Montenegro TSO company CGES plans for 2016 includes 52MEUR investment projects for completion of infrastructure needed for TERNA financed underwater power cable Balkans-Montenegro-Italy.
Montenegrin Transmission System CGES ended the past year with positive business results, and this year’s most important activity will be the plan of investments worth 52 million euro, said the president of the Board of directors Dragan Laketić
Laketić said that the last year’s positive business result is a continuatuion of the series of positive business results that started in 2009, when CGES was founded.
„Our achievements are even better than those defined by the business plan, even though they are very different in some segments, for example on the revenue side if compared to 2014 which is due to obligatory decisions of the Regulatory Agency for Energy RAE, and the specific nature of operating of the energy subject with its operation completely regulated” Laketić said in an interview for the Agency MINA-business.
He said that last year, same like in the past few years, the main focus of the activities of CGES was on the intensive investment plan.
“Having in mind the scale and the importance of the investments that we are making, we have tried to keep the image of an investment oriented company, which together with the most significant project of international interest – the undersea interconnection with Italy –is capable of implementing a series of projects which will make the Transmission network in Montenegro stronger, more reliable and safer, which guarantees a more quality service of electric energy transmission and better availability for users both now and in the future” Laketić thinks.
Such a dynamic development of the transmission network is necessary due to the fact that the transmission network in Montenegro is technically a part of the unified European transmission network and its reliability impacts the safety of supplying the consumers outside of Montenegro too.
Apart from many projects that are planned Laketić reminded us of those that have been completed by the company in the past year.
“Above all we have the project of the reconstruction of the system of electric defenses, which brings more stability and flexibility to the transmission network, on which we spent 1.8 million euro, the project of the construction of the substation “Nikšić 2”, which will become the second key point of the supply after it gets connected to the transmission network, on which we spent 4.2 million euro” Laketić said.
He also mentioned the relocation of the power lines “Nikšić-Bileća” from Dragova Luka with the value of 0.6 million euro as well as expanding the substation “Mojkovac” by installing another transformer of 110/35kW which provides 100 percent of the reserves for the consumers that are supplied from that substation.
The value of the project is 1.1 million euro.
Laketić said that last year CGES together with its strategic partner Terna from Italy, continued to implement one of the largest projects in the transmission network in Europe – under the sea connection between Montenegro and Italy.
“I will remind you that the obligation of CGES in accordance with the contract on the coordination of the project, is to build the infrastructure and to strengthen the network in Montenegro, necessary for the planned connection as well as for attending to the growing need for electricity in Montenegrin sea shore” Laketić said
He also said that due to technical and financial reasons, CGES divided its part of the project into three parts – construction of the substation “Lastva”, construction of the power lines “Lastva-Čevo” and “Čevo –Pljevlja”.
“The contract for the substation “Lastva” was signed with Siemens from Vienna and in the past year some ground works were done in the substation location, project documentation was done and parts of the equipment were manufactured. The activities from this contract are ongoing as planned”, Laketić explained.
In this year we planned to finish the construction buildings on the site, to have the equipment delivered and installed and practically to complete all the work on the substation.
“The contact for the power lines from Lastva to Čevo was signed with “Iberdrol” from Madrid. I don’ want it to sound like an excuse, but the fact is that building a power line is a very complex job, mostly because of the large number of construction sites, where we have different expectations and unexpected obstacles and conflicts which take time and effort to overcome”, said Laketić.
According to him, in the past year they have been working on solving property relations, project documentation while in the other half of the year they tackled the approach roads to the location of power line poles.
“Due to certain problems the contractors had because of the differences in standards and regulations that are applied in EU and Montenegro we have encountered the problem of breeching deadlines to finish the project documentation”, Laketić added.
He said that together with the consultant on the project CGES communicates intensively with the contractor in order to find a solution that is acceptable to all parties.
“In this year we have planned to make the pole construction, to complete the main project, finish the approach roads and pole foundations, as well as to installe the poles”, Laketić said.
The Contract for the power lines from Čevo to Pljevlja was signed with the regional consortium Energoinvest from Sarajevo and Energomontaža from Belgrade.
Laketić said that the main activities in the past years have been very similar to the activities regarding the construction of “Lastva -Čevo” power lines. Also the plans for this year are similar to the plans for the construction of “Lastva -Čevo” power lines.
“Terna is working intensively on their part of the project too, while through the activities of the Project coordination commission we can exchange information and experiences and we can harmonize the dynamics of the project”, Laketić said.
Regarding the legal procedures, Laketić said that CGES is currently involved in 50 court cases, mostly in the area of property relations.
“We are involved in 12 legal procedures with Elektroprivreda EPCG which are in different stages. CGES expects to overcome those issues with EPCG in order not to burden the cooperation between two of the most important energy subjects in Montenegro“, Laketić explained.
The most important activity this year will be to complete the investment plan worth 52 million euro.
“Of course the focus will be on the implementation of the main project, which is the undersea interconnection with Italy. It is planned to finish the majority of activities regarding the construction of necessary facilities in this year and it should cost 42 million euro” said Laketić.
The ambition of CGES is to work actively on improving several aspects of operation especially in the area of information technology and operation efficiency.
“This year is planned for preparation and for filing a request for the approval of regulatory revenue in the next regulatory period, which is of great importance to the company. The other planned activities to improve the safety of our employees and strengthen the social responsibility of the company are no less important” Laketić concludes, transmits Serbia-energy.eu
