Bosnia's ERS, Hidroelektrane na Drini sign 195.5 mln euro concession deal for Buk Bijela HPP

BANJA LUKA (Bosnia and Herzegovina), June 6 (SeeNews) – A consortium led by the power utility of Bosnia's Serb Republic and the entity's energy ministry signed a 50-year concession deal for the construction and use of the 93.52 MW Buk Bijela hydro power plant (HPP) on the river Drina, worth some 382.4 million marka ($222.1 million/195.5 million euro), the ministry said.

The HPP is expected to produce some 332.3 gigawatt-hours of electricity per year, while its installed flow rate will measure 350 cubic m of water per second, the ministry said in a statement on Friday.

Buk Bijela will be Bosnia's largest HPP in terms of installed capacity, reservoir size and mean outputs, the energy ministry said in a statement earlier this year.

ERS will take on 20% of the project, while local hydropower complex Hidroelektrane na Drini will be responsible for 80%. Following the signing of the concession deal, the two companies will have a year to perform preparatory works and to set up a company to manage the construction of the HPP.

The Buk Bijela HPP project was postponed several times due to scrutiny by environmentalist organisations and NGOs from Bosnia and Montenegro who fear it will destroy the canyon of the Tara river which flows between the two countries.

The Serb Republic is one of Bosnia's two autonomous parts, the other is the Muslim-Croat Federation.

(1 euro=1.95583 Bosnian marka)

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