Bosnia Herzegovina has a total area of 51,129km2 and a population of about 4M. Average annual precipitation is 1250mm, with the total mean precipitation volume at 64m3.
Per capita water consumption is 135 litres/day in urban areas and 75 litres/day in rural areas. Deregulation of the national and regional water authorities are envisaged soon.
There are 25 large dams in operation: five embankment dams and 20 concrete dams. The total water storage of all dams is 3.851km3.
Energy and power sectors
The main sources of energy are coal, hydro power and gas. The main sources of electricity production in 1998 were hydro power (5100GWh) and thermal plants (5430GWh). The total electricity consumption was 10,530GWh, representing per capita consumption of 2130kWh/yr. In 1998, 1210GWh of electricity was exported from the country.
Energy consumption is expected to increase by 8% per year over the next ten years and electricity demand also by 8% a year.
The average electricity price before tax is US$0.07/kWh. The cost of producing a kWh of electricity in the country is US$0.04 for both operational hydro plants and other types of power plants. The mean cost of new hydro capacity is US$1290/kW.
Companies that generate more than 5% of national hydro power generation are Elektroprivreda BiH, Elektro-privreda Mostar and Elektroprivreda Srpska.
Many changes are under way relating to the organisation of the energy and power sectors which, in view of the war during the 1990s, have not yet finalised.
The current organisational structure of the energy authority involves united generation, transmission and distribution. The government owns and operates all power plants, and it controls the electricity market.
Hydro power development
The country’s gross theoretical hydro power potential is 68,800GWh/yr (equivalent to 8000MW). The technically
feasible potential is 24,000GWh/yr (6800MW), and the economically feasible potential is 19,000GWh/yr (5600MW). About 37% of the technically feasible potential has been developed so far. The country’s present total installed capacity is 2300MW, of which 1624MW is hydro capacity.
The hydro plants have an average annual generation of 8900GWh/yr, although actual generation was only 5100GWh in 1998. Hydro plants provide about 48.4% of national electricity production in an average year (which includes pumped storage). There is 430MW of capacity in operation at pumped storage plants. No more plants are planned.
Five existing hydro plants (totalling 1060MW) are part of multi-purpose developments. There are 13 hydro plants with a capacity greater than 10MW.
Elektroprivreda BiH has been awarded funds from the US government to study completion of the 126MW Konic plant, now under construction, which will undergo some revisions.
A further 9MW of hydro capacity is also planned. An 87m high dam is under construction for the project. It is an arch dam, with a concrete volume of 103,000m3, and will impound a reservoir with a volume of 81.5x106m3. The project is due to be completed in 2003.
The state-owned power utility Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske (EPRS) recently confirmed its development strategy, giving priority to the construction of five hydro plants. The company is to move ahead with the development of the 450MW Buk Bijela and Srbinje (Foca) hydro plants, at a total cost of US$259M, and commissioning is planned for 2008.
These projects are to be followed by two further hydro plants at Krupa and Banja Luka, due for completion in 2010. Longer term, EPRS envisages the construction of a 160MW hydro station at Dabar.
There is 180MW of capacity at nine units more than 40 years old. It is estimated that 210MW could upgrade the existing hydro plants.
Unit 4 at the 6x25MW Jablanica hydroelectric plant was decommissioned recently and upgrading work took place. This project has increased the capacity of unit 4 to 30MW and should produce an extra 6GWh/year on average. Work on unit 5 at the Jablanica plant is expected to begin this year.
The 58MW Unit 7 at the 308MW Perucica hydro station resumed operation in October 1999, after repairs to the electrical equipment were completed a month ahead of schedule. Perucica generated 603GWh during the first nine months of 1999.
The following dams and hydro projects are at the preliminary design stage:
• Glavaticevo.
• Ustikolina.
• Vranduk.
• Buk Bijela.
• Dabar.
Others at the preliminary solution stage:
• Vrhpolje.
• Unac.
• Tihawina.
• M Blato.
The Ministry for Regional Planning and Environmental Protection is responsible for environmental impact assessment and management. The main domestic civil contractor for dams and hydro projects is G/K Hidrogradnja. The main developer is Energoinvest-Energoinzenjering.
Small hydro
Bosnia has a small hydro power potential of 2500GWh/yr. There are ten small, mini or micro hydro plants in operation, with a total capacity of 31MW.
Another two plants are under construction (1.8MW) and 20 more are planned, totalling another 28MW. Proposed plans include the installation of ten small hydro plants every year, with an average capacity of 1.5MW each.
Further hydro projects under reconstruction include the Una project, which will have a capacity of 4×2.2MW.
Swiss company, Geva, signed a US$3.17M contract in November 2000 to build and operate a 1.6MW hydro plant in central Bosnia. The mini hydro plant on the Zeljeznica river should start operating by 2003, and produce a total of 9.5GWh/yr.
The contract provides for a 20-year concession on the use of water, in return for building and running the plant, near the town of Fojnica, during that period. Geva has also signed an agreement with the state-owned power company, Elektroprivreda BiH, which will buy the electricity produced by the plant.
Small Hydropower Tyrol of Austria has also announced that it will invest US$6.03M to build four mini hydro power plants on the Jezernica and Kozica rivers, near the town of Fojnica, in central Bosnia.
The Austrian company, as part of a consortium with Intrade Sarajevo of Bosnia, signed a 20-year DBOT (design, build, operate, transfer) agreement in July 2000 with the Central Bosnia region as well as a power purchase agreement with power utility Elektroprivreda Bosne i Hercegovine (EPBiH).
Operation and ownership of the future mini hydro plants will revert to the Fojnica municipality and the Srednjobosanski (Mid-Bosnia) Canton at the end of the concession. The Srednjobosanski Canton Authority is the legal entity awarding the concession.
Three of the plants (Prokoska, Jezernica 1 and Mujakovici) will be on the Jezernica river, while the Botun scheme will be on the Kozica river. The total capacity of the four run-of-river plants is 3.8MW, with expected annual output of 21GWh.
A financial study of the project needs to be completed prior to the start of construction work, with the building of the plants scheduled to begin in early 2001 and to last 16 months.
Future outlook
The most urgent task is to rehabilitate and reconstruct power plants and hydro power structures damaged during the war.
The rehabilitation of steam-fired and hydro power plants was foreseen up to 2002.
The construction of new hydro plants and reservoirs for water supply is also envisaged.