The Government of North Macedonia said it would now evaluate the expressions of interest and invite the qualified candidates to submit their complete offers for the project. The Government will also hire a transaction advisor to prepare the tender documentation for the second phase of bidding.
The pumped-storage project is to be developed through a Public Private Partnership with the state-owned power producer Elektrani Na Severna Makedonija or ESM (formerly Elektrani Na Makedonija (ELEM). The winning bidder will create a project company with ESM and will be granted a 60-year concession for the use of water for electricity generation, as well as the exclusive right to design, build, operate and maintain the Cebren dam and pumped-storage plant (with indicative installed capacity of 333 MW) and the Orlov Kamen dam (with the possibility for an additional hydropower plant at the site), and the exclusive right to operate and maintain the existing 116 MW Tikves hydro plant, located downstream, three months after the commissioning of Cebren. The project will involve the construction of two concrete arch dams. Cebren dam will impound the upper reservoir, and Orlov Kamen dam will impound the lower reservoir. The Cebren hydro system with a combined installed capacity of 458 MW if including an additional plant at the Orlov Kamen dam, would generate annual output of 1-1.2 TWh, compared with ESM’s current production of 4 TWh/year, and would enable annual savings of 913 000 tons of CO2.
Full details of the companies bidding, and more information about the project, can be found in the News section of H&D Issue 1, 2021.
