EPS kickstarts implementation of Bistrica pumped storage HPP project

State-owned power utility Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) has announced a tender to develop a preliminary design and feasibility study for the construction of a pumped-storage hydropower plant (RHE) Bistrica.

RHE Bistrica is part of a EUR 17 billion investment plan prepared by the Ministry of Mining and Energy. Nikola Rajaković, a professor at the School of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade and president of the Association of Energy Sector Specialists and Power Engineers of Serbia, told Balkan Green Energy News that the project is excellent because it is already partly prepared.

Elektroprivreda Srbije intends to obtain a preliminary design with a feasibility study to assess the profitability and possible role of the pumped storage hydropower plant within the power system of Serbia, the region, and beyond.

The deadline for submitting applications is January 28, 2022.

The preliminary design from 1981 was prepared by Energoprojekt-Hidroinženjering from Belgrade

Pumped storage hydropower plants produce peak energy to cover maximum daily consumption. They are also a solution for the variability of green power plants as they provide energy storage.

EPS has one such HPP – RHE Bajina Bašta, and RHE Bistrica would be similar. According to the tender documentation, RHE Bistrica would have four Frances-type units with a nominal (output) turbine capacity of 157.1 MW and a maximum (input) pump capacity of 167.9 MW.

RHE Bistrica would have a similar installed capacity as RHE Bajina Bašta

RHE Bajina Bašta has a maximum capacity in the generator mode of 614 MW and a maximum input capacity in the pump mode of 620 MW. Its average annual production is about 1,000 GWh.

According to the tender documentation, the preliminary design with feasibility study should be based on the preliminary design from 1981 prepared by Energoprojekt-Hidroinženjering from Belgrade and on the analysis and investment-technical documentation prepared by Energoprojekt Hidroinženjering and the Electricity Coordinating Center.

The Klak dam must be constructed on the river Uvac

Hydropower plant Bistrica would be a storage hydropower unit with a powerhouse near the right bank of the river Lim on the location between the Potpeć dam downstream from it and its hydropower plant Bistrica upstream.

The existing Potpeć reservoir is planned as a lower reservoir, while the upper one would be established by constructing a Klak dam downstream from the existing Radoinja dam.

Klak dam is located in the canyon of river Uvac, about five kilometers downstream from Radoinja. The new structure would be about 90 meters high, and the reservoir would extend all the way to the Radoinja dam.