December 8 (SeeNews) - Bosnian power utility Elektroprivreda BiH (EPBiH) said it plans to add 1,314 MW to its production capacity by 2023 by investing 4.8 billion marka ($2.7 billion/2.5 billion euro) in the construction of power generation facilities.
The biggest portion of new electricity generation capacity, or 1,050 MW, is seen coming from thermal power plant (TPP) construction projects, including those for Unit 7 at TPP Tuzla and Unit 8 at TPP Kakanj, EPBiH said on Monday in its 2016-2018 business plan.
EPBiH plans to begin the construction of a 450 MW unit at the existing 715 MW Tuzla power plant in 2016 and sees it coming on stream in 2020. Works on the 300 MW TPP Kakanj unit are planned to begin in 2017 with their completion set for 2021.
Both projects are set to replace existing TPP units which must be taken offline due to the expiry of their lifespan and to their limited capacity in terms of meeting environmental standards in line with EU regulations.
China's Gezhouba Group Company Limited and Guangdong Electric Power Design Institute have been selected as preferred bidders for the construction of Unit 7, EPBiH said earlier.
EPBiH plans the construction of seven hydro power facilities, including the 20 MW hydro power plant Vranduk in 2016 and the 60 MW Ustikolina in 2017.
A total of 137 MW in new power generation capacity is seen coming from hydro power plants by 2021, while their total annual electricity production is estimated at 628 GWh.
Wind park Podvelezje is planned to come on stream in July 2017, while the 48 MW wind farm Vlasic is planned to be launched in 2019.
EPBiH operates in the Federation, one of the two autonomous entities making up Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other one is the Serb Republic. It is the biggest of Bosnia’s three power utilities.
In January, EPBiH said it plans to raise electricity output by 3.3% to 7,651 GWh in 2015.
(1 euro=1.95583 Bosnian marka)