Third stage of Zakučac HPP’s overhaul completed

Croatian state-owned power utility HEP said the third unit of the country’s biggest hydropower plant entered test production after an overhaul. Works on 486 MW Zakučac facility, located in Dalmatia, aim to increase overall capacity by 52 MW, enabling yearly generation to soar by 58 GWh, portal Energetika-net reported. The result in 2013 was 2.13 TWh, according to HEP’s data, while Končar said average annual production is 1.46 TWh.

The reconstruction is thus entering its final phase, after one of four 160 megavolt-amperes units with Francis turbines has been reconstructed per year, alongside its auxilliary equipment. Third unit is from the second block, commisioned in 1980, while the first and second had been launched in 1961. The investment is worth HRK 1 billion (EUR 132 million), and last year EUR 19.8 million was spent on works which involve twenty companies, led by Končar Electrical Industry Inc., headquartered in Zagreb.