Two wind power projects underway on Vlašić mountain in Bosnia

The VP Energokul wind park is envisaged with 200 MW in capacity and the VE Vlašić project is for ten turbines of 5 MW each. Both sites are on the Vlašić mountain in Central Bosnia Canton in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

While state-owned power utility Elektroprivreda Bosne i Hercegovine (EPBiH) is getting ready to start building its VE Vlašić wind power plant of 50 MW after several years of preparations, projects reemerged for two other investments on the same mountain.

The Federal Ministry of Environment and Tourism published the request from Travnik-based Energokul to determine whether an environmental impact assessment study would be required for a 200 MW wind park. The site for the VP Energokul facility is in the municipalities of Travnik, Jajce and Dobretići in the Central Bosnia Canton.

The Federation of BiH consists of ten cantons. It is one of the two entities making up Bosnia and Herzegovina and the other one is the Republic of Srpska.

Energokul plans 140 MW in first phase

Energokul got the initial approval for connecting the wind farm to the transmission grid a year ago. The location is in the Ranča – Dobretići – Vitovlje Malo concession area, determined in the cantonal spatial plan.

The two requests were published just a few days apart

The wind power plant would span 28.3 square kilometers on the Vlašić mountain. The request shows that Energokul plans to build the facility in two phases, of which the first one would be 140 MW. The project envisages 34 turbines with a diameter of up to 155 meters and a maximum of 6 MW. They would be placed on towers of up to 102.5 meters, according to the document.

The firm signed a concession agreement in 2016. It plans to commission VP Energokul by the beginning of October 2027.

Two simultaneous comebacks

The other project, VP Vlašić, dates back to at least 2015, when its original developer TLG from Travnik got the initial consent for a grid connection and an environmental permit. At the time, environmentalists and cattle farmers protested against four concessions for wind parks on the mountain, of which the firm had two: Galica and Devečani.

In the meantime, TLG transferred the rights for VP Vlašić on the Devečani site to Vjetroelektrane Čardakov, registered in the same city. It also filed the request for a preliminary environmental impact assessment to the relevant federal ministry.

The project is for up to 50 MW, consisting of ten wind turbines. However, the firm first needs to start wind measurements on Vlašić.

Owners of Vjetroelektrane Čardakov are former Minister of Security Selmo Cikotić, former Federal Prime Minister Edhem Bičakčić’s Sarajevo-based company Bičakčić, EIB Internationale from Banja Luka and Interenergo, energetski inženiring from Slovenia, part of Austrian Kelag Group, BiznisInfo reported.

The request for VP Energokul was produced just a month ago, according to the date in the document, while the one for VP Vlašić was apparently filed last December. Still, the ministry released them for public consultation just a few days apart.