Serbia could increase its hydropower-based electricity production by an additional 7 to 10 percent—without any new investments—simply by managing its water resources more efficiently, said Professor Jovan Despotović today. This would raise hydropower’s share in total electricity production from the current 25–35 percent to as much as 32–45 percent.
He told Beta that the construction of the reversible (pumped-storage) hydropower plant Bistrica would further boost hydropower output by another 7–10 percent. “This would be a fantastic result,” he said.
Despotović emphasized that the Bistrica and Bajina Bašta pumped-storage hydropower plants would also strengthen the reliability of Serbia’s power system, which currently depends heavily on variable wind and solar output.
He explained that a comprehensive study on Serbia’s hydropower resources was completed four years ago, covering all river basins, but it has not been operationally implemented due to missing analyses needed to guide optimal management of hydropower plants such as Đerdap, the Drina plants, and others.
“We completed the hydropower study in 2023, and it exists within EPS, but it was never fully finalized because the Ministry of Mining and Energy lacks competent staff. They are now focused on solar and wind projects because those are fast investments,” Despotović added.
He also noted that Serbia has no integrated hydrological analyses for the Drina River, which would need to be coordinated with Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and particularly Republika Srpska near Višegrad. A proper study would provide weather, water-level and river-flow forecasts to enable optimal hydropower planning.
Regarding large upcoming projects, he noted that preparations for the Bistrica pumped-storage plant are underway, and a project for Đerdap 3 is being announced. However, Đerdap 3 faces major obstacles: much of the planned project area lies within a national park and would need to be scaled down, and its development requires agreement with Romania.
He highlighted that professional cooperation with Romania on Đerdap ended on 1 January 2013, when the issue “shifted into the political domain.” According to Despotović, Romania should be compensating Serbia with 138 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually.
He also warned about small hydropower plants in Serbia, saying they are “out of control” because responsibility was delegated to local municipalities. He cited the example of a Chinese partner allegedly being granted permission—illegally—to build a hydropower plant on the Great Morava River, with no public information about the project’s status.
Despotović emphasized that in dry years such as this one, water scarcity requires multi-year analysis of river conditions, including past data and multi-year projections—this would be the purpose of a comprehensive planning study.
He noted that in an average year, hydropower contributes between 25 and 35 percent of Serbia’s electricity supply. During the major floods of 2014, hydropower generation exceeded 60 percent. Although the floods caused major damage, the abundance of water enabled record hydropower production—yet this level cannot be controlled efficiently because Serbia lacks an integrated system for water and hydropower management.
This year, due to severe drought, the Ibar River almost dried up, and hydropower production up to June accounted for only about 25 percent of total electricity generation.
