Serbia, Montenegro and FYR Macedonia will also use small-hydro to meet their growing electricity needs and rebalance their energy systems that suffer from decades of political unrest.
The Balkans have a large hydroelectric potential that is still untapped, and which can play a significant role in balancing the energy system of an area in which two decades of war and political turmoil have resulted in almost zero investment in additional capacity, and where energy demand is now growing at a fast pace.
To this regard, small-hydro technology can also play a strategic role, with significant projects in various countries.
In Serbia, for example, surveys conducted in the 80’s had estimated that approximately 1,000 sites could be suitable for the installation of small hydro plants, resulting in a total potential of several hundred MW. This resource began to be boosted following the signature of Memorandum of Understanding foreseeing the construction, by government-run EPS, of 55 small plants in the natural park of Golija (Municipality of Ivanjica), with an investment of
