The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has published the general procurement notice about the project of the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Vlasinske hydropower plant, according to which the EBRD is to issue a loan of EUR 67 million for this project, the additional EUR 15.4 million is to be used by Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) from the EU grant through the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF), approved in December 2022.
The estimated total value of the project is EUR 82.4 million, and according to the EBRD’s notice, two tenders will be launched, and financed from the bank’s funds, the first contract, for the procurement of works, which will be based on the bank’s two-stage open tendering procedure, and the second contract, which will be for the supervision of the project based on the bank’s open tendering procedure.
The project aims to extend the life cycle of the HPP (with a power of 128 MW), increase the installed capacity by 8 MW and increase the production to close to 310 GWh, which is equivalent to the energy needs of 93,000 households.
EPS recently submitted to the Ministry of Environmental Protection the request for deciding on the necessity of the environmental impact assessment of the project of the reconstruction of the production generators and the side equipment for Vlasinske HPP.
The subject of the project is the reconstruction of the production generators, side and auxiliary electro-mechanical systems of the generators and the power plant, the hydro-mechanical equipment and the control equipment on the Vlasinske HPP facilities: HPP Vrla 1, HPP Vrla 2, HPP Vrla 3 and HPP Vrla 4.
The planned reconstruction aims to extend the life cycle of Vlasinske HPP for the next 40 years and to increase the power by around 8 MW.
Vlasinske HPP belongs among the oldest HPPs within EPS.
The Vlasina hydropower system was built in two phases, from 1946 through 1958 and from 1972 through 1977, with an installed power of 128 MW.
Due to the long period of exploitation and the broken equipment, the cascade currently has a power of only 60-80 MW.
With this project, according to the EU za tebe portal, all the production generators, electro-mechanical and hydro-mechanical systems and control equipment will be replaced. These investments will ensure the reliable and secure work of the cascade in the next 30 years, with a power of 136 MW.
