SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Montenegro's power utility EPCG plans to invest 700 million euros ($771.5 million) from 2020 to 2024, targeting mainly renewable energy sources as the country fosters closer ties with the European Union, it said on Thursday.
Under the plan approved by the company's board, it will add a 50 megawatt (MW) Gvozd wind farm, 200 MW Briska Gora solar power plant off the Adriatic coast and 155 MW Komarica hydro power plant, it said in a statement.
It also aims to refurbish its aging Piva and Perucica hydro power plants and overhaul the country's sole coal-fired power plant at Pljevlja as well as clean up a nearby ash depot to bring it in line with EU emission standards.
EPCG's board also approved a 2018 dividend payout of 38.3 million euros from the retained earnings, or 0.36 euros per share. It will be the first such payment in two years.
The utility's shareholders in August approved a plan to increase the government's stake in EPCG to 85.4% from 76.9%, after Italy's biggest regional utility A2A, which currently holds an 11.9% stake, decided to sell out of EPCG.
EPCG operates 649 MW of installed hydropower capacity and 225 MW of coal-fired power generation capacity.
(Reporting by Maja Zuvela; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
