In the first three months of this year, the Piva Hydroelectric Power Plant achieved almost 40% of the total projected production for this year, announced the Electric Power Company of Montenegro (EPCG). As they stated, even after 47 years of intensive exploitation, this large hydroelectric power plant of the storage type is a reliable supplier of energy. The company also announced the construction of HPP Komarnica and Kruševo, which would make Montenegro a powerful energy system.
– HPP Piva in its nearly half-century history represented a solid support in energy, financial and every other sense, for our company and the electric power system of Montenegro, but also for the municipality of Plužine and Montenegro as a whole – it is stated in the announcement of Elektroprivreda.
The President of the EPCG Board of Directors, Milutin Đukanović, stated that HPP Piva shows that we once had the caliber to build grandiose facilities, which, he said, obliges both our and future generations to make efforts to modernize the energy system.
– Our desire is to build the Komarnica and Kruševo hydropower plants, which would make us a very powerful energy system both in the regional and European frameworks. Our brakes in the economy are generally complicated regulations, disorganized public registers and a lack of professional staff. It is necessary to connect all social factors, because this is the only way to realize projects of general interest – said Đukanović.
He expressed satisfaction with the implementation of the Solari project so far, thanks to which we received the first kilowatt hours of electricity from a new source after forty years.
According to the company, HPP Piva, even when faced with objective circumstances that do not allow it to work at full capacity, manages to live up to expectations.
– This is primarily thanks to the exceptional team and employees whose commitment, responsibility and contribution both in HPP Piva, as well as in other parts of EPCG, guarantee that all ideas and plans will be implemented with the basic goal of overcoming the energy deficit and creating conditions for more intensive development – it is stated in announcement.
Executive Director Nikola Rovčanin said that every kilowatt hour should be valued, because it is worth its weight in gold, and announced that revitalization and modernization of this, as well as all other energy facilities within EPCG, are being considered with great ambitions.
As he said, the importance of this energy facility for Plužine is indisputable, and EPCG will strive to adequately compensate for the use of resources.
– We also intend to build new sources of green energy. Our goal is to reduce the energy deficit and provide the much-needed energy for the intensive and stable development of our economic system and society as a whole. I am sure that with well-thought-out moves, with the optimal disposal of existing resources, we will succeed in this and that in the coming years we will provide new megawatt hours from renewable energy sources thanks to the smart valorization of huge solar, wind and hydro potential – emphasized Rovčanin.
The director of HPP Piva, Nikola Daković, recalled the history of the hydroelectric power plant, thanking everyone who participated in its construction, as well as those who worked and are still working in it today.
– At the beginning of 2023, the Piva hydro-accumulation had the potential to produce 236,127 GWh of electricity, which is at the level of 87.45% of the energy value of the maximum volume. Since the beginning of the year, ending on March 27, we managed to produce 288,603.75 MWh of electricity, which is 38.5% of the total projected annual production – said Daković.
The EPCG delegation consisting of Milutin Đukanović, Nikola Rovčanin and Nikola Daković laid a wreath on the monument and observed a minute’s silence in honor of the workers who died during the construction of HPP Piva.
HPP Piva is a large storage hydropower plant with one of the highest concrete arch dams in the world. The reservoir of HPP Piva is about 40 km long, with a useful volume of 746 million cubic meters of water. As a storage facility with a large useful storage volume, HPP Piva is a flexible source of energy and power.
Due to the specific topographic characteristics of the terrain, the entire plant was built below the surface of the earth. It can be used at any time and for any of the needs of the power system in the full amount of the available amount of water in the reservoir.
