Milutin Đukanović (photo: EPCG)
The completion of the Gvozd wind farm has been delayed for an entire year due to permitting while the development of the Komarnica hydropower project has been on hold for two years now, according to President of EPCG’s Board of Directors Milutin Đukanović.
The Gvozd wind farm, with a capacity of 54 MW, and the Komarnica hydropower plant, of 172 MW, are among the most important development projects for state-owned Elektroprivreda Crne Gore (EPCG). They face serious obstacles.
Milutin Đukanović pointed out that the procedures for the installation of the Gvozd wind farm aren’t easy to solve. They require a lot of time and involvement from other institutions, he asserted. The financing agreement for the facility was signed in June 2023.
The endeavor entails eight wind turbines and the construction or reconstruction of three substations and two transmission lines.
EUR 15 million has already been lost due to the delays in the Gvozd wind farm project
Đukanović pointed the finger at other state institutions for long permitting procedures. The one-year delay has cost the company EUR 15 million, he noted and claimed that EPCG and its partner Ivikom are not to blame.
HPP Komarnica, an investment estimated at EUR 260 million to EUR 290 million, is planned together with Serbia’s state-owned power utility Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS). Engineering company Energoprojekt and the Jaroslav Černi Water Institute, both from the neighboring country, have already finished the technical part of the design and feasibility studies.
The facility should produce 213 GWh annually. The Komarnica project is on standby since 2022, Đukanović stressed. He expressed the belief that the Government of Montenegro must decide if it wants to terminate it or continue. Perhaps EPCG’s project to install battery energy storage systems would help reach a final decision, he added.
The contract for the construction of HPP Kruševo is planned to be signed in 2026
Đukanović said that the Kruševo HPP project is advancing well. A study has been completed for the construction of the facility, with a capacity of 82 MW and an expected annual output of 170 GWh, for the design and execution of geological exploration works.
The total value of the project is estimated at EUR 160 million. HPP Kruševo is part of the country’s draft national energy and climate plan (NECP) and spatial plan until 2040. It was also proposed as a priority project by the Ministry of Energy for financing from the European Union’s Growth Plan for the Western Balkans.
A study for gas power plants has also been prepared
EPCG has prepared a detailed overview of further steps with the aim of signing the contract for the construction in 2026, Đukanović noted.
As part of strategic cooperation with France’s EDF, a memorandum of cooperation should be signed by the end of the month. EPCG would consider the construction of a pumped storage hydropower plant with experts from the French company.
EPCG has also finished a study on the development of project design and technical solutions for the construction of gas power plants in the port town of Bar, KAP aluminium smelter in capital Podgorica and in Pljevlja in the north, Đukanović said.
The study was produced by SSA from Switzerland.
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