H1 2026 Evaluation
North Macedonia Reservoir Transparency
F15Opaque — Ranked #108 out of 167 countries
weight 30%
weight 20%
weight 15%
weight 13%
weight 10%
weight 8%
weight 5%
Primary source evaluated
AD ESM — Elektrani na Severna Makedonija (Power Plants of North Macedonia)
https://www.esm.com.mkDimension breakdown
Data Availability
20% of total score
Current storage volume for the country's hydropower reservoirs (Tikveš, Mavrovo, Kozjak, Spilje, Globočica, Sveta Petka) is not published through any publicly accessible online portal. AD ESM publishes only the daily water level of Lake Ohrid (in meters above sea level) on its corporate website, and daily aggregate electricity production figures on its homepage. Reservoir-specific storage data for the six HPP reservoirs reaches the public exclusively through occasional press releases to news outlets (e.g., Serbia Energy, Meta.mk), not through a dedicated data portal. UHMR's 'Актуелни податоци' page shows only meteorological station readings, not reservoir levels.
Technical Accessibility
15% of total score
No REST API, no machine-readable download (CSV, JSON, XML), and no open data portal publishing reservoir data. The ESM website presents Ohrid lake levels as an HTML table navigable by year but with no export functionality. UHMR's automated hydrological stations transmit data every 15 minutes internally but the external portal requires login. MEPSO's Market Management System uses ENTSO-E XML standards internally but does not expose a public API for hydro storage. The open data portal otvorenipodatoci.gov.mk has TLS certificate issues and no verified hydrological datasets.
Coverage
30% of total score
Methodology v1.3.0 (capacity-weighted). North Macedonia's qualifying national reservoir capacity is approximately 1,500 hm³, including the artificial hydropower/irrigation reservoirs Spilje (~520 hm³), Tikveš (~479 hm³), Kozjak (~380 hm³), Mavrovo (~357 hm³), Streževo (~112 hm³ irrigation), Globočica (~58 hm³), Turija (~47 hm³), Sveta Petka (~14 hm³) and Mladost (~10 hm³). Lake Ohrid is a natural lake whose level ESM publishes daily (since 2017, HTML tables in Macedonian only); the artificial hydropower reservoirs Tikveš, Mavrovo, Kozjak, Spilje are not reported. Covered capacity (Lake Ohrid level as managed outlet proxy) is approximately 75 hm³ (~5% of artificial capacity equivalent). Coverage = round(100 × 75 / 1,500) = 5.
Historical Depth
13% of total score
ESM publishes daily Lake Ohrid level data going back to 2017 (approximately 9 years of daily readings), which represents a meaningful historical series for that single water body. However, no historical machine-readable archives exist for any hydropower reservoir. UHMR has been collecting surface water data since 1947 and references hydrological databases on its website, but these are not publicly downloadable — access requires contacting the agency directly. GRDC and global datasets confirm North Macedonia's inflow time series are not deposited in public repositories.
Update Frequency
10% of total score
Lake Ohrid levels are updated daily on ESM's website — the only public reservoir-related data with a defined update cadence. For the six hydropower reservoirs, data appears in public only through ad-hoc press communications during drought events or crises, with no scheduled publication cycle. UHMR's automatic hydrological stations collect readings every 15 minutes but this data is not publicly accessible in real time. The respectful daily cadence for Ohrid is undermined by the complete absence of update frequency for operationally critical reservoirs.
Methodological Transparency
8% of total score
No published methodology document was found for how reservoir storage volumes or water levels are measured, calculated, or quality-controlled in North Macedonia. UHMR's website describes the existence of 110 surface water stations and automatic sensors but does not publish sensor specifications, calibration procedures, or uncertainty estimates. ESM's HPP-specific web pages list nominal reservoir capacities and minimum/maximum operating levels drawn from engineering specifications, but measurement methodology for operational monitoring is not disclosed. A 2021 article noted that 'no adequate system for measurement and collection of quantitative data has been established to date.'
Language and Usability
5% of total score
ESM's corporate website has English-language sections describing hydropower infrastructure, but data pages — including the Ohrid lake level archive — are explicitly labelled 'only available in Macedonian' (Кирилица). UHMR's website operates in Macedonian (Cyrillic) with no English data interface; the water quality sub-platform notes English availability but contains no reservoir storage data. No English API, English-labelled download, or English data documentation was found for any reservoir monitoring data.
Evaluator notes
North Macedonia has meaningful hydropower infrastructure — six major reservoirs totalling over 2,000 Mm³ of managed capacity operated by AD ESM (formerly ELEM/ECM) — but almost none of this operational data is accessible to the public through any systematic channel. The sole exception is Lake Ohrid's daily water level, published as an HTML table on ESM's website in Macedonian since 2017, covering a natural lake whose level ESM manages for hydropower at Globočica downstream. The critical storage reservoirs (Tikveš, Mavrovo, Kozjak, Spilje) surface in public discourse only during drought emergencies when ESM communicates aggregate energy-equivalent figures (GWh) to media rather than publishing volumetric or elevation data through a portal. The National Hydrometeorological Service (UHMR) maintains a network of 110 surface water stations and automatic sensors with 15-minute telemetry, yet this data is behind a login gateway and the agency operates with only 8 hydrological staff and an annual budget of approximately €8,000 — structural constraints that severely limit any transparency investment. The open data portal (otvorenipodatoci.gov.mk) has no verified hydrological or reservoir datasets. MEPSO, as an ENTSO-E observer member, may report some hydro data to the transparency platform but North Macedonia's inclusion in the Water Reservoirs dataset is unconfirmed and would in any case cover only aggregate weekly national figures rather than individual reservoir storage. North Macedonia scores particularly low on coverage and technical accessibility because the dominant hydropower operator treats reservoir data as internal operational information, not as a public resource. Improvement pathways exist: ESM already has the monitoring infrastructure and could replicate the Ohrid model for Tikveš, Mavrovo, and Kozjak with minimal additional effort. A legislative push to classify reservoir storage as public environmental data under the 2019 Law on Free Access to Public Information would be the most direct lever for improvement.
Evaluated by Jaime Delgado · 2026-09-15 · Methodology v1.3.0