According to North Macedonian Minister of Environment Naser Nuredini, the country will close its coal-fired power plants Bitola and Oslomej by 2030, as a part of its strategy to switch to renewable energy sources.
Minister Nuredini said that North Macedonia will continue to support investments in solar power plans and wind farms, as well as the construction of hydropower plant Cebren, which will significantly improve the country’s energy independence. He added that TPPs Bitola and Oslomej currently generate some 65 % of the country’s electricity.
According to previous estimates, North Macedonia planned to close its coal-fired power plants by 2037, supported by investments of 3.15 billion euros in the energy sector.
North Macedonia also operates oil-fired TPP Negotino, which was dormant for over a decade, but was recently put in operation due to lack of production capacities amid soaring electricity prices. Last year, the Government said that it plans to convert TPP Negotino to use natural gas as fuel.
The procedure for construction of HPP Cebren is the longest tender procedure in the country’s history. The plant should be built on the Crna Reka river, with 333 MW of installed capacity. Last March, the Government said that it has received a total of nine bidders have qualified for the second round of the latest tender for the construction of hydropower plant Cebren.
Five consortia and four individual bidders have been selected to continue the tendering procedure, out of ten candidates which submitted expressions of interest. The selected consortia include Turkish companies Enka, Colin, Ozaltin and Yapi Merkezi, Greek PPC and Archirodon, Austrian EVN and Verbund and Spainish Cobra and Cobra Hidraulika, while French EDF, Italian Webuild Italia, Chinese Gezhouba Group China and Power Construction Corporation of China qualified as individual bidders.
