Serbia's EPS, Italy’s SECI Energia Agree To Set up JV for 285 Mln Euro Hydro Power Project

BELGRADE (Serbia), July 5 (SeeNews) – Serbia’s power monopoly EPS said it has signed with SECI Energia, part of Italy's Gruppo Industriale Maccaferri, an agreement for the launch of a joint venture for a 285 million euro ($357 million) hydro power project in the Balkan country.

The joint venture, Ibarske Hidroelektrane, will build 10 power stations along the Ibar river, in the country's south, with a combined capacity of 103 megawatts (MW), EPS said in a statement on Saturday.

The agreement was signed by EPS CEO Dragomir Markovic and the president of Maccaferri Group, Gaetano Maccaferri.

The launch of Kraljevo-based Ibarske Hidroelektrane marks the beginning of the implementation of the protocol for cooperation in the energy sector signed by Serbia and Italy in March 2009, the statement said.

The 10 Ibar hydro power plants represent 20% of the total value of the projects that should be carried out as part of two countries' cooperation in the energy sector, Serbia’s Energy Minister Petar Skundric, who also attended the signing ceremony, was quoted as saying in the statement.

The combined installed capacity of Serbia's power plants is 8,359 MW. It includes 5,171 MW of coal-fired plants, 353 MW of gas-fired plants and 2,835 MW of hydro power plants, according to figures from the EPS website.

EPS produced 36,112 gigawatthours of electricity in 2009.

No power plants have been built in Serbia over the past 20 years.

($=0.7983 euro)

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