Montenegro, BiH pledge to boost power interconnections

Date: August 16^th 2023

Topic: Electricity , Renewables , Energy policy , En.vision

The TSOs of Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) signed an agreement on Tuesday aimed at facilitating the renovation of an existing 200 kV interconnector and the construction of a new 400 kV one.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the TSOs CGES and Nos BiH envisages the reconstruction of the 200 kV interconnector between the Montenegrin 307 MW Perucica hydropower plant and BiH’s south-eastern town of Trebinje, as well as the construction of a 400 kV interconnector between the north-western Montenegrin village of Brezna and BiH’s capital Sarajevo.

These projects will boost transmission capacities between the two countries and in the Western Balkans, thereby facilitating the integration of renewable energy sources, Nemanja Pandurevic, a general manager at Nos BiH, was cited as saying in a statement published on CGES’ website on Wednesday.

“The interconnectors will also enhance the security of energy supply and eliminate network congestion,” he added.

Restricted interconnection transmission capacities negatively impact power trading in the Western Balkans due to high congestion costs and the limited potential for market participants to freely trade across borders. They also negatively impact cross-border balancing and renewables integration, the Energy Community Secretariat told Montel earlier in August.

Ivan Asanovic, the CEO of the Montenegrin TSO CGES, was cited as saying in the same statement that the cost of these projects would exceed “tens of millions of euros”.

He explained that CGES had received significant funds from the European Commission for the preparation of a feasibility study for these projects and that it expected additional EU grants of up to 20% of the total investment.