A tender for the revitalization of Zvornik hydroelectric power plant should be announced in late June or early July and, for that purpose, a EUR 70 million loan has been taken out from the German Development Bank (KfW), Director General of Drinsko-Limske Hidroelektrane (Drina-Lim Hydroelectric Power Plants) Miodrag Citakovic stated.
He said in a press statement that the tender documentation would be completed soon and that the adviser for that procedure was expected to be chosen during the week. Citakovic specified it would be an international tender that should attract all major manufacturers of equipment in Europe.
According to the words of Citakovic, Zvornik hydroelectric power plant, which was put in operation in 1955, has four generators of the total power of 92 megawatts (MW), it annually produces 500 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity, and its revitalization should commence within the next year, as soon as all agreements are signed.
Speaking about the revitalization of Bajina Basta hydroelectric power plant, Citakovic said that the works on the second generator were underway and that it should be put in operation in September, while the revitalization works on the third generator should commence in early October and last for about 10 months.
– The revitalization of Bajina Basta hydroelectric power plant will be carried out in four phases and it is expected to be finished in June 2013 when all four generators will be revitalized and their power will be increased from 368 MW to 420 MW – he explained.
The total value of the works is between 75 and 80 million euros, 30m of which have been provided from the KfW Bank’s loan, while the rest has been covered by the Electric Power Company of Serbia (EPS) from its own sources, Citakovic added.
– The revitalization will increase the power of generators as if a 52 MW hydroelectric power plant were built, which would cost much more than EUR 80 million – Citakovic said while touring Bajina Basta hydroelectric power plant.
He stressed that the power of the first generator would be increased by 14 to 15 percent, that is, 13 MW, after the revitalization, while the production would grow by 20 GWh on annual basis, thanks to which the profit would grow by EUR 600,000 in the first two months of operation following the revitalization.
After the renovation of the equipment, the life of the hydroelectric power plant should be extended 30 or 40 years. The main contractor is Adnritz Hydro from Austria, while there are also seven subcontractors, mainly domestic companies.
Bajina Basta hydroelectric power plant, the largest power facility ever built on the Drina river, provides eight percent of the total electricity produced by EPS.
– The documentation for the construction of the fifth generator of 42 megawatts, which will be built on the pipeline supplying power to the reversible hydroelectric power plant, is in the final phase, and that investment is worth between 20 and 25 million euros – said Citakovic.
