ERS, EPHZHB to continue with cooperation on electricity production at PHE Čapljina

Public power utilities Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske (ERS) and Elektroprivreda Hrvatske Zajednice Herceg Bosne (EPHZHB) have agreed to continue with their cooperation on electricity production at pumped-storage hydropower plant PHE Čapljina in 2020.

The cooperation in 2020 will be regulated by an agreement worth roughly BAM 100 million (around EUR 51.2 million), under which ERS will have the obligation to secure regulated water release at the Gorica dam of its Trebinje 2 hydropower plant, while EPHZHB is to ensure electricity generation at PHE Čapljina, according to a statement from ERS following the signature.

The agreement was signed by ERS General Manager Luka Petrović and EPHZHB General Manager Marinko Gilja, in the presence of BiH Presidency members Milorad Dodik and Dragan Čović.

In March this year, ERS and EPHZHB signed an agreement under which PHE Čapljina, which is operated by EPHZHB, should deliver half of its 2019 output to ERS, in what would be the first time in about 15 years for the Bosnian Serb entity’s state power utility to receive electricity from PHE Čapljina.

The two utilities also plan to cooperate on providing ancillary services

ERS General Manager Luka Petrović said at the time that the framework agreement also envisaged cooperation on providing ancillary services.

When it was built in 1979, PHE Čapljina was the first pumped-storage hydropower plant in the former Yugoslavia.

KfW intends to approve a EUR 15 million loan to modernize PHE Čapljina

Earlier in November, the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina gave the green light for opening negotiations with the German development bank KfW on a EUR 15 million loan for a project to modernize PHE Čapljina.

The objective is to extend the power plant’s lifespan by replacing run-down equipment and modernizing the 40-year-old facility. The modernization and rehabilitation project is expected to increase PHE Čapljina’s electricity output as well as its availability to provide ancillary services.