The 400 kilovolt transmission line, which should connect the south with the north of Montenegro, as a continuation of the submarine cable project of the Italian company Terna, will irreversibly endanger nature in the national parks "Lovćen" and "Durmitor", and will also cause significant damage to the areas of the Komarnica river. Tara and Čehotine.
Despite warnings that the power line could go along a different route or underground through the parks, the authorities did not care enough about environmental damage, but opted for the shortest option, in order to save 16 million euros. Thus, parts of national parks will be cut, endangered plant and animal species will be destroyed, as well as the destroyed landscapes that brought these areas to the UNESCO heritage list.
In the environmental impact assessment report for the Čevo-Pljevlja corridor, prepared by Željko Asanović's "Liming project" bureau, it is stated that forest habitats will suffer greater damage due to fragmentation along the entire route, while non-forest habitats will be irretrievably lost in the place where laying power lines. In the study, it is specified that, in addition to the territory of NP "Durmitor", the route of the transmission line will have a direct impact on two Emerald localities - Komarnica and Ćehotina.
"The construction of the transmission line will destroy smaller areas of 'Natura 2000' habitats in the Komarnica canyon, on Sinjajevina and in the Ćehotina valley. Among them, there are no rare habitats in Montenegro", it is stated in the study, which is Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG) received from the Environmental Protection Agency. Along the Komarnica and Tara canyons, as it is pointed out, birds of prey, which move quickly while catching prey, are especially sensitive to collisions with those installations. The authors of the study, however, believe that, considering the narrow area of the route, "the survival of no species will be questioned."
Emerald is an ecological network of areas of interest for specific protection. It functions in parallel with the program of protected areas "Natura 2000" in the European Union.
Experts in the field of energy question the economic viability of this transmission line and the investment of 106 million euros, because the submarine cable was officially put into operation on November 15 last year, with only half of the announced capacity, 600 instead of 1.200 megawatts. That is why electricity is transmitted without problems through the existing network of transmission lines.
Creditors were also guided by savings. In the document of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which gave a 106 million euro loan to the Montenegrin Electric Transmission System (CGES) for the 60 million euro project, it is pointed out that a corridor solution that avoids both national parks was analyzed in the Environmental Impact Assessment environment and society (Environmental and social impact assessments ESIA), which the Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG) had insight into.
"This corridor would be over 200 kilometers long, compared to the proposed corridor of 152,5 km, or about 50 km longer. This would increase costs by about 16 million euros, or about 27 percent. This alternative was not considered economically feasible," the document states.
Economic savings and a shorter route led to the fact that the transmission line runs 11 kilometers through the National Park "Lovćen" and another three kilometers through the National Park "Durmitor".
The EBRD website states that they have consulted several non-governmental organizations that deal with environmental protection, in order to help CGES in preparing the ESIA in accordance with the EU Directive and the bank's requirements. One of them is "Green home", whose executive director Nataša Kovačević emphasized for CIN-CG that they warned the EBRD that this project does not comply with the principles of environmental sustainability and asked them to refrain from financing in the foreseeable future, unless resolve all issues satisfactorily.
During the public hearings regarding environmental impact assessments organized by the EBRD and the Agency for Nature and Environmental Protection (EPA), three key problems were highlighted - the environmental damage of the project, socio-economic justification and deficiencies in spatial planning.
"We tried to point out that the planned transmission line passes through the strict protection zone of NP 'Durmitor' and the second zone of NP 'Lovćen', while it additionally passes through four Emerald areas (Lovćen, Durmitor, rivers Komarnica and Tara) as future 'Natura 2000' areas, and that the planned corridor and route violate the provisions of the Law on Nature Protection", said Kovačević for CIN-CG.
According to her, the alternative was not chosen because avoiding the NP "Lovćen" would be 18 kilometers longer and cost 7,74 million, and in the case of the NP "Durmitor" it meant an additional 29 kilometers and 8,35 million euros more.
Kovačević emphasizes that the visual and landscape identity of Durmitor and Tara is particularly threatened by the power line:
"Classified as highly sensitive, intolerant to changes, and it was already clear then that the combined poles for transmission lines 40-50m high through Durmitor and the canyon of the Tara River will significantly threaten one of the most important criteria for which this area was declared a UNESCO natural heritage".
The route of the transmission line in two places interrupts the map of the Emerald zone of NP "Lovćen", it can be seen from the study for the transmission line "Lastva - Čevo" from November 2014, which CIN-CG received under the Law on Free Access to Information. The report was made by Ljiljana Vuksanović's radio bureau "Medix" for the needs of CGES.
Biologist Vuk Iković, a representative of the KOD organization, points out that it is obvious that the power line caused the loss of the visual identity of Lovcen, damaging, in addition to the landscape, the biological value of the park.
