WSHPDR_2013_Final_Report-updated_version

4.3.6 The former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia
Pascal Hauser and Guillaume Albrieux, International
Center on Small Hydro Power
Key facts
Population 2,060,563
Area 25,713 km 2
Climate Warm, dry summers and autumns;
relatively cold winters with heavy
snowfall 1
Topography Mountainous territory covered with
deep basins and valleys; three large
lakes, each divided by a frontier line;
country bisected by the Vardar River 1
Rain
pattern
Electricity sector overview
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
(hereafter Macedonia) produces 70 per cent of its
electricity from lignite, but these supplies are
diminishing. Forty per cent of its energy production is
dependent on imports, including oil and gas. Electric
heating in the residential sector is one of the main
reasons for the country’s high energy consumption,
making electricity imports necessary. 4 Hydropower
generates around 15 per cent of Macedonia’s
electricity (figure 1).
PV
CHP
Small hydro
Large hydro
Import
Thermal
0.01%
0.93%
1.76%
Macedonia has transitional climate
from Mediterranean to continental.
Average annual precipitation varies
from 1,700mm in the western
mountainous area to 500 mm in the
eastern area. 2
14.03%
30.42%
52.85%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Figure 1 Electricity generation in the former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia
Source: Energy Regulator’s Regional Association 3
Note: PV – photovoltaic, CHP – combined heat and
power.
A project ‘Capacity building of the Energy Regulatory
Commission for Implementation of the New Energy
Law’ financed by Norwegian Ministry of foreign
affairs, officially started on 1 January 2012 and will
end on 31 December 2014. The main goal of this
project is to ensure the conditions for healthy
functioning of competitive, transparent and nondiscriminatory
energy markets. This project will
provide initial support to enforcement of: supply rules
in energy sector; rules for allocation of cross-border
transmission capacity; rulebook on energy market
monitoring, grid codes, market code, price/tariff
regulation; and to revise the existing regulation
adopted by Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) of
the Macedonia. 3
Small hydropower sector overview and potential
The 2011 World Atlas and Industry Guide repored that
the country’s installed small hydropower capacity as
45 MW, generating 103 GWh/year of electricity. 5 This
is slightly different from the small hydropower
electricity production of 159 GWh/year reported by
the ERC. 3
SHP installed
capacity
SHP potential
45 MW
250 MW
0 50 100 150 200 250
Figure 2 Small hydropower capacities in the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Sources: International Journal on Hydropower and
Dams 5 , Panovski and Janevska 6
From 1927 to 1953, around 50 small- and microhydropower
stations were built, the definition of small
being a capacity of up to 5 MW. After that period, only
large power plants were constructed, leading to the
abandonment of many small hydropower plants. 7 In
January 2011, the Ministry of Economy announced a
public tender for 44 small hydropower plants with a
total installed capacity of 28 MW. The concessions are
for power plants to be built on the Vardar, Strumica
and Crn Drim rivers. Recently there have been
amendments to the law on water permit investments
in small hydro schemes across the country. 8
In 1982, the University in Skopje produced a study
that confirmed a potential for construction of 406
small- and mini-hydropower plants with a total
installed capacity of about 250 MW. The potential for
small- and mini-hydropower (defined by units ranging
from 50 kW to 5,000 kW installed capacity) was
estimated at 1,088 GWh/year representing 17.5 per
cent of the technically available hydropower potential
in Macedonia. 4
Renewable energy policy
Macedonia’s renewable energy resources include
hydropower, geothermal (greenhouse heating),
biomass (heating of households), solar and wind
energy. 4 The ERC is the main actor of the Renewable
Energy Policy. This is an independent state authority
that is responsible for the operation and decision
making process within the scope of competencies
prescribed by the Energy Law. It encourages wind
energy development and prepared the guidelines on
the construction of wind power plants in 2008.
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