New Life of Decades-Old Projects, from Bistrica to Bogovina – 2023 Retrospective, Investments in PUBLIC UTILITY INFRASTRUCTURE AND ENERGY

The revival of old projects marked the year behind us when it comes to investments in the field of public utility infrastructure and energy.

Some of them are more than four decades old, such as the RHPP Bistrica, whereas others, such as the water accumulation Bogovina, are “of legal age”, i.e. 18 years old. The project of the construction of 10 hydro power plants on the Ibar, planned a decade and a half ago, has been “resuscitated” as well.

Articles about various projects in the field of renewable sources were in focus, from wind farms, such as Vetrogon in Srbobran and Becej, with a planned power of 450 MW, which will make it the biggest wind farm in Serbia, to solar power plants of considerable capacities.

Interestingly enough, only two “fossil fuel” projects placed on our Top 10 list of the most read stories.

We present the investments which eKapija’s readers found the most interesting.

1. Bogovina Reservoir

Back in 2005, it was announced that, no more than ten years from then, Serbia would get its sea, as the construction of a reservoir on 400 hectares on the water system Bogovina was planned, an area larger than the currently biggest lake in Serbia, Lake Djerdap, which has 253 km2.

It didn’t happen, but we are a step closer now. In August, the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure announced the early public inspection on the occasion of the preparation of the spatial plan of the special-purpose area of the Bogovina reservoir basin.

According to the main project from 2006, the area of the basin is 360 km2, and the volume of the reservoir will be 44 million m3. The dam is to be made from concrete, with the crest at 269 m.

2. Wind Farm Vetrozelena

In April, CWP Europe and PowerChina Resources signed the agreement on the occasion of the investment of the Chinese company in the wind farm Vetrozelena.

The wind farm Vetrozelena is a renewable energy project which CWP Europe is developing in the territory of the city of Pancevo. It is the second such project that CWP is developing in Serbia, with a planned installed power of 300 MW and 48 wind generators. As announced at the time, Vetrozelena will be the biggest wind farm in Serbia (not if item 9 is realized) and one of the biggest ones in the region when it starts generating power in 2025.

3. Solar Power Plant in Calma Settlement near Sremska Mitrovica

RP Global Solarne elektrane doo Beograd, a company 100% owned by RP Global Austria GMBH (according to the data from the Serbian Business Registers Agency) plans to build a solar power plant in the farming area of the settlement of Calma near Sremska Mitrovica. A solar power plant of 100 MW with battery-based storage of electrical energy is planned.

According to the Detailed Regulation Plan of the project, the photovoltaic panels, which are planned to be installed on the ground, can also be set up as so-called agri-solar panels, allowing for the growing of farming cultures and the grazing of cattle beneath them.

4. Vinson Invest Wind Farm Sombor

Another wind farm is planned in Vojvodina – Vinson Invest from Novi Sad is planning the construction of a wind farm of 120 MW in the territory of the city of Sombor.

– It is defined in line with the possibilities of connecting to the electrical energy system, whereas the Plan will carry out an analysis in the architectural and urban planning sense for roughly 20 to 25 locations of wind generators for which there are no limitations for the realization – the documentation says.

The area covered by the Detailed Regulation Plan amounts to around 4,950 ha.

5. RHPP Bistrica

Over four decades ago, the planning of the construction of the Reversible Hydro Power Plant (RHPP) Bistrica began, and in the past few years, concrete steps toward the realization have been made. In August, Elektroprivreda Srbije announced the tender for the preparation of a study on environmental impact assessment, and the value of the work was estimated at RSD 50 million.

As stated in the tender documentation, at the Klak profile in the Uvac canyon, about 5 km downstream from the Radoinja dam, a dam has been designed with a height of 90 m, a crest width of 10 m and a length at the dam crest of 237 m. The plan calls for submerging cca 324 ha of land on the banks of the Uvac River for the planned Klak reservoir.

RHPP Bistrica, with a capacity of 656 megawatts, is one of the strategic projects of the Republic of Serbia and Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), said the acting CEO of EPS, Dusan Zivkovic. The president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, said that the construction of the HPP Bistrica was the biggest project and a project of great importance for the south part of the Zlatibor District and that the price had grown from EUR 700 million to EUR 1.2 billion.

6. Novi Sad Hungary Oil Pipeline

Less than half a year from the signing of the memorandum of understanding on the construction of the Hungary-Serbia oil pipeline, in December, the public enterprise Transnafta Pancevo opened the tender for the preparation of the planning and technical documentation for the construction of this new route for supplying Serbia with crude oil.

