EVN Macedonia’s 2009 Hydro Power Output Rises 50% Above Plan

SKOPJE (Macedonia), January 11 (SeeNews) – Power distributor EVN Macedonia said the electricity output of its 11 small hydro power plants exceeded 150 million kilowatthours (kWh) last year, or 50% above plan, thanks to a recent upgrade of the capacities.

The combined electricity production of the small hydro power plants was around 100 million kWh per year on the average in the past 10 years, and the same volume was planned for 2009, EVN Macedonia, part of Austrian energy group EVN, said in a statement on its web site. Their combined output was 150 gigawatthours (GWh) in 2008, EVN added.

EVN Macedonia’s strategic goal is to produce electricity from renewable sources, aiming to protect the environment by implementing all European ecological standards, it added.

The 11 small hydropower plants have a combined installed capacity of 48.5 megawatts (MW) and individual capacities of 0.24 MW to 13.8 MW each.

The installed capacity of the Macedonian energy system is 1,550 MW. The 11 small hydro power plants contribute 3.65% of the country's electricity output and account for 8.3% of its hydropower generation, EVN's press office said in a separate statement sent to SeeNews on Monday.

The 11 small hydro power plants are: Kalimanci, Matka, Pena, Sapuncica, Pesocan, Zrnovci, Dosnica, Bogomila, Sapka Kaskada, Belica and Modric.

Macedonian state-owned power producer ELEM, which owns two thermal and seven hydro power plants, produced a combined 5,615 gigawatthours (GWh) of electricity in 2008, up 1.9% from a year earlier.

Macedonia split its communist-era power monopoly ESM into a generation unit called Elektrani na Makedonija (ELEM) AD, a distribution unit ESM and a transmission company Makedonski Elektro Prenosen Sistem Operator (MEPSO) AD. In 2006, the southeast European country of two million people sold 90% of ESM to EVN.

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