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The Krško power station was launched as the third in a series of five new hydro power stations planned by Slovenia's power utility HSE on the Sava south of Ljubljana.

Krško is the third hidrelectric plant built by HSE south of Ljubljana in a project that was launched in 2002. In 2006 a plant was launched in Boštanj, upstream from Krško, and two years later in the village of Blanca, some two kilometres SE of Boštanj.

Two more are to be built downstream from Krško in Mokrice and Brežice. Construction in expected to complete by 2016.

Bratušek said that Slovenia must strive for a sustainable and competitive supply with electricity, while promotion of renewables was one of its top priorities.

The Krško plant cost around EUR 165m, HSE CEO Blaž Košorok told the press before the opening. As part of the project, the first section of a bypass for Krško has been built, costing an additional EUR 18m.

The construction of the power station was very demanding because access to the eastern river bank is hardly possible, said Bogdan Barbič, the boss of HESS, HSE's subsidiary in charge of the Sava power stations.

Following the start of its construction in 2007, the plant was brought on line in July 2012 and a test run was launched last April.

With its maximum capacity 42 megawatts, the plant is expected to generate an average of 144 gigawatt hours a year. It will produce 1% of Slovenia's annual electricity output a year.

The Krško power station is a conventional plant with three turbines with the capacity of 500 cubic meters of water per second.