Serbian Government is going to proceed with the HPP Brodarevo project. The Government has resumed the project for the construction of two hydropower plants on the Lim river – Brodarevo 1 and 2.
Recently, the Ministry of Construction, Traffic and Infrastructure has put draft amendments to the spatial plan for the special purposes area for the two HPPs and the report on the strategic assessment of the environmental impact of the plan up for public debate. The reason for these amendments is the need to reassess plans for the construction of HPPs Brodarevo 1 and 2.
The statement from the Ministry said that one of the strategic priorities for energy sector development in Serbia is creating conditions for secure and safe work and sustainable development of energy systems and energy sector in general and among other things, by producing renewable energy in order to reduce import dependency.
In 2018, Canadian renewable energy company Reservoir Capital said that it plans to withdrew from the project for the construction of two hydropower plants near Brodarevo in southern Serbia. The statement from the company said that this decision is in line with Reservoir’s strategy to move from long-term and risky greenfield project developments to clean power investments in good operating conditions. Its Serbian subsidiary, Renewable Energy Ventures, has already filed for voluntary bankruptcy.
The project of hydro power plants on Lim river envisages the construction of two HPPs, with overall output of 59 MW. HPPs Brodarevo 1 (26 MW) and Brodarevo 2 (33 MW) will be built on Lim river near the city of Prijepolje. The overall annual production of HPPs is estimated at 230 GWh, and the cost of the project is estimated at 146 million euros. In March 2011, Renewable Energy Ventures (REV), a subsidiary of Reservoir Capital, announced construction start for summer 2011. But soon after, in April 2011, REV announced it gave up the project. REV said that its business units in Prijepolje and Brodarevo would be terminated due to unfavorable development of the project, especially due to inability to solve legal and property issues with landowners. REV has invested some 7.5 million euros in preparation works but due to high land prices in Lucice village, where the main dam should be built, it was decided to cancel the project. Serbian Government reacted and said that the problems will be resolved, and that obstacles for REV will be removed. Several days later, company announced that the development of the project will be continued as scheduled. In July 2013, Administrative Court of Serbia reached the decision on annulling the license for construction of the two HPPs. The license was revoked at the request of several environmental NGOs from Serbia, who claimed that the project was not in the line with ESPO convention. NGOs also demanded that they should take part in the procedure for issuing the energy license for the project.
