BiH’s Ravno municipality inks 200 MW in solar, wind power capacities

Investors signed contracts for building a wind and solar power plant of over 100 MW and a photovoltaic unit of 80 MW to 100 MW on municipal land in Ravno in the south of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

After responding to the public call for the installation of renewable energy capacities, Ventus industria signed a contract for the construction of wind turbines and solar panels of more than 100 MW in total, the Municipality of Ravno said. As reported by Fena news agency, the deal is for the use of 280 hectares of municipal land near the Velja Međa village.

Ravno is one of the two southernmost municipalities in BiH, on the border with Croatia.

Ventus industria is a partner of renewable energy developer wpd from Germany, the article adds. Of note, if the management of a solar and wind power plant is integrated, it makes them a hybrid power plant, and it is the most common combination of two sources.

The renewable energy plants are planned to be completed within five years

They are compatible as wind is usually stronger at night and in the winter, while photovoltaics work only during the day and have peak production in the summer, so the operator can make better production forecasts and lower balancing costs. There are numerous possible combinations of complementary sources including hydropower, battery storage, geothermal power plants or conventional facilities like gas power plants.

Winter Wind to also build Tušnica wind power plant

The Municipality of Ravno selected another investor in a similar public call for the lease of its land. Winter Wind from nearby Tomislavgrad agreed to install a solar power plant of 80 MW to 100 MW at a location called Golubov kamen. The area near the village of Ivanica spans 260 hectares.

The condition for land use was to install a minimum 30 MW in renewable energy capacity. Eligible bidders had to prove they already built a renewable energy plant of at least 30 MW.

Winter Wind, a subsidiary of domestic aluminum manufacturer Feal, was licensed late last year for international trade in electricity. The firm is also a power supplier. It recently took over the concession agreement for the Tušnica wind park project of 72.6 MW in Tomislavgrad from its affiliate F.L. Wind.

In 2018, F.L. Wind built the Jelovača wind power plant of 36 MW. It is also in the Tomislavgrad municipality, in Herzegovina. The firm is preparing to build the Zvizdan solar power plant of 23 MW in the same area.

Ravno to get output fees of up to EUR 204,000 per year from each contract

Both investments in Ravno are estimated at EUR 100 million and the deals are for 30 years, the report reveals. Josip Raguž, the head of the municipality’s spatial planning and construction department, said the renewable energy plants are planned to be completed within five years and added work is underway on permits.

Both the municipality and the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of BiH will benefit from the lease, he pointed out. Ravno should get up to EUR 204,000 per year from each contract depending on the electricity output, Raguž noted.