On the tender for the concession contract for the construction of hydropower plant Cebren ten expressions of interest from world renown companies have been received, said North Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.
A total of six consortia submitted expressions of interest, with members including the companies such as Turkish Enka, Ozaltin and Yapi Merkezi, Greek PPC and Archirodon, Austrian EVN and Verbund, French Eiffage and Spanish Cobra. French EDF, Italian Webuild and Chinese Gezhouba Group and Power Construction Corporation have submitted interest in participating on their own. The Government will now evaluate the received expressions of interest and will invite the qualified candidates to submit their complete offers for the project in the bidding phase of the tender.
In February, the Government launched a concession procedure for the use of water from Crna Reka for the production of electricity, namely the construction and operation of hydropower plant Cebren. The plant should have installed capacity of 333 MW, with estimated annual electricity production of 1,000 GWh, and should cost around 570 million euros. As a part of future private-public partnership, ESM plans to include HPP Tikves in the project company. The two HPPs will use water from the same source and can only function at the same time if they are managed by a single entity.
The tender was extended on several occasions due to adverse impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economic climate, but the currently valid deadline expired on 18 December. Procedure for construction of HPPs Cebren and Galiste is the longest tender procedure in the history of Macedonia. Both HPPs will be built on Crna Reka River, and they are offered as a package, not individually, although there were talks that only HPP Cebren would be built. Construction works for both HPPs are estimated to last 7 years. HPPs Cebren and HPP Galiste along with existing HPP Tikves should become one hydro cascade system.
