In 2025, Montenegro experienced a significant power deficit, driven by a combination of unfavorable hydrological conditions and the extended offline status of the Pljevlja thermal power plant. This situation has raised concerns about the country’s energy security as it struggles to meet domestic electricity demand.
Total electricity generation for the year was recorded at 3,373 GWh, while gross consumption reached 3,410.71 GWh, marking an excess of over 5% in demand compared to initial forecasts. The overall electricity output fell short by 17.42% against planned production levels, indicating a substantial supply gap that persisted throughout most of the year.
A critical contributor to this shortfall was the environmental upgrade project at the Pljevlja thermal power plant, which was offline for eight months. This prolonged shutdown limited thermal generation to 525.32 GWh, with the facility achieving only 89.34% of its revised production target during its operational periods.
Renewable energy sources accounted for the majority of electricity production, contributing 1,847 GWh. However, performance varied significantly among different technologies. Large hydropower plants struggled due to poor water availability, with HPP Perućica and HPP Piva achieving only 75.21% and 73.81% of their planned outputs, respectively. Conversely, small hydropower plants exceeded expectations, delivering 106.32% of their targets, while wind farms produced 91.44%, and solar generation surpassed forecasts with 112.52% of planned output.
The year was characterized by hydrological conditions that were below the long-term average, leading to a notable decline in hydroelectric generation—down by 17.5% from 2024 and 34.1% from 2023 when water resources were more abundant.
The structure of electricity generation was heavily influenced by the outage at Pljevlja, with hydropower making up approximately 60% of total production, followed by thermal sources at 22%, wind at 13%, and solar contributing 4%.
Domestic electricity production was only adequate to meet consumption during the first quarter of the year when both hydrological conditions and thermal output were favorable. However, from May through October, the system faced a persistent seasonal deficit that exacerbated supply challenges.
Additonally, system losses were higher than anticipated, totaling 460.06 GWh, which is approximately 2.7% above planned levels but still represents a decrease of 2.45% compared to 2024 figures. Transmission losses were reported at 131.47 GWh, performing better than expected and lower than the previous year’s results; however, distribution losses climbed to 328.60 GWh, nearly 10% above plan and consistent with 2024 levels.
