HESS publishes 1st contract notice for disputed HPP Mokrice project

State-owned hydropower plant operator Hidroelektrarne na Spodnji Savi (HESS), part of the GEN Group, has launched a contract notice to carry out a negotiated procedure for the first lot of the public procurement to build hydropower plant (HPP) Mokrice, disputed by environmental campaigners.

The lot refers to the procurement of turbines, generators, and powerhouse lifting equipment, part of a wider project valued at EUR 181 million to build HPP Mokrice, the last in a chain of five HPPs on the lower Sava river in Slovenia. The other four HPPs are Boštanj, Arto – Blanca, Krško, and Brežice.

Applications to take part in the procedure are due by October 19. Applicants are required to offer a contract value, which is not to exceed an amount of just over EUR 27.2 million, not including VAT.

HPP Mokrice is planned to have a capacity of 28.05 MW, according to HESS’ website. The run-of-the-river HPP would have a reservoir and three generating units. Its average annual output is projected at 131 GWh.

Local initiative to “Stop HPP Mokrice”

A new local initiative is taking action against the planned HPP Mokrice over the environmental destruction it says the plant would cause, while generating only about 1% of Slovenia’s overall electricity output.

“NE JEZimo SAVE – Stop HPP Mokrice” aims at providing locals with facts and information about the project and the negative impacts of hydropower on ecosystems in general, according to the website of Save the Blue Heart of Europe, a campaign launched by a coalition of non-governmental organizations opposed to a number of hydropower projects in the Balkans, including HPP Mokrice.

The campaign concentrates on four key areas that are particularly valuable: the Vjosa River in Albania, the Mavrovo National Park in Macedonia, the Sava River in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and Serbia, as well as the rivers of BiH, all of which it says are threatened by large dam projects, according to Save the Blue Heart of Europe.