Montenegro’s state-owned electricity company EPCG has launched a tender for supervision of the Otilovići small hydropower plant, moving the delayed project into a more structured construction phase.
The supervision contract is valued at approximately €100,000, excluding VAT, with offers due by 27 July 2026. The selected consultant will oversee the contractor’s work, verify quality and quantities, monitor compliance with the design and support the technical acceptance of the completed plant.
EPCG awarded the design-and-build contract to Montenegrin company Vigoris Ecotech at the beginning of the year. The plant will be constructed on the Ćehotina River near Pljevlja and will use water associated with the existing Otilovići reservoir.
The facility will contain two horizontal Francis turbines with a combined capacity of 3.2 MW. Expected annual generation is approximately 11 GWh, equivalent to a capacity factor of about 39%. EPCG estimates that output will be sufficient to cover the annual electricity consumption of roughly 1,800 households.
The project is being implemented under a concession agreement signed with the Montenegrin Government in 2022. Its timetable has been extended several times after difficulties in selecting a contractor delayed the start of construction.
Although Otilovići is small relative to EPCG’s major hydropower assets, the scheme offers predictable renewable generation and can use existing water infrastructure. This lowers some development risks compared with a greenfield reservoir project, although construction close to an operating dam and water-supply system requires careful technical coordination.
The supervision tender is consequently more important than its contract value suggests. The consultant will need to control interfaces between civil works, hydraulic equipment, turbines, electrical systems and grid connection. Environmental-flow obligations and reservoir operating requirements will also need to be reflected in testing and commissioning.
At an assumed hydropower investment range of roughly €2 million–€4 million per MW, a project of this scale could require a total capital envelope in the region of €6 million–€13 million, depending on the extent to which existing infrastructure can be reused. EPCG has not provided a complete current CAPEX figure in the published project information.
Otilovići will not materially alter Montenegro’s national generation balance on its own. Its value lies in adding domestic renewable output near an established water asset while providing EPCG with another dispatchable plant in a system that remains highly sensitive to hydrology and electricity-import prices.
