Elektroprenos BiH builds 110 kV transmission line to accommodate planned wind farms

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (BiH) independent transmission system operator (TSO) Elektroprenos BiH has completed the construction of the 110 kV Tomislav-Kupres transmission line, securing steady electricity supplies for the Kupres Plateau and enabling the offtake of electricity to be produced by planned new wind farms in the area.

The investment in the 32.6-km transmission line is worth BAM 4.43 million (around EUR 2.27 million). The works were carried out by a local consortium comprising Dalekovod from Mostar and Umel-Dalekovodmontaža from Tuzla.

According to Elektroprenos BiH General Manager Matan Žarić, the investment has secured not only a double-circuit transmission line for the Kupres municipality, but also a link between central Bosnia and western Herzegovina, while at the same time putting conditions in place to offtake electricity from planned wind farms on the Kupres Plateau.

Construction of Jelovača wind farm planned for completion in November

The Jelovača wind farm, which is expected to become the second operational wind farm in BiH, is being built by F.L. Wind, an independent electricity producer.

The Tomislavgrad municipality recently said that the completion of the Jelovača wind farm is planned in early November, after which a trial run would ensue, to be followed by commercial production.

The 18-turbine Jelovača with an installed capacity of 36 MW will be the second wind farm in the Tomislavgrad municipality, where BiH’s first wind farm, the 52 MW Mesihovina, was connected to the grid in March this year.

Wind power solutions provider Siemens Gamesa, majority owned by German technology company Siemens, is installing turbines for the Jelovača wind farm, which it is to operate and maintain over a five-year period, the company said in February.

Siemens also delivered turbines for public power utility Elektroprivreda Hrvatske Zajednice Herceg Bosne’s (EPHZHB) Mesihovina wind farm and will maintain them in the first two years of operation.

There are other wind farms being built in BiH. Elektroprivreda BiH (EPBiH), one of two public power utilities in the Federation of BiH (FBiH) alongside EPHZHB, plans to put an EUR 83 million Podveležje wind farm into operation in the fourth quarter of 2019.

In Republika Srpska, the other entity of BiH, activities concerning the construction of the Hrgud wind farm are ongoing. The 48 MW Hrgud wind farm will cost an estimated EUR 65 million to be built, with up to EUR 60 million to be provided by German development bank KfW as a loan to Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske (ERS), the entity’s power utility.