Prishtina, 03 June 2009 – Today in Prishtina, a presentation of hydro power-plant Zhur feasibility study was organized. Present in the meeting were the Prime Minister of Republic of Kosovo, Mr. Hashim Thaçi, Minister of Energy and Mines, Ms. Justina Shiroka – Pula, other Government of Kosovo ministers, representatives of national and international organizations in Kosovo, as well as other parties of interest for developments of electro-energetic projects. 

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Mr. Hashim Thaçi congratulated the Minister of Energy and Mines, and expressed the gratitude to World Bank representative Mr. Ranjit Nayak, for the support that that the World Bank continues to provide for the energy sector in Kosovo.   

“This project is of special interest to Kosovo, and is developed in compliance with the revised Energy Strategy”, said Prime Minister of Kosovo.
Minister of Energy and Mines, Ms. Justina Shiroka – Pula, emphasized that it is her pleasure to present the results of Hydro Power Plant Zhur feasibility study, at the time when EU member states and the world in general remains engaged into developing generation capacities from renewable energy resources. She stated that Ministry of Energy and Mines is determined to develop sufficient generation capacities for covering local consumption.

This determination is further increased taking into consideration new renewable energy resource generation capacities.
Minister Pula said that Hydro Power Plant Zhur will contribute to the stabilization and development of energy provision in Kosovo. 

The five components of the project tasks were presented by the “Elektroprojekt”, Zagreb consulting company representatives. The study was financed by the World Bank as part of their Technical Assistance Project for the energy sector Kosovo. 

After the presentations, a debate with the present participants was conducted, during which many hydro power plant Zhur development related questions and suggestions were elaborated. “In the upcoming months, the HPP Zhur Inter-ministerial Steering Committee will present a time bound plan and concrete steps of this project’s implementation, through inclusion of private capital”, said the Minister of Energy and Mines.

Presentations on the social and environmental impact assessment of this hydro-power plant, and its financial and economic potential were presented by Elektroprojekt Consulting Staff. 

Hydro Power Plant Zhur is placed south-west of Prizren and Dragash municipalities and will generate power using the flows of Drini i Bardhë river. The hydro power-plant has a 305MW capacity with average annual generation of 400 GWh, transferred to the Kosovo energy system through transmission lines.