This year, Montenegro has a surplus of electricity for export of about 800 gigawatt hours (GWh), while next year a surplus of about 500 GWh is planned because an average hydrological year is expected, while this year was above average in terms of precipitation, according to the Energy Balance for the year 2024.
According to the data of the Monstat Administration for Statistics, Montenegro exported electricity for 190 million euros for the period January – October this year, which is 35 percent of the total export. So that electricity has become the most important strategic product of Montenegro, and its export at this year’s level would be worth about four percent of the estimated gross domestic product (GDP).
The most electricity for this period was exported to BiH for 50 million, 42 million each to Serbia and Slovenia, and Montenegrin electricity also reached the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Hungary and Denmark.
The expected production of electricity this year is estimated at four thousand GWh, which is about 400 GWh or 11 percent more than planned. This was achieved thanks to the increase in production from hydroelectric power plants by almost 17 percent from the planned 1,842 to 2.150 GWh, as well as from the Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant, where instead of the planned 1,387, 1.500 GWh were produced.
Production from wind power plants will amount to 312 GWh or five percent lower than planned, and from solar power plants it was 20 GWh, which is only half of what was expected.
The total domestic consumption this year is estimated at 3,16 thousand GWh, of which 2,6 thousand are related to distributive consumers, 98 to direct consumers, and losses in the transmission and distribution network are estimated at 470 GWh.
For the next year, according to the estimate from the Energy Balance, a total production of 3,6 thousand GWh is expected, while the consumption is predicted at 3,11 thousand.
1,85 thousand GWh is expected from hydropower plants, which is at the level of regular production for the year with average amounts of precipitation. 1,31 thousand are planned from Pljevlja thermal power plant, 326 from wind farms “Krnovo” and “Možura”, and 104 GWh from solar power plants.
A large increase in production from solar power plants is planned, almost 30 times higher than two years earlier, when only 2022 GWh was obtained from these sources in 3,8. According to the energy balance plan, the continuation of the “Solari 5.000+” project is expected in the coming year, the start of operation of one new distribution solar power plant, as well as two owned by Elektroprivreda “Slano” and “Vrtac”.
Of the total expected production of electricity from hydropower plants, the most will be produced by “Perućica” 920, followed by “Piva” 750 and, all 37 small hydropower plants, owned by the state EPCG and private companies, 183 GWh.