KOD believes that, if national parks could not be bypassed, an underground cable should have been decided upon. This would not be an exception, as about 5,5 kilometers of underground cable has been laid from the Adriatic coast to the converter station in Lastva.
"Maybe some other country would be justified in not using the underground cabal, but not Montenegro - because we are defined by the Constitution as an ecological country. Our country should be full of forest, not networked with cables, cords and pipes", said Iković for CIN-CG. CGES told CIN-CG that the option of laying underground cables in combination with an overhead transmission line was also considered, but that such a solution "besides the fact that it can cause disturbances, i.e. significant problems in the operation of the transmission system, is also avoided in international practice".
"Such a way of building transmission lines would be economically unprofitable, especially considering the configuration of the terrain, i.e. mountainous topography and forests, where the work on laying the underground cable would be far more complex, extensive, accompanied by blasting of the terrain, which would cause a much greater impact on the way of life the environment and society as a whole", claim CGES.
During the selection of the corridor, as pointed out by CGES in the answers to questions from CIN-CG, care was taken to bypass protected areas, avoid fragmentation of national parks, and to use the routes of the existing 110 kilovolt power lines as much as possible.
In the EBRD document, it is stated that the transmission line route is up to 100 meters wide in some parts of the NP "Lovćen".
Iković points out that harmful consequences most often occur "at a distance of a kilometer from the route itself". He says that laying power lines or roads prevents some animals from reaching feeding grounds or breeding grounds. In order for certain species to move from one part of the forest to another, they must be exposed to the sun, which "will be fatal for many of them." But what the consequences will be - it is not clear, because in the report on environmental impact assessment for the Čevo-Pljevlja transmission line, Iković points out, it is written that it has not been investigated in detail.
"If you don't know with great confidence the state of nature, then you can't even know how a power line will affect animal life and what measures should be prescribed to reduce the negative impact. "A doctor cannot prescribe you medication before establishing a diagnosis," warns Iković. Certain forest species that are active during the nursery must cross the cleared area and be directly exposed to the sun. This is fatal for species that lose water quickly, such as amphibians.
Iković points out that, for example, salamanders are on the list of protected animals of Montenegro and are highly sensitive to temperature changes.
"If the cleared area passes through the reproductive center of the salamander population (for example, a pond or a pond), then that species will disappear from that location, because it has nowhere to lay its eggs. A similar thing happens if the route in the form of a barrier prevents salamanders from reaching the puddle", said the interlocutor of CIN-CG. The transmission line was not routed in the most painless way according to nature, but, according to Iković, it was designed "according to the interests of petty owners".
He reminds that national parks, in addition to natural wealth, also have a strong touristic dimension.
According to official data, 600.000 people visited all five last year, the most being Durmitor.
And ornithologist Bojan Zeković from the Center for the Study of Birds (CZIP) tells CIN-CG that he is additionally concerned that "the area of the Jezerska Poverša in Durmitor, especially around Bar Žugić, is important for the migration of raptors, which are also the most risky group due to the possibility of being killed from electric shock or collision with installations".
Zeković says that further monitoring is necessary in order to see which species are most at risk and in which areas, but also suggests the installation of jammers and isolators.
EBRD spokeswoman Cecilia Calatrava told CIN-CG that when choosing the route, they agreed on "measures with CGES to reduce the consequences in the NP, including local analyzes for the installation of poles and timing for construction works that are outside the nesting and mating season of birds." .
Unlike the environmental organizations "Green Home", KOD, CZIP and others, the Public Enterprise National Parks claim for CIN-CG that the entire route of the transmission line goes through the third zone of both parks, which, according to the Nature Protection Act, implies that settlements can be developed and supporting infrastructure.
Given that Terna, instead of a 1200 MW submarine cable, installed a cable half as small, economist Dejan Mijović believes that the existing high-voltage transmission network, built with the support of the World Bank in the 70s of the last century, which connects all the countries of the former Yugoslavia, can quite quality to service all electricity trade of Montenegro and its neighbors with Italy.
"The CGES investment in the construction of the substation 'Lastva' and its connection to the existing transmission network was rational and justified. However, the construction of a new transmission line to Pljevlje and the destruction of national parks was unnecessarily rushed after the Italian Terna gave up laying the second 600MW cable core, without any guarantee that it would be done in the foreseeable future. Therefore, it would be most rational for CGES and Montenegro to immediately stop further construction of transmission lines and use the unspent part of the EBRD loan. Even if the Italian partner changes his mind in the meantime, a part of the transmission line that completely devastated our most beautiful natural areas and threatened the survival of the local population, because it made them unsuitable for the development of rural tourism, should be dismantled. In any case, it is necessary to do a detailed cost-benefit analysis of alternative construction options, i.e. the possibility of bypassing or laying the underground cable through the most vulnerable areas, because it was never properly done. I am convinced that such an analysis would show that there is a solution whose benefits for society would be significantly greater than the slightly increased construction costs", Mijović assessed in an interview with CIN-CG.
