Trans-Balkan electricity corridor construction was previously expected to start in April and be concluded by December 2021. Serbian transmission system operator EMS signed a contract for the construction of the 400kV line from Kragujevac to Kraljevo in Serbia in March.
Construction on the second of four sections of the Serbian part of the planned electricity corridor has now begun after delays of two months, with the project expected to be completed in early 2022.
The project is now expected to be completed in early 2022, Serbia’s minister of mining and energy Aleksander Antic said. The deadline for the completion of the construction is 610 days, EMS said.
The second section of the project will connect to the Bajina Basta pumped hydro storage plant. It will enable more stable operation of the plant and is also a key requirement for the construction of the long-planned Bistrica pumped-storage plant, Antic said.
Serbia completed the first section of the corridor in December 2017, adding a double 400kV transmission line from Pancevo to the Romanian border. After completing the current project, a third section comprising a new transmission line from Bajina Basta to Obrenovac will be added. A final connection linking the Serbian section of the project at Bajina Basta to Visegard in Bosnia and to Pljevlja in Montenegro will then be built.
Once completed, the corridor will connect Romania to Italy through the new 600MW Italy-Montenegro sub-sea cable, which began operations at the end of last year. The project will also serve to upgrade ageing transmission infrastructure across the western Balkans.
The third and fourth sections of the corridor are expected to cost about €100mn, EMS director Jelena Matejic said.
Source: argusmedia.com
