Serbia's EPS, Italy's SECI Energia Ink Prelim Hydro Power Deal Worth Over 800 Mln Euro

BELGRADE (Serbia), February 14 (SeeNews) – Serbian power monopoly EPS and Italy's SECI Energia signed a preliminary agreement for the construction of hydro power plants on the river Drina whose total worth will exceed 800 million euro ($1.08 billion), the Balkan country said.

Under the agreement, SECI Energia will build hydroelectric power plans with a combined capacity of over 300 megawatts (MW), Serbia’s Energy Minister Petar Skundric said in a statement late on Friday following the signing of the deal.

The plants are expected to produce 1,200 gigawatt hours of electricity per year.

Electricity generated by the plants will be transmitted to Italy, Skundric said. It was not immediately clear what portion of the plants' output will be exported.

SECI Energia and EPS have already set up a joint company for the construction of 10 hydroelectric power plants on the river Ibar in Serbia’s south worth a combined 300 million euro.

The construction of the power plants on the Ibar, whose combined capacity will be 103 MW, is expected to start in the first half of next year, SECI Energia President Gaetano Maccaferri said. It should be completed by 2015, he added.

SECI Energia is part of Italy's Gruppo Industriale Maccaferri.

($=0.7417 euro)

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