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Mostarsko Blato hydropower plant put into trial operation

Date: May 17^th 2010 Author: Mirsad Bajtarević, Sarajevo Category: Articles
Topic: Electricity , RES and EE

President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Borjana Kristo ceremoniously launched trial operation of the Mostarsko Blato hydropower plant. The respective hydropower facility with the installed capacity of 60 MW is part of the power utility Elektroprivreda Hrvatske zajednice Herceg-Bosna d.d. Mostar (HZ HB).

According to Kristo, the implementation of the respective project is a strong push to the economy in its recovery from the crisis as well as to investments, job creation and most definitely to the development and perspective of other industries which are directly linked to the electric power sector. She also availed herself of the opportunity to congratulate the management and the board of Elektroprivreda HZ HB on the implementation of the project.

As said, the installed capacity of the Mostarsko Blato hydropower plant is 60 MW, while the planned annual production is to reach 170 GWh, which accounts for some 10 per cent of the current overall production of the power utility. The investment totals some 70 million Euros.

The ceremonious handover was attended also by Nikola Spiric, President of Bosnia's Council of Ministers. He said that nothing was so powerful in joining the head people of the state in one place as success, regardless of where the latter had been accomplished, and he added that the success of Elektroprivreda HZ HB was at the same time the success of the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Spiric also reminded that the respective project was also an attempt at showing greater solidarity within BiH which otherwise exports electricity. He concluded by saying that there were communities in Herzegovina who paid the price of exports, as they had difficulties related to energy. Furthermore, he believes that in the future, the country would be more inclined towards solidarity within Bosnia and Herzegovina and it was then that they would become solid partners, not only in the energy industry but also in other areas.

Federal Minister of Energy, Mining and Industry Vahid Heco reminded that they had faced some opposition on the part of local and foreign officials, yet that the ministry had backed the implementation of the project all the way, as any investment into BiH was welcome. He also underlined that not only had the country been secured with the needed volumes of electricity but they had also contracted a number of local companies and provided jobs for their employees.

Director General of Elektroprivreda HZ HB Matan Zaric said that the ceremonious event of launching the trial operation of the hydropower plant made dreams of many visionaries come true, and that there was room for perspectives in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He added that after the Pec Mlini hydropower plant located near Grude, which was put into operation nearly six years ago, this was the second post-war hydropower plant built by Elektroprivreda HZ HB. The latter is the only utility that has undertaken the building of new hydropower plants, not only in BiH but in the wider region as well.

The plans to build the Mostarsko Blato hydropower plant are nearly a century old, though the construction started only in 2006. The hydropower facility is located to the south-east of Mostar, making use of the natural 178-metre difference in altitude between the Mostarsko Blato field and the Bisce field i.e. the valley of the river Neretva.

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