Serbia's EPS completes overhaul of turbine at Djerdap 1 HPP

The company has invested 32 million euro ($37.8 million) to increase the capacity of the turbine to 195 MW from 178 MW, Milorad Grcic, managing director of EPS, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The overhaul, carried out by Russian company Silovye Mashiny, was launched two years ago and is part of a project to increase the capacity of each of the six power units of Djerdap 1, at a total cost of $139.8 million.

"So far, four units have been revamped - A1, A4, A5 and A6, and we have added about 60 MW of new capacity for electricity generation. Practically, through the overhaul of Djerdap 1, a new hydroelectric power plant is being built," Grcic said.

The Djerdap hydropower complex, located in the Iron Gate gorge on the Danube river, was built jointly by Serbia and Romania and commissioned in the 1970s. The Serbian part of the complex comprises Djerdap 1 and Djerdap 2 HPPs with installed capacity of 1,058 MW and 270 MW, respectively.

Serbia is considering construction of a third power plant, Djerdap 3, which would have a capacity of 2,400 MW and would cost approximately 6 billion euro.

($ = 0.847143 euro)