Potential of Small Hydropower Plants in

Nikola Matijasevic, dipl.ing. Senior Researcher Energy Institute Hrvoje Pozar

München, February 24th, 2015 General Issues

• Small hydro power plants in Croatia refer to those with installed capacity up to 10 MW

• When first researches on small hydro power plants potential began, the term small hydro power plant referred to plants with installed capacity up to 5 MW

• All data are based on 20-30 years old researches that took into account only technically exploitable potential without considering environmental constraints, economic feasibility, biological minimum, etc.

3-1 Energy Mix in Croatia

Source: Energy Institute Hrvoje Pozar Gross Hydro Potential in Croatia

• The total gross (i.e. natural) hydro potential in Croatia is around 21.7 TWh and technically exploitable (i.e. net) hydro potential is around 12.8 TWh

• About 50% has already been used meaning that the remaining available technical hydro potential amounts about 6.4 TWh

• Approximately 10% of the total technically exploitable hydro potential refers to the potential of small watercourses (≈ 1 TWh/yr)

Hydro Power Potential of Main Watercourses in Croatia

Source: Croatian Chamber of Civil Engineers, 2012 Gross Energy Potential of SHPP (< 5 MW)

• Researches on the potential of small watercourses in Croatia began in the early 1980s (installed capacity up to 5 MW)

• A total of 130 watercourses were analyzed and two major groups were defined:  watercourses with specific power greater than 50 kW/km and  watercourses with modest possibilities for energy use

• The first group counts 63 watercourses that were further analyzed which resulted in the estimation of their net energy potential

• Potential locations for construction of small HPPs were determined for each watercourse, as well as the corresponding potential of each location

• A total of 699 potential locations were defined which resulted in a detailed spatial distribution of the gross potential of small hydro power plants

• Total gross (natural) capacity of all locations on 63 analyzed watercourses amounts 134.5 MW, with the corresponding gross energy potential of 1180 GWh Gross Energy Potential of SHPP (< 5 MW)

• The other group of watercourses was not covered by detailed research and analysis

• The gross energy potential was determined for each watercourse, without specifying exact locations and their potentials

• Total gross (natural) capacity of all watercourses in this group amounts 14.8 MW with the corresponding gross energy potential of 129.6 GWh Technical Potential of SHPP (< 5 MW)

• Due to technical reasons, it is not possible to utilize the entire natural hydro potential of a watercourse

• 63 analyzed watercourses:  699 locations  Total installed capacity amounted 177.1 MW with corresponding technically exploitable energy potential of 567.7 GWh

• The value of total gross capacity of 63 analyzed watercourses (134.5 MW) was determined based on the average daily flows, while the value of total installed capacity (177.1 MW) was determined based on the installed flows that are generally from 1.3 to 2.6 greater than the average flow Range of installed Number of Share of Total installed power Share of total installed power (kW) locations location (MW) power 5000 - 1500 20 3% 50.2 29% 1500 - 1000 17 3% 21.7 12% 1000 - 500 42 6% 28.8 16% 500 - 100 296 42% 55.7 31% < 100 324 46% 20.7 12% TOTAL 699 100% 177.1 100%

Source: MAHE, Energy Institute Hrvoje Pozar, 1998

LOCATIONS INSTALLED POWER 1500-1000 kW 3% 5000-1500 kW 1000-500 kW 3% < 100 kW 6% 5000-1500 kW 12% 29% 500-100 kW < 100 kW 31% 46% 1500-1000 kW 500-100 kW 12% 42% 1000-500 kW 16% Technical Potential of SHPP (1-10 MW)

• Further researches on unexploited hydro potential in Croatia included small watercourses up to 10 MW

• A total of 29 locations were defined for possible construction of small HPPs from 1 to 10 MW

• Total installed capacity on 29 possible locations amounts 182.6 MW with corresponding possible annual generation of about 572 GWh Installed Capacity Possible Generation No Hydro Power Plant Watercourse [MW] [GWh/yr] 1 Toplice 5.0 10,9 2 Globornica Dobra 4.7 18,2 3 Jarče Polje Dobra 6.3 24,0 4 Majur Dobra 2.2 10,9 5 Polaki Dobra 2.0 10.5 6 Mrežnica Dretulja 10.2 36.6 7 Jančić Mrežnica 3.4 9.6 8 Zvečaj Mrežnica 7.7 27.0 9 Ljeskovac 4.4 11.3 10 Slunj Korana 6.5 17.0 11 Primišlje Korana 9.6 28.1 12 Barilović Korana 5.0 20.9 13 Kočićin 9.3 24.3 14 Otok Kupa 9.9 29.3 15 Božakovo Kupa 9.1 32.0 16 Ilovac* Kupa 1.4 9.3 17 Brodarci Kupa 3.4 17.2 18 Krčić Donji 7.7 37.1 19 Čikola I Čikola 6.7 15.4 20 Krčić Gornji Krčić 7.3 30.8 21 Žegar 8.8 23.9 22 Otočac 5.0 8.0 23 Ričice Suvaja 8.9 17.9 24 Kačjak Dubračina 6.0 9.3 25 SHPP Peruča 2.4 8.0 26 SHPP Pranjčevići* Cetina 1.5 8.3 27 Tisne Stine Cetina 7.4 2.5 28 Ričice Ričice 4.0 11.6 29 Konavle Ljuta 6.2 15.5 Total – 172.0 525.4 * Under construction Source: Croatian Chamber of Civil Engineers, 2012 Environmental Constrains

