The company "Vjetropark Bijela" has received a green permit from the Environmental Protection Agency, or ecological approval, to build a wind farm on an area of 300.000 square meters and an 18,7 kilometer long transmission line near Šavnik. The project, worth 200 million euros, is expected to provide electricity for 20.700 households annually.
The environmental impact assessment study for this project by the Podgorica-based company, founded by "Alcazar Energy Partners", was officially approved at the end of last year, while the decision was announced in mid-February.
The wind farm with the planned 17 wind turbines, each 110 meters high, did not cause any problems for the residents of several places in Šavnik, but resistance to the project came in the middle of last year due to the transmission line that, among other things, passes through the Brezna settlement in Plužine. The residents gathered in the civic initiative "Save Brezna" then announced that "Alcazar Energy Partners" is brutally violating Montenegrin laws, the Constitution and international conventions and is allegedly trying to violently seize the private properties of the residents of Brezna, in order to build a transmission line through them to the substation (TS) in that place.
According to the study prepared by the companies "Medix" and "E3", the investor has in the meantime corrected the route in this section and changed the passage of the power line in the towns of Duži and Brezna, which also allowed the wind turbines with a diameter of 171 meters and a power of 118,8 megawatts to receive approval from the Agency.
"The terrain of the location and its surroundings is a rural hilly area. The total area on which the wind farm will be built is 29,97 hectares on private plots. In the area of the location and the route of the 110 kV connecting transmission line for the purposes of connecting the wind farm, there are no protected objects and cultural and historical heritage assets. Of the protected areas, only the transmission line route intersects the III protection zone of the Nature Parks 'Dragišnica' and 'Komarnica' and the protective belt of the National Park 'Durmitor'. The Komarnica River Canyon is included in the list of Emerald areas in Montenegro and is a potential Natura 2000 area. The nearest uncategorized object is located 14 meters from the transmission line route, while the next residential buildings are at a distance of 57 and 65 meters from the route," the Study states.
Pillars far from the trough
The 18,7-kilometer long transmission line will connect the “Bijela” substation and the existing “Brezna” substation, while at the entrance to the village of Brezna it will be converted into an underground cable almost 600 meters long. The transmission line, as it is written, will have 69 poles and will pass through the cadastral municipalities of Malinsko, Donja Bijela, Mljetičak, Petnjica, Pošćenje, Komarnica, Duži - in Šavnik and Gornja Brezna in Plužine.
For the construction of the power line, it is planned to clear the terrain of bushes, trees, weeds and other vegetation, with 140.000 square meters to be cleared, while lower plants that do not affect the safety of the power line will not be cut down.
"Of the more significant flows, the transmission line passes northeast of Šavnik across the Bukovica River Gorge, then across the Komarnica River Gorge in front of the entrance to the Nevidio Canyon, and in the final part it crosses the Komarnica Canyon from Duži, towards the substation in Brezne. Although in this part the rivers pass through a deep canyon, the transmission line poles are positioned in such a way that they are far from the riverbed itself, it should be said that these are constantly flowing waters and that their regenerative capacity is large. The transmission line mainly passes through areas such as grassy meadows and to a lesser extent through forest areas," the Elaborate points out.
It also states that the transmission line corridor was designed according to the connection point determined by the Montenegrin Electricity Transmission System (CGES), that it has a safety zone of 25 meters on both sides, and will cover a total of about 935.000 square meters. It is also stated that its route mostly runs through meadows and forests.
According to the Study, there are no surface watercourses in the wind farm area, but 17 livestock watering places, or ponds, have been recorded. This location is sparsely populated, so there are several structures nearby, mostly katuns, the closest of which is about 250 meters from the nearest wind generator.
The wind farm will be connected to the main road Šavnik - Žabljak, which is about 17 kilometers away, while the construction of a five-meter-wide road between the wind generators is also planned.
About 100 workers are needed for construction.
The closest cultural property to the project is located in Duži, about 150 meters from the power line, and it is the Church of St. Archangel Michael, while the Bijela Monastery with the Church of St. George from the 17th century is about 800 meters away. The project will not endanger the “Šavnička Glava” water source, as it is located 400 meters from the power line.
It is emphasized that the construction project will be accompanied by normal levels of pollution seen on construction sites, but that there will be no impact on the local population, while 50 workers will work on the project during preparatory work, road construction and terrain preparation, and later, during the installation of wind turbine poles, power lines and necessary equipment, 100 employees are expected to be employed on the construction site.
Seven species of insects of special importance have also been recorded at this site, which are protected at the national level or endangered and are listed in the annexes of the European Union Habitats Directive on habitats and species, the Bern Resolution and the CITES Convention.
The government issued the urban planning and technical requirements for the development of technical documentation for this wind farm in July 2023.
Montenegrin companies "Sistem MNE" and "Simes Inženjering" signed a contract with Luxembourg-based company "Alcazar Energy" in September 2023 to build the Bijela wind farm worth 200 million euros. The government announced at the time that it was building one of the largest wind farms in the Balkans, with construction expected to begin in 2025.
At that time, they announced that the operation of this wind farm would produce enough clean energy to supply more than 20,7 thousand households annually, while the municipality of Šavnik would also have significant benefits through land valorization, infrastructure and mobility improvements. The project is planned to reduce harmful gas emissions - by more than 260 thousand tons of carbon dioxide annually.
Dialogue without dialogue?
The civic initiative "Save Brezna" announced in July last year that "Alcazar Energy Partners" continues to violate laws, the Constitution, and international conventions and is trying to seize their property in order to build a transmission line to the "Bijela" wind farm.
They made this response a day after "Alcazar" announced that they had a meeting with the residents of Pluzine and the village of Gornja Brezna, and that they remain open to dialogue and believe that responsible project development is built through open communication.
The civic initiative stated that the presentation was organized to simulate a dialogue process with locals, so that the investor could obtain approval from international banks and apply for a loan.
"That this is just a sham dialogue is evidenced by the fact that "Alcazar" only invited the media, not the citizens. They tried to do this behind the scenes, hoping that none of us would show up. The last thing they did was send two of their officials, secretly, to the oldest resident of our village, who is 95 years old and lives alone, to convince him to sell his land to them, and at the same time warned him that it would be better for him to sell it voluntarily than to have his land taken away through expropriation. What is this called if not - violence, blackmail, threat? We accidentally found out about the discussion about the Elaborate - they registered our plots and wrote that they had made an agreement with the landowners and signed lease agreements. And that was the first time we heard about it," they said.
They claim that the investor then sent surveyors to their properties for surveys, and that they filed a request with the Ministry of Spatial Planning to declare it a public interest and have the state take their land.
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