Djerdap 1 Dam Running at 20%, EPS Buys 10% of Power
Hydropower plant Djerdap 1 is running at 20% of capacity, with average inflow of around 1,400 cubic meters, the lowest on record. EPS covers the roughly 10% shortfall by buying power on the market.
The Djerdap 1 hydropower plant, the largest generating facility in the system of Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), is running at 20% of capacity, with an average inflow of around 1,400 cubic meters, the lowest ever recorded, EPS general manager Dusan Zivkovic said. The neighboring Djerdap 2 plant is running at about 30%.
These are the first concrete figures on the drop in hydropower output since the call to save electricity landed from the political level a few days ago. Until now the talk was about measures. Now the size of the gap in the system is known.
“Djerdap 1 is at a level of 20 percent, with an average inflow that is the lowest on record, around 1,400 cubic meters, and Djerdap 2 is somewhere around 30 percent,” Zivkovic told reporters.
The two plants normally carry the largest share of Serbia’s domestic hydropower output, so every percentage point lost has to be made up somewhere else.
Why has the Danube’s inflow dropped so much?
The cause is winter, not summer. Zivkovic linked the drop in inflow to the lack of snow in the Alps during the winter months, since melted snow from the Alpine basin only reaches the Danube in spring and summer.
How unusual the situation on the river is can be seen from a measurement by the Republic Hydrometeorological Service (RHMZ): the Danube’s level at Bezdan fell to minus 167 centimeters on Tuesday. The previous lowest level on record was minus 143 centimeters, measured in 1909, 117 years ago.
Water is also being held back in the system for reasons that have nothing to do with turbines. The Danube is used to cool the thermal power plants in Kostolac and TENT, so coal-fired output depends on the same river that pulled down hydropower production. The situation on the Drina is better, and its inflow, in EPS’s assessment, is decent given the hydrology and the drought.
“We have taken essentially all the measures available to us. We cannot expect the Danube’s inflow to pick up significantly in the coming period. The Drina has a decent inflow for this kind of hydrology and this kind of drought. What we are doing is keeping supply continuous,” Zivkovic said.
How much power is EPS buying on the market?
Expected daily consumption over the coming days is around 100 gigawatt-hours, and the deficit EPS covers by buying on the market runs at about 10% of needs. Applied to that daily consumption, the order of magnitude is around 10 gigawatt-hours a day not coming from the utility’s own capacity.
Zivkovic described the state of the generating fleet this way:
- all thermal units are in operation, except for two blocks currently under overhaul
- hydropower plants are running at the level their inflow allows
- overhaul work in the mining sector has been completed, the Kostolac thermal plant is running at full capacity, and output at Kolubara is high
“We expect it to stay that way. This is a period of major challenges, but I want to stress once again that citizens and businesses should not worry about regular supply,” the EPS director said.
He also appealed to citizens to use electricity more rationally, adding that rational consumption would not compromise the comfort they are used to.
Coal reserves and preparations for winter
Coal stockpiles at TENT are about 70% full, and coal imports are continuing as one of the measures to safeguard supply security. Filling the storage began in the middle of the summer crisis, ahead of the usual autumn cycle.
“We are already replenishing the coal stockpiles and fuel oil storage so that we can be as prepared as possible for the winter season,” Zivkovic said.
His stated goal is to keep reservoir and coal stockpile levels where they are now, so that winter supply can still rely on domestic capacity. Buying power on the market during summer is, in that calculation, a cost that preserves a reserve for the period of higher consumption.
Same problem across the region
Low water levels are not a Serbian peculiarity. Nuclear plants in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria are also running at reduced output because of low river levels, which narrows supply on the regional market right at the time Serbia is buying part of its needs on that same market.
The next measurable indicator will be how full the coal stockpiles are heading into the start of the heating season, and whether the Danube’s inflow has stabilized after summer.
