Chronic delays in four green power projects

Out of six major energy endeavours stuck in development in Macedonia, three are in the area of hydropower and one is for a gigantic photovoltaic facility at Bitola, according to an analysis published by Build.mk portal. The solar power plant project in the south of the country was started in 2010 with work on a feasibility study. French consulting company Sogreah-Carbonium was hired for plans for 39 hectares of land intended for the installation of panels with an overall capacity of 225 MW, equivalent to one unit of the local thermal power plant. The last update on the Bitola system was in 2012, the article said.

The only bigger project completed so far is wind power plant Bogdanci. On the other hand, the development of Boškov most hydropower plant in the northwest has been completely frozen as of lately due to legal and environmental issues. State-owned utility ELEM signed an agreement on a loan with the European Bank for reconstruction and development (EBRD) in late 2011. An adjacent project a hydopower station of Lukovo pole with the capacity of 5 MW is four years overdue, as the tender hasn’t even been published.

The final obsolete power production plan in the list includes hydropower projects Čebren and Galište in the south of Macedonia, with a combined capacity of 500 MW or above. The documentation dates from the times of Yugoslavia and there were a dozen public procurement processes for concession, to no avail.