Vez Svoghe Mini Hydro Project - Lender's Engineer

Country: Bulgaria

The aim of the project is to evaluate and opine on the construction and operation of in total 9 no. small hydropower plants projects along the Iskar river. A loan agreement was signed between EBRD and an Investor company where the 9 plants are divided into 3 phases of construction and tranche payments of the loan.

The SHPPs have a capacity between 2.5 and 3.5 MW and are all of the same run-off the river type. Upon project start 2 of the SHPPs were already constructed and commissioned.

The Bank assigned P&P performing the role of the Lender’s Engineer and to check if all conditions of the loan agreement are fulfilled, if the technical quality is according to the design and relevant norms and if electricity production is according to the estimates and financial analysis on which the project is based.

The project foresees quarterly visits to the plants and monitor their construction, assess the management of the various contracts by the Owner’s team and to control the project costs.

Only once the Lender’s Engineer gives his okay on all issues and certifies the completion the loan shall be disbursed.

• Assessment of technical quality of design and construction works
• Check of compliance with state-of-the-art technology and approved design documents
• Review of contract management and book-keeping of the Owner’s implementation team
• Monitoring of the construction and supervision of the commissioning of the SHPPs
• Review of operational arrangements