Serbia’s EPS finishes HPP Đerdap 1 revitalization, boosts capacity by 100 MW

Serbia’s state-owned power company Elektroprivreda Srbije has completed the revitalization of the Đerdap 1 hydropower plant and increased its capacity by 100 MW. With six modernized and stronger aggregates, the power plant is now ready to use more renewable energy potential of the Danube river.

The capacity of each of the six aggregates in HPP Đerdap 1 (Iron Gate 1) was increased from 171 MW to 190 MW, so now its total capacity is 1,140 MW. Of note, it is the largest HPP operated by EPS. In 2022 it produced 4,325 GWh or almost 14% of the utility’s output.

The revitalization has been completed and the power plant is expected to come on the grid by mid-November, EPS said.

The total cost of the overhaul is estimated at EUR 180 million

Activities on the EUR 180 million revitalization of HPP Đerdap 1 were carried out by experts from EPS, HPP Đerdap, Serbia’s scientific institutions, and Russia’s Siloviye Mashiny.

The main supplier of the equipment is the Russian company, based in Saint Petersburg, and some of the equipment was overhauled in domestic factories, EPS said.

The revitalization was implemented by Goša Montaža, Đerdap Usluge, ATB Sever, Jadran, Kolubara Metal and experts from the institutes Nikola Tesla and Mihajlo Pupin, while the metals audit was entrusted to the Institute for Materials Testing from Belgrade.

EPS’s Acting Director Dušan Živković said the revitalization project has extended the hydropower plant’s lifespan by 30 to 40 years. It boosted its capacity, lowered the need for maintenance and made it reliable for the decades to come, he stressed.

EPS to continue the modernization of its hydropower plants

By increasing the capacity of the aggregates, EPS got a new power plant with a capacity of about 100 MW, as Živković put it.

He said the revitalization of other hydropower plants operated by EPS would continue. The most significant projects are for the modernization of the Vlasinske Hidroelektrane cascade, Bistrica, Potpeć, and Đerdap 2. The company received a EUR 49 million grant for the works from the European Union under the Western Balkan Investment Framework (WBIF).

Vladan Živanović and Miodrag Ranković, members of the Supervisory Board of EPS, attended the tour of the completed works at HPP Đerdap 1 with the utility’s executive directors.