Gathering at SASA Calls on Serbia Not to Separate Hydro from Thermal Power Plants – Construction of Small Hydro Power Plants Needs to Be Stopped

By separating hydro and thermal power plants in Serbia into separate companies, considerable damage would be done to the electrical energy system and citizens and that is why any transformation that would jeopardize the functionality of the whole should be avoided.

That is one of the conclusions of the academic conference “Hydro Energy of the Southeast Europe Region”, held on Thursday and Friday at the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SASA) in Belgrade.

The president of the Energy Board, Slobodan Vukosavic, said that “all the hydro energy facilities should be protected from a direct or indirect sale or recapitalization, because that would bring into question the ownership of the citizens of Serbia over hydro energy facilities.”

The consequences of the construction of small derivation hydro power plants which work according to the principle of a water intake from the river for the passing through turbine, leaving a minimum of 10-30% of the flow, are listed in the conclusions.

– Small hydro power plants do not contribute to climate neutrality, because they lead to the emission of swamp gas with a high methane content, a greenhouse gas, which is more pronounced than the consequences of carbon-dioxide emissions – the conclusions say.

Vukosavic said that it had been confirmed that there was a private interest of the investors to make a profit, but that there was no interest of Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), the citizens and the state to continue building derivation SHPPs, as they produced little electrical energy, while causing considerable damage.

He pointed out that the construction of small hydro power plants should be stopped and that the possibility of stopping the work of the existing small hydro power plants and ameliorating the terrain should be looked into.

Vukosavic said that potential locations for the construction of reversible hydro power plants were on the left bank of the Drina, but that a political agreement needed to be reached in order for the construction to start.

– When it comes to the construction of reversible hydro power plants in Serbia, priority should be given to completing Bistrica (on the Uvac), and the construction of the reversible hydro power plant Djerdap 3 should be reconsidered and it should be postponed – Vukosavic said, summing up the conclusions reached at this academic gathering.

SANU Beograd

Elektroprivreda Srbije ad Beograd

Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts

SASA

Elektroprivreda Srbije

EPS

Slobodan Vukosavić

Drina

Bistrica

Uvac

Đerdap 3

Hydro Energy of the Southeast Europe Region

sale of hydro energy facilities

construction of small derivation hydro power plants

reversible hydro power plants

locations for construction of reversible hydro power plants