Up to 80 new small hydro plants could be developed in Macedonia with the country’s government launching a tender for project development.
Eighty potential locations with a total installed capacity of 63MW have been identified, with investment costs to develop all sites estimated at €176 million.
The Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning is responsible for issuing and organizing the tendering procedure. The ministry has created a website in order to facilitate information on the tender and the existing potential for hydropower in Macedonia. All interested parties are invited to visit the site at: http://shpp.moepp.gov.mk/.
Small hydro has been and remains a priority for Macedonia, which offers one of the most attractive investment opportunities in the region; with competitive feed-in tariffs, low construction and labour costs, low corporate and personal income tax and an attractive return on investment. To date, Macedonia has seen 30 small hydropower plant investments of which 16 are already operational and 14 others should be completed in the next few months.
The International Finance Corporation, the private sector development arm of the World Bank group, has been working with the Macedonia government to streamline and improve existing regulation and procedures for the tendering process related to SHPPs.
