The four plants – with a combined capacity of 238.4MW – are expected to take six years to complete, and cost an estimated EUR 500M (US$729M). The proposed plants are the Raslovici (37MW), Milunovici (37MW) and Zlatica (37MW) projects, together with larger 127.4MW Andrijevo scheme.

In other news, Montenegro and Italy are also planning to develop a 1000MW submarine power cable between the two countries.

The proposed project should start by March 2010, and will include building additional infrastructure to connect Montenegro’s Adriatic city of Tivat, where the submarine cable will connect to a distribution station, with Pljevlja in the north of the country.

The submarine power cable will connect the region to a Western European electrical network, and enable Montenegro to easily export possible surpluses of electricity.