HPP Bogatići Nova put into operation after EUR 9.45 million investment

Power utility Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske (ERS) has put into operation hydropower plant (HPP) Bogatići Nova, with an installed capacity of 9.96 MW, built in an investment of BAM 18.5 million (about EUR 9.45 million).

HPP Bogatići Nova, on the Željeznica River near Sarajevo, should generate an average of 46.26 million KWh of electricity a year, according to a statement from ERS.

HPP Bogatići Nova is expected to have annual revenues of BAM 5 million (about EUR 2.55 million), in what will enable the company’s further development and investments and create new jobs, said Ljubomir Mrda, director of ERS’ subsidiary Elektrodistribucija Pale.

Republika Srpska has invested more than BAM 3 billion (EUR 1.53 billion) in the construction of power generation facilities to date, with plans to boost the figure to BAM 11.5 billion (EUR 5.87 billion), according to Republika Srpska Minister of Industry, Energy, and Mining Petar Đokić, who officiated at the HPP Bogatići Nova commissioning ceremony, held on September 4.

The commissioning of another hydropower plant, Bočac 2, is planned in September, Đokić said, recalling that the construction of Buk Bijela, a 93 MW hydropower plant on the Drina River, is in the pipeline.

At the ceremony, Republika Srpska Minister of Spatial Planning, Civil Engineering and Ecology Srebrenka Golić handed Mrda a use permit for HPP Bogatići Nova, according to reports.

Dodik says will not allow ERS to be sold

Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik, who also attended the ceremony in Trnovo, said that he would not allow ERS to be sold, according to Glas Srpske.

The construction of HPP Bogatići Nova is the result of a decision made in 2006, after the previous government had signed an agreement to draw a loan and sell ERS, said Dodik, adding that his first task when he took office as prime minister in 2006 was to block that move, according to Glas Srpske.

Dodik also recalled that Republika Srpska will build two new hydropower plants in cooperation with Serbia.

In late August, the governments of Serbia and Republika Srpska signed a memorandum on the joint construction of hydropower plants Foča and Paunci, with a total installed capacity of between 90 MW and 95 MW and an estimated investment value of around EUR 200 million, according to earlier reports.