Bosnia hydropower project draws interest from 19 firms

ENKA Insaat ve Sanayi AS

01/08/2018 14:14

SARAJEVO, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Nineteen international firms
have expressed interest in taking part in the construction and
financing of the 160-megawatt (MW) Dabar hydropower plant in
southeastern Bosnia, the country's hydropower producer HET
 HETR.BJ  said on Wednesday.
    They include General Electric  GE.N , Strabag  STRV.VI ,
Turkish Enka  ENKAI.IS , as well as seven Chinese firms such as
Dongfang Electric Corp  SASDEC.UL  and Norinco International
Cooperation  000065.SZ , HET's production manager Ilija
Tamindzija told Reuters.
    The Dabar plant on the Trebisnjica river will be part of a
planned 250-MW hydropower complex, Gornji Horizonti, which is
designed also to incorporate two smaller hydropower plants,
Nevesinje and Bileca.
    The cost of building the Dabar plant is estimated at 200
million euros ($234 million).
    Tamindzija said interested partners would soon be invited to
submit formal bids for the plant, which will produce 251
gigawatt hours of electricity a year.
    Partners should finance at least 85 percent of the project's
value, and their investment would be repaid in electricity or
cash. The rest would be financed by HET.
    HET is a subsidiary of Bosnia's second-largest power
utility, Elektroprivreda RS  ERST.BJ , which operates two
coal-fired plants with a combined capacity of 600 MW plus three
big and several small hydro plants with total capacity of 617
MW.
    Unlike its Balkan neighbours, which rely on imports to cover
much of their energy needs, Bosnia is able to export power
thanks partly to its hydro capacity, which provides 40 percent
of its electricity. The rest comes from coal-fired plants.
 ($1 = 0.8557 euros)

 (Reporting by Maja Zuvela; Editing by Daria Sito-Sucic and Dale
Hudson)
 ((maja.zuvela@thomsonreuters.com; +387 33 295 485; Reuters
Messaging: maja.zuvela.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))