Boškov Most Hydro Power Plant

General informationEdit

Boškov Most HPP will be built near the town of Debar in the western part of the country and will have a generating capacity of 70 MW. It is intended to utilise the hydro power potential of the tributaries of the river Mala Reka and will include a dam and a reservoir near the village of Tresonce. It is estimated that it will produce 117 GW of power per year. Plans to build the Boskov Most HPP date back to 1983 but it was postponed several times due to financial problems.

In November 2011 European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed on loaning a country EUR 65 million for the construction of the project. The rest is to be provided by the AD Elektrani na Makedonija (ELEM).

ELEM is a 100% state owned electric power utility of Macedonia responsible for mining and power generation. It was formed in 2005 and currently carries out mining operations in four coal mines and operates 1,329 MW of power generating capacity, of which 60% is lignite-fired and 40% hydropower.

In 2011 it was estimated that the total cost of the project was to be EUR 84 million however, in 2014 that figure rose to EUR 107 million.

The importance of the project for the Macedonian energy sectorEdit

Unfavourable energy mix, strong dependence on energy import, obsolete energy system and inefficiency in energy production and use are the main problems of the Macedonian energy sector. Macedonia imports roughly a quarter of its annual electricity needs. Domestic energy production is based mainly on the low-quality domestic lignite, biomass and hydro. The purpose of the Boškov most HPP is to support Macedonia's drive to improve the security and quality of its energy supplies, as well as promoting renewable sources of energy generation. Once operating, the plant will enable the nation to reduce electricity imports and in addition decrease the carbon intensity of the Macedonian generation sector.

Environmental impactEdit

The Mavrovo National Park is one of the oldest national parks in Europe, famous for its pristine nature. The park hosts more than 1,000 different plant species. Trout species, wolves, bears and otters are an important part of the ecosystem. The park is also a centre of the remaining population of the Balkan Lynx, an endangered subspecies of the Eurasian Lynx. The territory where it moves is thus a critical habitat and represents an area where measures for protection and preservation of this species should be undertaken. Putting any additional stress on this source population may lead to the extinction of the species.

Boškov HPP is designed to produce peak energy which means that the water from Mala Reka river and its tributaries will be diverted into a reservoir and on demand released once a day. Aside from the fact that the entire valley will suffer from the diversion of the majority of its natural water supplies, it will also result in daily flushes, which have enormous negative impacts on biodiversity and species populations in the river sections below the HPP.

Legal issuesEdit

The Environmental impact assessment prepared for the project is lacking significant information vital for the precise and objective evaluation of the impact of the project on the environment, specifically data on the mammals in the project area and complete absence of the Balkan lynx from the study.

The project is also not in accordance with Law on Nature protection specifically with Article 74, which does not envisage the use of natural resources for energy as a part of national park management and Article 75 which lists the prohibited activities in the national park. Furthermore, the project is not in accordance with the following international conventions signed and ratified by the government of Macedonia: Bern Convention, Bonn Convention and Convention on Biodiversity.