China’s CWE plans to build 159 MW hydropower plant

A memorandum of understanding about the construction of Dabar hydropower system, worth EUR 180 million, was signed in Banja Luka by the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining of the Republic of Srpska and the China International Water & Energy Corporation (CWE).

Minister Petar Đokić said the company will be able to participate in the process of selection of the contractor and equipment supplier. He said the company is one of the world leaders and that it invested significant capital in the area of energy. Dabar hydropower plant belongs to the Gornji horizonti system, Đokić added. The location is in southeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Srpska is one of its two entities.

Chen Liang, head of CEW’s office in Serbia, said the company will do everything in its power to file the best technical and commercial offer for the project’s implementation. “I believe we established good contact, which should result in successful cooperation in the construction of Dabar hydropower plant,” he stressed. Chen said the company is a subsidiary of the Three Gorges system, which worked on the biggest energy facilities in the world, especially in the sector of renewables. It was hired for the Kozjak hydropower plant in Macedonia and the biggest solar power plant in Greece, and it is the biggest shareholder of Portuguese electric power company, he underscored.

Branislava Milekić, chief executive of the state-controlled power utility Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske (ERS), said preconditions have been met to cooperate with the company from China. “This means access to certain studies and technical documentation in order for the company to secure access to credit of a state-owned bank in China. We do not give them any exclusive rights, but competition is enhanced for the implementation of this project,” she said and added a tender was published for the construction of the tunnel for Dabar hydro system. She reminded the feasibility study is complete and that Hidroelektrane na Trebišnjici a. d. Trebinje is the sole owner of Hidroelektrana Dabar d. o. o. project.