plant the Chaira Hydro Power Plant built between the lake and a lower basin. Part of the water stored in the lake is cycled back and forth through the pumped storage turbines, while the lakes outflow drains through tunnels to the Sestrimo Hydro Power Plant.
One really cold winter with temperatures below -30°C and ideal conditions with elevated humidity created these huge, hand sized ice crystals near Belmeken Dam in Bulgaria. Never saw anything like it again. Dec 2007.
Belmeken Dam – another world during winter time
Location: Rila National Park, Bulgaria