• By joining the EU, Croatia has harmonized the EU regulations in the field of environmental protection and protection of nature

• Thus the Croatian national ecological network became an integral part of the European ecological network Natura 2000

• Some of the existing hydro power plants are already part of Natura 2000

• Acceptability of the project regarding ecological network and environment is determined under the relevant procedures in the field of environment and nature protection

• Each individual project (whether it refers to large or small hydro power plant) is very specific regarding its location and its technical solution

• It can be concluded that the part of the hydro power potential will remain unused because of increasingly strengthen environmental and other constraints (spatial limitations, protection of cultural and historical heritage, public acceptance, etc.) Feasible Hydro Potential

• Detailed analysis of hydro potential was made only for 17 watercourses in energy-abundant group (63 watercourses)

• It is only possible to determine the potential of the analyzed watercourses, but not the total feasible potential of small hydro power plants in Croatia

• The analyses have shown 67 potential locations for construction of small HPPs up to 1 MW (on above mentioned 17 analyzed watercourses)

• Only 18 locations are determined as feasible after considering environmental constraints, border area issues, protection of cultural and historical heritage, spatial plans etc.

Feasible Hydro Potential of SHPP (< 1 MW)

No Watercourse Location Installed Capacity Possible Generation [kW] [MWh/yr]

1 Orljava 1 95 400 2 Orljava 2 54 270 3 Orljava 3 72 300 4 Orljava 4 66 280 5 Orljava 4/1 59 380 6 Orljava 5 99 540 7 Orljava 6* 159 850

8 Orljava 7 209 1 100 9 Orljava 8 153 890 10 Kupčina 2 18 100 11 Kupčina 3 23 140 12 Kupčina 4 65 400 13 Kupčina 7* 34 200 14 Vitunjčica 1 20 64 15 Butižnica 2 48 220 16 1 154 830 17 Jadro 2 125 530 18 3/1 149 870

Total 1 602 8 364 * Constructed Source: Energy Institute Hrvoje Pozar Feasible Hydro Potential of SHPP (1-10 MW)

• More detailed analyses of 29 locations (technical potential of small HPPs from 1 to 10 MW) were made in order to determine the most promising projects for construction of small HPPs from 1 MW to 10 MW

• Some of the criteria to exclude location from further consideration were border area issues (if the location is on or near the state border) and spatial plans of a county (if the location is not included in spatial plan of a county)

• These analyses excluded 15 locations from further consideration Feasible Hydro Potential of SHPP (1-10 MW)

Installed capacity Possible Generation No Hydro Power Plant Watercourse [MW] [GWh/yr]

1 Primišlje Korana 9.6 28.1 2 Barilović Korana 5.0 20.9 3 Ilovac* Kupa 1.4 9.3 4 Brodarci Kupa 3.4 17.2 5 Krčić Donji Krka 7.7 37.1 6 Čikola I Čikola 6.7 15.4 7 Krčić Gornji Krčić 7.3 30.8 8 Žegar Zrmanja 8.8 23.9 9 Otočac Lika 12.7 20.3 10 Ričice Suvaja 6.6 13.3 11 SHPP Peruča Cetina 2.4 17.0 12 SHPP Pranjčevići* Cetina 1.2 9.0 13 Tisne Stine Cetina 4.4 8.8 14 Konavle Ljuta 6.2 15.5 Total 83.4 266.5 * Under construction Source: Energy Institute Hrvoje Pozar Water Mills

• There are about 50 water mills listed in the register of cultural property of Ministry of Culture

• Potential of old water mills should be further explored in order to determine the real situation on each location

• This potential is particularly interesting since these facilities require slightly simpler procedure before construction and locations are mainly already included in the spatial plans of counties/municipalities

• In addition, some part of object (e.g. dam, intake) usually exist on such sites which enable a greater water head and possibly less investment costs Conclusion

• The overall feasible potential of small hydro power plants in Croatia, according to the existing researches, amounts about 100 MW with corresponding annual energy generation of about 350 GWh

• This potential is based on analyses of only several watercourses and thus can be expected that the total feasible potential is higher

• The research on potential of small HPPs in Croatia is still unfinished work

Example 1 – locations for construction (watercourse Orljava) Thank you for your attention!

Nikola Matijasevic, dipl.ing. Senior Researcher Energy Institute Hrvoje Pozar, Zagreb Department for Energy Generation and Transformation [email protected]