Photo: EPS
The EUR 35 million revitalization of the Bajina Bašta pumped storage hydropower plant in Serbia is complete. State-owned power utility Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) secured the facility’s 614 MW in generation mode and 620 MW in pumping capability for decades to come.
The second unit of the Bajina Bašta pumped storage plant is back online, marking the end of the most important capital overhaul of EPS’s hydropower systems. Its self-funded project was worth EUR 35 million. Bajina Bašta is the state-owned power utility’s “golden reserve,” Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Đedović Handanović said while visiting the facility with General Manager Dušan Živković.
It is the first revitalization since commissioning in 1982, she noted. The investment extended the operating period and enhanced reliability and efficiency, Đedović Handanović pointed out.
Phase 2 began a year ago. The first unit of Bajina Bašta has already proved that the endeavor was successful, Živković said. He acknowledged the contribution of Toshiba – the original manufacturer, as well as domestic companies Goša montaža, Elektromontaža and Elektroremont, together with the Mihajlo Pupin Institute and Nikola Tesla Institute.
A small photovoltaic plant is on a dam of the pumped storage system’s upper reservoir
The Perućac (Perućačko) lake on the Drina river in the country’s west serves both the pumped storage hydropower plant and the Bajina Bašta hydroelectric plant. The upper reservoir is called Lazići, located in Zaovine in the valley of the Beli Rzav river. It holds up to 150 million cubic meters or 194 GWh.
Pumped storage hydropower plant Bajina Bašta features two turbines totaling 614 MW and a pumping system of 620 MW in capacity. The adjacent hydropower plant of the same name consists of four units of 420 MW altogether.
A dam on the Lazići lake hosts a 330 kW solar power plant since 2017.
EPS also has a two-unit pumping station accompanying the Vlasina (Vlasinske) hydropower cascade in southeastern Serbia. Water is taken uphill from lake Lisina to Vlasina.
The revitalization of the Vlasina complex began last month. In addition, Serbia is working on projects for pumped storage hydropower plants Bistrica and Đerdap 3.
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