He recalls that Terni's initial motive was to enable the import of cheap electricity from the region, as it could be sold at higher prices in Italy. They counted on large imports from existing and newly built production capacities in the region, not only green energy, which required a 1.200 MW cable.
"They gave up when they saw that the opposite is happening, that numerous, market-competitive power plants (which can survive without state subsidies) based on wind and solar are being built in Italy, while Montenegro and other countries in the region do not realize the planned investments in too expensive and unprofitable thermal power plants and hydropower plants", said Mijović.
Terna did not answer CIN-CG's questions about whether and when the installation of the second submarine cable is expected, and CGES said that it is "primarily related to the future needs of the electricity market both on the Balkan Peninsula and on the Apennines ".
Referring to the CEO of Terna Luigi Ferraris, the Italian media announced that the second vein can only be expected in 2026-2027.
The CGES previously told CIN-CG that the works on the construction of the transmission line through NP "Durmitor" have not yet started, except for the preparation for felling the forest on the access roads and the route of the transmission line on the territory of Žabljak. The covid-19 pandemic, they point out, partially slowed down the work, but they will try to finish it on time.
"The plan envisages that the works on the construction of the DV Čevo-Pljevlja will be completed by the end of 2021," reads the response of CGES.
The total budget of the transmission line project is around 106 million euros. At the end of 2019, more than 95 million euros were spent. The construction of the Lastva-Čevo section amounted to around 31 million euros, while the Čevo-Pljevlje section was allocated around 40 million euros.
Over the property, so what happens
The persistence of CGES to go through the power line where it intended hit a part of the citizens as well. Radomir Martinović from Cetinje goes to Ulcinj every other day to collect milk from which he makes and sells cheese. He moved the cow herd from the "Lovćen" National Park to the south, after power lines were installed across his property. In addition to two houses, he also has an unfinished motel on the property, a few kilometers before Ivanovni Koritas.
The problems, he claims, started when the commission of the Real Estate Administration, made up of four court experts, determined that "there are no residential or other construction facilities in the corridor of this section of the transmission line".
After Martinović's appeal, the same commission noted three months later that "the transmission lines diagonally divide the arable agricultural land and the land remains on the southwest side in a significantly smaller area, with a family residential building (house) and an auxiliary building."
In the document of the Commission of the Real Estate Administration from mid-July 2013, which CIN-CG had access to, the concern is stated "that there is a possibility that electric and magnetic fields have a harmful effect on people's health, because they encourage the development of malignant diseases, leukemia in children, to destroy the body's immune system, create suicidal urges in people who stay in the power line zone for a long time".
The Commission assessed that CGES should consider the possibility of moving the transmission line route.
Martinović says that his relatives offered to pass the power lines over their properties. CGES, however, told CIN-CG that during 2017 they analyzed how to avoid Martinović's estate, but "unfortunately, neither the owner, nor his neighbors and relatives showed willingness to accept a compromise solution".
"...Possible fair compensation for real estate owned by him that is the subject of expropriation was considered, but the appointee did not agree with the proposal," said the state company.
Martinović points out that they offered him around a quarter of a million, but that foreign experts determined that his estate was worth three million euros. He would be satisfied with two million, to buy another land, build a motel and continue the family business with his sons.
An agreement was not reached, and CGES explains that, based on the decisions of the Real Estate Administration and the Basic Court in Cetinje, it installed a transmission line across the property "as it was, after all, provided for by the DPP and the issued construction permit, because the owner of the land did not allow the execution of any works".
From the organization KOD, which dealt with this and several other cases, they say that CGES did not approach the compensation of the local population on a fair basis.
"In 2017 alone, CGES earned 34,7 million euros with a profit of 4,7 million euros. They offered the family we followed 2,3 euros per square meter, although the expert's report says that the possibility of use will be significantly reduced. In the area, land is sold for over 20 euros per square meter," said Iković.
Traffic to the max
According to CGES data, from the commissioning of the submarine cable until the end of August, including transit through the Montenegrin system, 916.631,59 MWh was imported from Italy, while 916.641,03 MWh was exported to that country.
Despite the significant challenges and disruptions on the electricity market due to the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic, the results so far not only support the thesis about the profitability of the submarine cable project, but also exceed the company's expectations, assesses from CGES, emphasizing that they are "regardless of when the other the vessel to be laid", received part of the submarine cable's capacity of 200 MW, which was defined at the beginning of the project.
By looking at the data on the site, it can be seen that the maximum transmission power of the cable of 600 MW is often used.
"Transmission system operator revenues come from the allocation of cross-border transmission capacities. "CGES has generated 4.435.201,93 euros in the auctions for the allocation of cross-border capacities on the border with Italy, while for nine months of this year, the income based on the allocation of cross-border capacities with Italy is 3.755.552,57", according to the response of CGES. -a.
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