HPP Tikves is located on the river Crna, 27 km upstream of its inflow in Vardar River, near Kavadarci. HPP Tikves has a double role: watering of Tikvesh filed, which is the warmest and driest regions in Macedonia, as well as production of electric power.

History 1953 – 1962 During this period, Preliminary Design was prepared in parallel with investigation works

1962 – 1966 The first phase of construction starts and in March 1968 the storage is closed and first two units are put in operation

1970 Storage stars to be used for irrigation

1979 – 1981 Second phase of HPP enlargement starts with putting in operation of two new units Total middle annual inflow are 790.000.000 m3 water, but the average inflow is 37,40 m3/s. The surface of the inflow is in total 5361 km2.

1998 In May 1998 was signed Contract for loan with the International Bank for reconstruction and development (IBRD) – World Bank. The money in amount of 61.5 million DEM were given to JP ESM for realization of the project Project for improvement of the Electric Power System in Macedonia.

2001-2005 With success was realized the project for rehabilitation of 6 big hydro power plants in Republic of Macedonia, one unique, important and complex project. In general, the main 4 achievements of this project were: Increased installed capacity in hydro-generation and improved primary and secondary system regulation.Increased hydro energy production of electric energy.Decreasing the maintenance costs of the HPPs.Decreasing the possibilities for unscheduled outages of the HPPs and in general in the electric power system.

2014 With the completion of one of the most complex projects  – realization of the second phase of the rehabilitation of hydropower plants, installation of the new equipment for monitoring of the dams “Mavrovo”, “Globochica”, “Spilje”, “Tikves”, “Kozjak “and” Sveta Petka” was finished.

Within the project additional equipment was installed, for the automation of electricity production process and for auscultation and observing the conditions, stability and safety of dams and associated facilities.

Inflow system Inflow system with circle section is with length of 405,8 m, and the diameter is 4,70 m. The doorstep of the incoming object is put on line of 215,00 m.a.s.

Dam and storage The dam is rock filled with height of 113,5 m. It forms storage with total volume of 479.000.000 m³ water and useful volume of 309.000.000 m³ water. Normal operation level of the storage is 265,00 maSL and the minimal level is 233,00 maSL.

Hydro Power Plant HPP Tikves has installed capacity of 113 MW and annual generation of 144 GWh. Power house is located in the bottom of the dam. There are 4 units with vertical Francis turbines and three-phase synchronous generators in the powerhouse. The transformers are located outside of the powerhouse. 110 kV plant is located outside.