No green permit needed for "Otilovići"

The Electric Power Company (EPCG) will not have to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment Study for the small hydroelectric power plant (sHPP) "Otilovići" in Pljevlja, bringing this €8.221.950 project one step closer to obtaining a construction permit.

The Environmental Protection Agency made the decision in mid-May that they do not need an environmental permit. The decision on the Elaboration is significant because it is part of the documentation required for obtaining a building permit.

"Otilovići" will be built next to the existing dam on the Ćehotina River, which was built to supply water to the Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant back in 1982. Its capacity would be around three megawatts, and it is expected to produce around 11,5 million kilowatt hours per year, enough to supply around 1.200 households.

After three tenders, the contract for the construction of the small hydroelectric power plant "Otilovići" worth 8,22 million euros was signed on January 23 this year by the executive director of EPCG Zdravko Dragas and CEO of “Vigoris Ecotech” Siniša VišnjićIt was announced at the time that electricity from this small hydropower plant should start to be produced in October 2027.

"The project owner is obliged to act in accordance with the project documentation, applicable technical norms and standards prescribed for this type of facility during the implementation of the project, as well as in the event of an accident, and to implement all measures specified in the documentation for deciding on the need to prepare an Environmental Impact Assessment Study, as well as the measures from the adopted decision," the Agency's decision states.

"Otilovići" will require deepening the Ćehotina riverbed by 650 meters, construction of a 100-meter-long pipeline, and three new facilities, while there will be no land expropriation.

In September 2021, the government gave the green light for a concession for the use of water for the construction of hydroelectric power plants in Montenegro, namely for the valorization of the water potential from the Otilovići reservoir next to the existing dam, which would use the excess water flowing from that site. The government and EPCG signed the third annex to the concession agreement for this reservoir at the end of April, which extended the deadline for the completion of the first phase of the project by another ten months.

The concession agreement was signed at the end of August 2022, and it plans for the construction of the project to proceed in three phases. The first begins with the adoption of planning documentation and ends with the issuance of a building permit, the second refers to the construction itself and ends with the acquisition of a usage permit, while the third refers to the use of electricity from the small hydropower plant.

At the end of November 2023, the first annex to the contract was signed, in order to provide another year and a half for the first phase. Thus, the new deadline became January 27, 2025, but the construction permit had not been secured by then, so at the end of July last year, a second annex was signed, which pushed the deadline by another year, i.e. until January 27, 2026.

That deadline also expired at the end of January, so in mid-March, EPCG requested additional time from the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property because they had not provided a building permit.