Construction of the first wind farm in BIH in the mountain of Trusina, near Nevesinje, in which the British company “Kermas” will invest about 75MEUR, should be finished and put into operation in November next year.
Namely, in the next month, the agreements for the purchase of the latest equipment and connection to the power grid should be initiated, and the construction works will be continued in early spring, which, according to the announcements, should be completed in November next year.
The Government of the RS gave its consent, during one of the latest sessions, at the proposal of the Commission for Concessions of the RS, on the company “Kermas” to be the majority shareholder in the concession company “Eol prvi” of Nevesinje, which is the project holder, by means of which the conditions for the beginning of the realization of the investment in the construction of the first wind farm in the RS and BIH were created.
Zlatko Mandžuka, the director of the company “Eol prvi” from Nevesinje, said that the current activities were related to the final negotiations with the manufacturer of the equipment, i.e. wind generators and the equipment for the construction of the network connections. “I expect that the Agreement on the equipment purchase and the Agreement on the construction of the network connection, amounting to about 120 million KM, will be signed by 15th January or within a month time” said Mr. Mandžuka and added that these Agreements will be signed in Nevesinje, where the headquarters of the concessionaires “Eol prvi” is situated.
When it comes to the selection of equipment, Mr. Mandžuka said that the company “Eol prvi”, as the concessionaire holder, had chosen the turbines of the world’s largest manufacturer, the Danish “Vestas”. As he pointed out, the Agreement on network connection, as expected, would be signed with the local company specialized in this type of works.
According to him, the company “Elektroprenos BiH” has been of a great assistance and professional support to them in the implementation of this project.
“We have recently submitted the transmission line project to them to be audited, and the same will be done with the project for the substation construction.”Elektroprenos BiH” will also act as the supervisor during the construction of the connection of the wind farm Trusina to the existing transmission network, said Mr. Mandžuka and added that that they expect that the agreement on the network connection will be signed with the company ”Elektroprenos BiH” no later than the end of this month. Considering a particular nature of the wind farm as a power unit, Mr. Mandžuka said that the construction works represented only about 10 percent of the investment.
“New construction season will begin in late March next year, due to the climate conditions in Trusina, where the height above sea level is 1,000 meters. Construction works will be carried out in the period of five months and it will be enough to open and put into operation the wind farm Trusina in November next year” he said. In addition, he points out that the local construction operative unit will be partly included into the construction works.
Mr. Mandžuka repeated that the strategic partner for the wind farm construction is the company “Kermas”, owned by Danko Končar, who lives and works in London and originally comes from this region. This company, which, among other things, deals with energy, operates in many countries of the world, and its value is estimated at more than 1.5 billion euros.
Namely, the wind farm Trusina will annually produce, as estimated about 160,000 megawatt-hours of electricity, which means that the first wind farm in the RS will supply about 40,000 households, or a city of about 160,000 people.
The government of the RS gave a concession to the company “Eol prvi” in October 2012 for the period 30 years to construct a wind farm with 17 turbines in Trusina of the total installed capacity of 51 megawatt. The height of the wind turbines will be 84 meters with the diameter of a rotor wing of 112 meters. In the Energy Development Strategy of RS by 2030, as the most prospective area for the construction of wind farms precisely East Herzegovina was listed, i.e. the area from Kalinovik to Trebinje.
In the municipality of Nevesinje, in whose territory this wind farm will be located, they told us that the construction of the wind farm could be the initiator of the economic development in the municipality, and that they hope for the engagement of business entities in the construction of the wind farm, but for the new jobs, as well. They expressed their hope that this major project would be put into operation on time and within the deadlines.
