The mini hydropower plant “Zapece” on the Ugar River in the Municipality Skender Vakuf started working today, and the value of the investment is 14 million EUR.
The mini hydropower plant “Zapece” has an installed power of 4MW and the intended annual production is 14 GWh, which is enough electricity for supplying 4.000 households.
The investor is the company “EHE” Ltd. Banja Luka.
After putting this mini hydropower plant into operation, a member of the Board of the Austrian company “Kelag” Armin Virsma stated that he is proud of the fact that this company is so far the largest private investor from abroad that invested in renewable energy sources on the territory of the former Yugoslavia.
Virsma said that two mini hydropower plants have been constructed in the RS while the third one, “Medna” on the Sana River, is currently under construction.
“This way we contribute to the protection against climate changes and construction of new values at the local level”, Virsma stated.
Virsma expressed hope that this will be a stimulus for the other investors to come to B&H in order to invest and create new jobs, and stimulate the economy development.
The Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining of the RS Petar Djokic assessed that this energy facility is of great importance for the RS, since it increases the energy capacity by producing new amounts of electricity from renewable energy sources.
Djokic emphasized that the Austrian company “Kelag”, together with its member “Interenerga”, invested around 50 million BAM in the construction of two such facilities in the RS so far, and that also under construction is the third hydropower plant “Medna” on the Sana River, which will have 5.1MW of installed power, and the completion of the construction is expected by the beginning of 2017.
“Total value of these investments will be around 100 million BAM”, Djokic emphasized and added that the company “Kelag” is an important partner of the RS Government with whom they have signed a contract on extension of cooperation for two more years.
According to Djokic, it is very significant for the RS to continue constructing such facilities and to keep the energy sector the most important generator of its development.
(Source: seebiz.net/ photo novovrijeme)
