Mean discharge of the Velika Morava River at the Danube River mouth exceeds 230 m3/s and its basin’s area exceeds 37,000 km2.
The length of this watercourse is approximately 182 km and along it is available a 62 m head. Along 20 km of the watercourse, along the section downstream of the Ljubicevo bridge, the watercourse is under the influence of the “Iron Gate I” HPP storage, and 5 m of the head is already used.
In 2010 has been developed the Conceptual Design Report for the HPPs on the Velika Morava River. This documentation presents the technical solution according to which the Velika Morava hydropower potential could be utilized by construction of a cascade consisting of 5 non-diversion plants with reservoirs.
The total installed power of these hydropower plants would be approximately 148 MW and their mean annual electricity generation approximately 645 GWh. Investment cost was estimated to approximately 352 million Euro, according to the Conceptual Design Report.
Although this documentation is in existence for 10 years now, so far it has not been affirmatively reviewed and there are certain dilemmas regarding this solution’s feasibility, as well as suggestions to harness this potential by the means of a cascade consisting of more HPPs. It might we worth noting that there is another technical documentation, developed before the subject one, which has been affirmatively reviewed, and which presents a technical solution with 7 HPPs.
(Source: Divac, D., Milivojevic, N, Stojanovic, Z: Hydropower: Current Situation, Available Potential and Development Prospects (in Serbian), Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2020)