Montenegro’s environmental regulator has approved a revised impact assessment for the €200 million Bijela wind farm, reviving one of the country’s largest renewable-energy projects after an earlier permit was overturned following objections from local communities.
Developer Vjetro park Bijela, owned by Alcazar Energy Partners, plans to build a 118.8-MW wind farm near Šavnik comprising 17 turbines, together with an 18.7-kilometre, 110-kV transmission line connecting the project to the Brezna substation.
The Environmental Protection Agency issued its approval on September 8, although the decision remains open to appeal. The procedure was repeated after the Ecology Ministry annulled the previous environmental consent in response to complaints from residents of Šavnik and Plužine and the civic initiative Spasimo Brezna.
Opposition has focused primarily on the transmission route rather than the turbines. The planned line, supported by 69 pylons, would cross parts of the Dragišnica and Komarnica Nature Park protection zone, pass close to the Nevidio canyon and intersect the buffer zone of Durmitor National Park.
Komarnica canyon is also a proposed Emerald Network site and a potential Natura 2000 area, raising the environmental threshold the developer must meet as Montenegro advances towards EU membership.
Under the new approval, the company must complete a 12-month study of birds and bats by October 1, 2027. Construction must comply with additional measures covering protected habitats, waterways, forests, noise, erosion and waste management.
The regulator also requested an assessment of the project’s effect on the Durmitor landscape and tourism, restrictions on construction during breeding periods and at least three to five years of post-construction monitoring of bird and bat mortality.
The transmission corridor will cover about 935,000 square metres, based on a safety zone extending 25 metres on either side. Its final section through the village of Brezna is planned as a 580-metre underground cable.
Montenegro’s transmission system operator CGES signed a grid-connection agreement with Vjetro park Bijela in September 2024. The government had previously issued planning conditions for the project, while local contractors Sistem MNE and Simes Inženjering signed construction agreements with Alcazar Energy in 2023.
Construction was initially expected to begin in 2025, but the permit dispute has delayed the schedule. Alcazar has said it secured about €200 million for Bijela and plans to raise its cumulative investment in Montenegro to as much as €500 million by the end of 2030.
The renewed environmental consent removes a significant obstacle, but it does not settle the project’s central risk. Bijela’s progress will now depend on whether the revised safeguards can withstand further appeals and reconcile a large private investment with some of northern Montenegro’s most sensitive landscapes.
