Boškov Most Hydro Power Plant, referred to as Boškov Most HPP, is a derivation plant planned to be built in Mala Reka valley, in the southernmost part of the

Mavrovo National Park Mavrovo National Park () is the largest of the four national parks of North Macedonia, within the borders of the municipality of Mavrovo and Rostuse. Located in the west of the country, it spreads over an area of about and is characterized by ...

, in

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

. It will have a total capacity of 71,5 MW. Construction is expected to last 4 years. The project raises several environmental concerns, including threats on the survival of the

Balkan lynx The Balkan lynx (''Lynx lynx balcanicus'') is a subspecies of the Eurasian lynx in the genus ''Lynx''. It is found in Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo and western North Macedonia, with smaller populations in Montenegro. It is considered a national symbo ...

.The hydropower plant Boskov Most.
''CEE Bankwatch''. May 2014, Retrieved 20 August 2014.

Project details

The project is being developed by

Elektrani na Severna Makedonija Elektrani na Severna Makedonija or ESM (, litt. "Power plants of North Macedonia") is a government-owned electricity producing company in North Macedonia. History In 2005, the former state monopoly ESM ('' []'', litt. ''Electricity of Macedoni ...

(ESM), a 100% State ownership, state owned electric power utility of North Macedonia responsible for mining and power generation. As of 2020, the public company operates 554 MW of

hydropower Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, ...

capacity, representing 40% of its total installed

power generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its delivery ( transmission, distribution, etc.) to end users or its stora ...

capacity. Boškov Most HPP is intended to utilise the

hydro power Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kin ...

potential of Mala Reka river and 6 of its

tributaries A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ('' main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which the ...

. The facility will include a rock-filled

embankment dam An embankment dam is a large artificial dam. It is typically created by the placement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil or rock. It has a semi-pervious waterproof natural covering for its surface ...

and its accumulation

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

near the village of Tresonče, and a 71.5 MW power station located lower in the valley, near Mogorče. Water will be conveyed from the first to the latter by a 8,750 m long and 3.3 m diameter underground

penstock A penstock is a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water flow, or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydro turbines and sewerage systems. The term is of Scots origin, and was inherited from the earlier technology of mill pond ...

, and from six smaller water intakes on Mala Reka tributaries via supply canals totalling 10.7 km. It will generate an estimated 117 GWh of power per year, according to the preliminary design studies. The total cost of the project was estimated €144 million as of 2019, rising from €84 million in 2011, and €107 million in 2014.

History

Plans to build the Boškov Most HPP date back to 1983 (as a substantially smaller 45 MW facility) but it was postponed several times due to financial problems. The project under its current design started in 2010. In November 2011, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (

EBRD The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, shortened to EBRD ( French: ''Banque européenne pour la reconstruction et le développement'' or ''BERD''), is an international financial institution founded in 1991 in Paris. As a multilat ...

) signed on loaning a country €65 million for the construction of the project. The rest is to be provided by the AD Elektrani na Severna Makedonija (ESM). The EBRD cancelled its loan in January 2017, after a seven-year environmental activism campaign again the project, led by biologist Ana Colovic Lesoska.

Importance for the energy sector of North Macedonia

As of 2020, only 26.6% of technically usable hydropower potential in North Macedonia has been developed, which remains far under the European average of ~50%. Unfavourable

energy mix The energy mix is a group of different primary energy, primary energy sources from which secondary energy for direct use - such as electricity - is produced. Energy mix refers to all direct uses of energy, such as transportation and housing, and ...

, strong dependence on energy import, obsolete

energy system An energy system is a system primarily designed to supply #Energy-services, energy-services to end user, end-users. The intent behind energy systems is to minimise energy losses to a negligible level, as well as to ensure the efficient use of ...

and inefficiency in energy production and use are the main problems of the energy sector of North Macedonia. North Macedonia

import An importer is the receiving country in an export from the sending country. Importation and exportation are the defining financial transactions of international trade. Import is part of the International Trade which involves buying and receivin ...

s roughly a quarter of its annual electricity needs. Domestic energy production is based mainly on the low-quality domestic

lignite Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered the lowest ...

biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...

and

hydro Hydro (from ) may refer to: Energy technologies * Water-derived power or energy: ** Hydropower, derived from water ** Hydroelectricity, in electrical form * "Hydro", AC mains electricity in parts of Canada * Micro hydro, a type of hydroelect ...

