Hydroelectric plant Matka is located on the River Treska, at the exit of the gorge, near Matka village, which is 14 km away from Skopje. Matka Canoyn, which includes HPP Matka, with a decision of the Assembly of the City in 1994 was declared a protected area in the category Monument on nature.
In the thirties of the last century, at the exit of Matka Canyon, an artificial lake is built on the river Treska, with a concrete dam for electricity production. Construction work on the dam began in 1935 and the HPP began operations in 1938 with an installed capacity of 4,2 MW. In 2008 a reconstruction was made of the intake tunnel and completely new hydropower plant was built. The construction of the new machine room, located nearby, marked the end of the old machine room, after which it was transformed into educational and exhibition center in 2016.
The catchment of this hydroelectric plant is located 130 m downstream from the damn There is a concrete arc-shaped dam with a height of 29 m, consisted of 10 independent rings. The dam is built of reinforced concrete with crown elevation of 317,50 m. Excess water spills over the side of the dam. Near the catchment there is a tower which houses table stopper over the intake tunnel, which directs water to the intake tunnel and the coarse and fine mesh. Through the inlet tunnel, water is transported to the water chamber and further via two pipelines transported to the machine room.
The machine room is located in the area between the exit of the overflow tunnel and the old machine room. The machine building houses two vertical Kaplan spiral turbines with 21 m3/s each that drive 2 synchronous generators with installed power of 4,9 MW. The output voltage of 6.3 kV is transformed by dry block transformers 6.3/35 kV with installed capacity of 6300 kVA via 35 kV switch plant through which electricity is fed to 2 outlets to Skopje and Kozjak. The drain for the water into the river Treska is posted laterally to the machine room over the existing bottom of the trough. In order to clean wastewater produced in the hydropower plant before it is released into the river Treska there is a water treatment plant located in the courtyard of HPP Matka.
Average annual production of Matka is 30 GWh.
| Net drop |
24 m |
| Throughput |
2x21 m3/s |
| Turbine type |
Kaplan turbine with vertical axis |
| Generator type |
Synchronous generator with static excitation |
| Installed capacity |
9.6 MW |
| Efficiency coefficient |
>90% |
| Average annual output |
30 GWh |
Reservoir Matka is the oldest artificial lake in Macedonia. Lake water is used for producing electricity and irrigation of the surrounding villages. This lake houses the underwater cave Vrelo, one of the deepest caves in Europe, which has a depth of more than 203 meters. Apart from Vrelo cave, a dozen other caves have been discovered in Matka Canyon, of which most are located on a steep slope north of Visok Rid or at the end of the reservoir.
The area of Matka Canyon where the hydropower plant Matka is built represents an area with a high level of biological diversity, heterogeneity and endemism. The total number of species of fauna registered on the territory of the protected area Matka reaches 1474, which is a relatively high level of species diversity. Also, the presence of 58 endemic species of invertebrates has been determined, of which 13 species are endemic to the Balkan, 26 species are nationally endemic and 19 species are locally endemic.
In the waters of the River Treska the presence of 13 native species of fish has been determined. Krkushka, thin-tailed krkushka, black barbel, white barbel, Vardar skobust, Vardar chub, popadika, gold shtipalka are Balkan endemics, while Macedonian trout species and vretenar are national endemics. The presence of 32 species of amphibians and reptiles has also been noted.