The specification of the job reminds that Serbia is currently supplied with crude oil from one direction only, through Croatia and their transport system Janaf d.d., but that the Spatial Plan of Serbia envisages for other oil pipeline supply routes to be considered to the end of the diversification of the transport of crude oil and energy security.

The interconnection with Hungary is planned near the border crossing Horgos in the municipality of Kanjiza, and the end of the route is at the Terminal Transnafta Novi Sad, with a length of around 120 km.

The planned oil pipeline has an annual capacity of 5.5 million tons a year, and it is to be set up below the ground for its entire length.

7. Solar Power Plant Kladovo Solar Gate

The Cypriot investor ERG Investments LTD is to build the agri-solar power plant of 300 MW Kladovo Solar Gate in Kladovo, the power plant is to be built on an area of around 582.94 ha in the east part of the territory of the municipality of Kladovo, 5 km away from the center, as said in the Detailed Regulation Plan for the construction of the solar power plant Kladovo Solar Gate.

As said, this is mostly agricultural land, lower-quality farming land for the most part. The plan emphasizes that, in the solar power plant area, it is possible to implement innovative solutions, that is, the agri-solar concept, which entails livestock farming or agricultural production with the simultaneous production of electrical energy.

8. Hydro Power Plants on the Ibar

When Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) published the tender for the preparation of the investment-technical documentation for the construction of hydro power plants on the Ibar in March, it marked the reviving of the big project of the construction of 10 HPPs on the Ibar, announced a decade before.

In 2010, EPS and the Italian company Seci Energia signed the agreement on the founding of the joint company Ibarske Hidroelektrane, which was supposed to build HPPs on the river Ibar. At the time, the value of the investment was estimated at around EUR 285 million.

The plan was to build 10 HPPs on the Ibar with a total power of 103 MW, with an annual production of 420 million kWh.

The first construction was announced for 2012, but the realization never happened.

The rehabilitation started with the opening of the tender, which emphasizes that the river Ibar, with a drainage basin area of 8,000 km2 and a flow of around 275 km, is one of the most significant unused hydro potentials in Serbia.

9. Wind Farm Vetrogon in Municipalities of Srbobran and Becej

CWP Global plans to build the Vetrogon wind farm in the municipalities of Srbobran and Becej. The construction of 55-75 wind generator poles, with an individual installed power of no less than 5 MW, is planned, and the total power will be around 450 MW, which will make Vetrogon the biggest wind farm in Serbia. The construction of a facility for the storage of electrical energy is planned as well, according to the spatial plan.

As the investor announced earlier, this investment will be worth EUR 600 million, and its construction should start at the end of 2025. When it is put into operation at the beginning of 2028, the Vetrogon wind farm will produce 1.1 terawatt-hours a year.

10. Thermal Block B3 Kostolac

The story about the construction of the new block B3 in the location of the Thermal Power Plant Kostolac B also drew attention.

The construction of the new block B3 with an installed power of 350 MW, started in 2016.

The works on the construction of the new block B3 with all the accompanying systems, including the expansion of the coal disposal site with a third disposal line, as well as the disposing of solid waste in the internal disposal site of the open-pit mine Drmno, are carried out in line with the technical specifications of the Chinese company CMEC as the main planner and contractor.

The acting CEO of EPS, Dusan Zivkovic, said in November that the construction of the Thermal Power Plant Kostolac B3 was nearing completion.

We presented the 10 investments which drew the most attention from our readers when it comes to public utility infrastructure and energy. Make sure to take a look at the full list HERE.

We also invite you to see which investments marked the year 2023 in the fields of TRANSPORTATION and INDUSTRY.

Ministarstvo građevinarstva, saobraćaja i infrastrukture Republike Srbije

CWPR Services doo Beograd

RP Global Solarne elektrane d.o.o. Beograd

Elektroprivreda Srbije ad Beograd

Transnafta ad Pančevo

Seci energia S.P.A. ogranak Beograd

Ibarske hidroelektrane d.o.o. Kraljevo

CWP Europe

PowerChina Resources

RP Global Austria GMBH

Vinson Invest

Ibar Hydro Power Plants

Ibarske hidroelektrane

CWP Global

Dušan Živković

Aleksandar Vučić

Bogovina reservoir

wind farm Vetrozelena

reversible hydro power plant

RHPP Bistrica

solar power plant

Novi Sad Hungary Oil Pipeline

hydro power plants on the Ibar

wind farm Vetrogon

thermal block B3 Kostolac