. The purpose of the Boškov most HPP is to support North Macedonia's drive to improve the security and quality of its energy supplies, as well as promoting

renewable sources A renewable resource (also known as a flow resource) is a natural resource which will replenish to replace the portion depleted by usage and consumption, either through natural reproduction or other recurring processes in a finite amount of ti ...

of energy generation. Once operating, the plant will enable the nation to reduce electricity imports and in addition decrease the

carbon intensity Carbon () is a chemical element; it has symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—meaning that its atoms are able to form up to four covalent bonds due to its valence shell exhibiting 4 electrons. It belongs to grou ...

of North Macedonia's generation sector. It will also help North Maceonia meet its widely accepted objective to reach 20% energy production from renewable sources. Boškov Most HPP is conceived as a

peaking power plant Peaking power plants, also known as peaker plants, and occasionally just "peakers", are power plants that generally run only when there is a high demand, known as peak demand, for electricity. Because they supply power only occasionally, the powe ...

, operating near rated capacity around 5 hours daily during

peak demand Peak demand on an electrical grid is the highest electrical power demand that has occurred over a specified time period (Gönen 2008). Peak demand is typically characterized as annual, daily or seasonal and has the unit of power. Peak demand, pe ...

Controversial issues

Environmental impact

The

is one of the oldest national parks in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, famous for its pristine nature. The park hosts more than 1,000 different plant species.

Trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

species,

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...

s and

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, badgers, mink, and wolverines, among ...

s are an important part of the

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

. The park is also a centre of the remaining population of the

Balkan Lynx The Balkan lynx (''Lynx lynx balcanicus'') is a subspecies of the Eurasian lynx in the genus ''Lynx''. It is found in Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo and western North Macedonia, with smaller populations in Montenegro. It is considered a national symbo ...

, an endangered subspecies of the

Eurasian Lynx The Eurasian lynx (''Lynx lynx'') is one of the four wikt:extant, extant species within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. It is widely distributed from Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe to Cent ...

. The territory where it moves is thus a

critical habitat Critical habitat refers to specific geographic areas essential to the conservation of a listed endangered species, though the area need not actually be occupied by the species at the time it is designated. Critical habitat is a legal designation of ...

and represents an area where measures for protection and preservation of this species should be undertaken. Putting any additional stress on this source population may lead to the

extinction Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

of the species. Boškov HPP is designed to produce peak energy which means that the water from Mala Reka river and its

will be diverted into a

and on demand released once a day. Aside from the fact that the entire valley will suffer from the diversion of the majority of its natural water supplies, it will also result in daily flushes, which have enormous negative impacts on

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

and species populations in the river sections below the HPP.

Legal issues

The

Environmental impact assessment Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is the assessment of the environmental impact, environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action. In this context, the te ...

prepared for the project is lacking significant information vital for the precise and objective evaluation of the impact of the project on the environment, specifically data on the

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

s in the project area and complete absence of the

from the study. The project is also not in accordance with Law on Nature protection specifically with Article 74, which does not envisage the use of

natural resource Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. ...

s for energy as a part of

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

management and Article 75 which lists the prohibited activities in the national park. Furthermore, the project is not in accordance with the following

international convention International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of rules, norms, legal customs and standards that states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generally do, obey in their mutual relations. In in ...

s signed and ratified by the government of North Macedonia: Bern Convention,

Bonn Convention The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, also known as the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) or the Bonn Convention, is an international agreement that aims to conserve migratory species throughout their r ...

and Convention on Biodiversity.

Funding plan cancellation

After over five years of campaigns against the Boskov Most project, CEE Bankwatch along with its member groups, Macedonian center for environmental research and information, Eko-svest, and Macedonian environmental lawyer association, Front 21/42, finally welcomed the cancellation of the project. In 2015, just few days after the Berne Convention decision on Mavrovo, the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

withdrew its funds from the Lukovo Pole project, thus preventing the project from being realised. It took the

another year to cancel its EUR 65 million loan for Boškov Most as well, stating that it fully respects Bern Convention’s recommendation and believes that the project should be suspended.

References

External links

Boskov Most Hydro Power PlantThe hydropower plant Boskov Most
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boskov Most Hydro Power Plant Hydroelectric power stations in North Macedonia Proposed hydroelectric power stations Dams in North Macedonia Mavrovo and Rostuša Municipality Proposed renewable energy power stations in North Macedonia