Montenegro has the right to a part of the hydropower potential of Lake Bileć and the final solution will be sought in the appropriate negotiation procedure, said the Elektroprivreda Crne Gore (EPCG) when asked by "Vijesti" whether Montenegro has the right to a part of the electricity produced from the hydroelectric power plant system Trebišnji and on what basis do they base such a position.
Elektroprivreda Republika Srpska (ERS), which manages two of the four hydroelectric plants in this system that uses water from Lake Bileć, did not respond to the questions of "Vijesti" regarding this problem. The third hydroelectric power plant is "Dubrovnik" where ERS and Hrvatska elektroprivreda share the produced electricity, while the fourth "Capljina" is located in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
All these hydropower plants, built in the period from 1965 to 1981, fully or partially use water from Lake Bileć, part of which belongs to Montenegro, which did not participate in their construction at the time, but neither approved the construction nor waived its rights.
ERS Director Luka Petrović told CIN-CG in June 2022 that Montenegro has no right to part of the energy from the Trebišnjica system and that it is "an initiative of the Government of Montenegro in a technical mandate that has no basis".
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"They want to say that they have the right to it, and when the system was being created - they were not there," Petrović said at the time.
EPCG states that in various study analyses, the participation of the Montenegrin basin is estimated at 30 to 45 percent, depending on several criteria.
"According to the latest study, on the surface of the 440 square kilometer Bileć Lake (hydrogeological basin), which is located on the territory of Montenegro, an average of 20,55 cubic meters per second flows into the Trebišnjica basin. Of that amount of water, 14,22 cubic meters per second appear in the springs of Trebišnjica, and Montenegro cannot claim the right to use that amount because it is the domicile waters of the Republic of Srpska. The rest of 6,33 cubic meters per second flows in the direction of Lake Bilećki and in the direction of Sušice. Given that there are no data on the quantities that flow underground in these directions, the ratio 70%:30% was adopted in the Study. Based on this, the amount of water that flows from the territory of Montenegro into the Bilec reservoir, on the part of the interstate border, is determined. On the other hand, the division of the hydropower potential of Bileć Lake into two neighboring countries - Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina - was calculated. On this basis, Montenegro has the right to use 20,21% of the potential, i.e. 13,60 cubic meters per second, so this value was adopted as Montenegro's participation in the potential of Bileć Lake", EPCG reported to "Vijesta".
According to the data of the Ljubljana Electroprojekt Studio in 1973, Montenegro lost five billion KWh, and according to the data of Energoprojekt-Hidroinženjering from 2000, three billion kWh were lost.
"It is important to note here that Montenegro did not participate in the financing of the construction of dams and other facilities of the HET system, and that the final solution must be sought in the appropriate negotiation process," EPCG stated.
This state-owned company states that the issue of demarcating cross-border rivers, dividing their potential and resolving disputes arising is governed by the provisions of several international conventions, rules, declarations and charters, all of which are based on the principle of "reasonable and fair use of water".
In this case, as they stated, only two documents are relevant: the Helsinki Rules on the Use of the Waters of International Rivers of the Water Committee of the World Association for International Law (1966-1996), Article IV and V, and the Convention on the Law of Non-Navigable Uses of International Watercourses - Commission UN International Law (1997), Articles 5 and 6.
"It should also be pointed out that Montenegro, as a coastal state, has never given written consent to submerge its territory with the waters of Lake Bileć; that the representative of Montenegro in the Commission for the reception of the hydropower system of HPP Trebišnjica reserved the right of his country to subsequently submit a request for the protection of its interests; that the state of Montenegro, as the holder of the associated part of the water of Bileć Lake as a public good, has not realized its associated rights for downstream power plants for 58 years; that Lake Bilećko and all four downstream power plants are part of the unique energy valorization project of the waters of the international Trebišnjica river, which was implemented within the SFRY as a joint state of Montenegro, BiH and Croatia; that all the basic production performances of the four downstream power plants are provided by the waters of Lake Bileć, and on this basis, the production of HPP "Dubrovnik" for a long period of time is shared between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina 22:78%", EPCG stated.
This company said that in the previous period, there were several attempts to reach an agreement.
"We undertook a number of initiatives in the direction of cooperation with ERS, starting with the formation of a working body at the EPCG level, whose task, among other things, was to establish cooperation with the other party in connection with the possible realization and implementation of certain agreements and corresponding technical solutions, in the spirit of mutually good intentions, with the aim of joint valorization of the hydropower potential of both entities", stated EPCG.
Kovačević: We are negotiating with ERS, a possible compensation of half a million
The municipality of Nikšić received compensation from the then Elektroprivreda BiH due to the submergence of its territory until 1992.
The former mayor of Nikšić, Veselin Grbović, stated in 2014 that the Republika Srpska accepted to pay them compensation for the use of the reservoir from Lake Bileć, that it would not be fixed on an annual basis, but that it would depend on the amount of electricity produced.
After that, commissions were formed, but no payment was made, so in 2016, Grbović threatened international arbitration in statements, which was not initiated.
The current mayor, Marko Kovačević, told "Vijesti" that since the beginning of the mandate, they had several discussions on this topic with representatives of ERS.
"According to the laws of the RS, local governments have the right to a certain part of the compensation, which in the case of Nikšić would amount to close to half a million euros per year. Our legislation does not recognize this type of compensation, and the question arises as to how the Municipality of Nikšić would treat this income. In any case, it is simpler to resolve the rights of Nikšić in this case than the rights of Montenegro as a state. We have to start from somewhere, that income would be significant for our municipality, so I hope that the situation will be resolved in the foreseeable future, at least in that part. In the part that concerns the rights of the state of Montenegro, the situation is more complex and it will certainly take more time to resolve it positively", stated Kovačević.
During the construction of the reservoir, the Montenegrin villages of Panik, Orah, Čepelica, Zadublje and Miruše with their hamlets were submerged, from which about 60 households moved.
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