Plan for most important energy project in Serbia adopted – New Klak reservoir and dam to be built on river Uvac within RHPP Bistrica

The Government of Serbia has adopted the Decree on Determining the Spatial Plan of the Special-Purpose Area of the System of the Reversible Hydro Power Plant Bistrica and the Hydro Power Plant Potpec. The plan encompasses an area of 253 km2 in the territories of the municipalities of Nova Varos, Priboj and Prijepolje. The main changes envisaged in the plan pertain to the repurposing of agricultural and forest land into building and water land for the needs of the construction of energy facilities, including the Klak reservoir, the headrace and tailrace tunnels, as well as overground and underground parts of the system.

The planned system of the RHPP Bistrica encompasses several key infrastructure facilities which together comprise the whole of this energy complex. This includes the Klak dam and reservoir, the pipelines for securing a guaranteed ecological flow, the spillway and the bypass tunnel. The system also features the entrance-exit structures with the Klak gate chamber, the headrace and tailrace tunnels, the siphon and the siphon culvert, as well as the upper differential surge tank and the surge tank chamber gate.

In addition to these structures, the plan includes the construction of steel pipelines, overground and underground ones, whereas, within the power house, there will be lower surge tanks, the headrace and tailrace tunnels and the entrance-exit structure Potpec. On the flat area, the substation will be built, with access tunnels and galleries to the power house. The plan also envisages the construction of access roads in order to facilitate the construction and maintenance of the entire infrastructure of the system.



According to the document, the Klak upper reservoir will be formed by building the eponymous dam on the river Uvac, whereas the existing Potpec reservoir on the river Lim will be used as the lower reservoir. This combination will secure a gross height difference of the RHPP Bistrica system of around 370 meters, which, with a power of over 600 MW, will contribute to the energy stability of Serbia and the region.

The Klak dam, as said, is the last in the row of dams on the river Uvac. It is around 7 kilometers downstream from the Radionja dam. The total volume of the Klak reservoir, at the normal backwater level, amounts to 108 million cubic meters, of which the usable volume is 70 million, whereas the remaining 38 million cubic meters comprise dead space.

Let us remind that, recently, at the meeting of the representatives of the Ministry of Mining and Energy of Serbia with the team of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), led by Kei Toyama, the director general of the Europe Department, it was concluded that the Government of Japan had approved the commencement of the preparatory study for the potential approval of the JICA loan for the construction of the RHPP Bistrica, whereas the final decision on the financing of the project is expected to be adopted in the second half of next year.

This summer, the minister of mining and energy of Serbia, Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic, said that, up till then, the preliminary design, the feasibility study, the study of immovable cultural goods and the study of the connecting of the power plant to the distribution network for the project of the construction of the reversible hydro power plant (RHPP) Bistrica had been completed.

Vlada Republike Srbije

Government of Serbia

Decree on Determining the Spatial Plan of the Special Purpose Area of the System of the Reversible Hydro Power Plant Bistrica and the Hydro Power Plant Potpec

RHPP Bistrica Spatial Plan

Reversible Hydro Power Plant Bistrica

Klak dam

Klak reservoir