Montenegro’s Perućica hydropower plant has restored 190 MW of generating capacity after scheduled maintenance, improving the country’s electricity supply position while an outage at the Pljevlja thermal power plant increases reliance on imports. State utility EPCG said units A1, A2, A6 and A7 at Perućica were tested and returned to service following an annual overhaul that required the entire hydropower plant to shut down.
EPCG brought the units back earlier than planned because of operational problems at Pljevlja, Montenegro’s largest conventional power-generation facility. The simultaneous unavailability of major domestic generators can increase Montenegro’s dependence on imported electricity, particularly when hydrological conditions are weak or regional wholesale prices are high.
Before entering maintenance, Perućica had generated around 610.8 GWh and remained several percentage points above its production plan, according to EPCG. Its restored capacity gives EPCG greater flexibility in meeting domestic electricity demand and reduces immediate pressure on the system. The situation also underscores the role of hydropower in Montenegro’s generation mix. Perućica and Piva provide much of the country’s flexible generation, while Pljevlja supplies baseload power.
When the thermal plant is unavailable, hydropower reserves can help reduce the need for imports. Their availability, however, depends on reservoir levels, rainfall and decisions on water conservation for subsequent periods. Montenegro’s position is also linked directly to regional electricity trading through its interconnections with neighbouring Balkan power systems and Italy via the undersea cable. For EPCG, extended outages at Pljevlja can require purchases on regional wholesale markets, with potential exposure to price movements in Hungary, Serbia, Croatia and other interconnected markets.
EPCG is developing additional renewable generation through the Gvozd and Gvozd 2 wind projects and a broader solar pipeline. Wind and solar generation are intermittent and cannot fully substitute for the balancing capabilities of dispatchable hydropower and thermal generation. The operational availability of Pljevlja therefore remains an important factor for Montenegro’s electricity balance until additional generation, storage and flexibility capacity becomes available. Perućica’s return has removed part of the immediate supply pressure, while the combination of scheduled hydropower maintenance and thermal-plant outages demonstrates how quickly Montenegro’s electricity position can change according to plant availability and hydrological conditions. For regional electricity traders, changes in Montenegro’s domestic generation can affect the country’s import requirements across interconnected Southeast European electricity markets.
