Five solar plants in Serbia - Plant in Leskovac in operation from 2011

Source: eKapija Wednesday, 22.09.2010. 15:26
Comments
Podeli

In Leskovac's village of Velika Biljanica, few kilometers away from the city, almost on the very bank of the South Morava, the first solar power plant in Serbia should be built by the end of the next year at the latest.

- The land of 6 ha for the construction of a photovoltaic power plant is owned by the city, and a substation and two high-voltage long-distance power lines are in its vicinity. The preliminary project for the plant was elaborated by the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad and we are now collecting the documentation for the main project. The solar plant in Leskovac will have the power of 1 MW, which is a satisfying capacity if we know that the biggest Spanish plant has the power of 1.2 MW – Milorad Mladenovic, an assistant to the Mayor of Leskovac, told eKapija.

He explained that the power plant would be built in association with Pancevo-based Global Auto and that they were negotiating with another investor from abroad. He said that companies from China, Portugal and America had expressed the interest.

- The City of Leskovac is not going to be the majority owner of the plant. The produced energy will be used to power the public lighting system and supply electricity to public institutions, hospitals, schools - said eKapija's interlocutor.

Leskovac should equip the location, including the access road to the entrance to the grounds of the power plant. The local self-government will prepare all the planning documents and provide both building permit and use permit.

- The life of the facility is 25 years and a reconstruction can extend it for another 20 years. The solar power plant will employ 20 workers and much more people should be engaged in its construction. Once the facility is put in operation, a company will be hired to clean the panels, which will create additional jobs for the citizens of Leskovac – Mladenovic explains.

According to the proposal of Pancevo-based Globus Auto, it is possible that a special unit will be opened. With between 200 and 1,000 workers, that special plant would be producing fire-solar systems for public lighting and so-called LED bulbs and lamps for public lighting and households, which cut the energy consumption by 80%.

As Globus Auto owner Stanko Kovacevic said for eKapija, the solar power plant in Leskovac is the first out of the five planned.

Namely, Globus Auto has prepared five justification studies in association with the Technical Faculty in Novi Sad for the towns of Kula, Kovacica, Zajecar, Leskovac and Vranje.

- Construction of a power plant of 1 MW will cost about 4 million euros because state-of-the-art systems will be applied to enable the solar panels to follow the position of the sun on the horizon and, thus, increase the production capacity by about 25% - eKapija's interlocutor explained.

The plan is that the solar power plant, of which construction will commence in spring 2011, be put in operation in September 2011.

- The joint investment will be built according to the system of public-private partnership, which will make the city of Leskovac a co-owner, a part of the funds will be provided by Globus Auto from a loan, while up to 50% will be provided by a foreign partner through the delivery of equipment and technical consulting services. Globus Auto has entrusted the preparation of the project documentation to the Technical Faculty in Novi Sad, while the project team will include experts from Leskovac and the Nis-based branch office of the Electric Power Company of Serbia (EPS).

Kovacevic says that the Chinese have the biggest chances to get to deliver the equipment because they are the cheapest, but there are also the Portuguese, Spaniards and the partners from Croatia who have expressed readiness to participate in the co-ownership of all five planned solar power plants in Serbia.

According to Kovacevic, the problem lies in the fact that foreign partners demand that the Regulation of the Government of Serbia be brought in accord with the recommendations of the EU and the terms of procurement of the produced electric energy that are applicable in the surrounding countries, which means that the price of 1 KWh of electric energy should amount to EUR 0.30-0.40 for the period of 20 years, while the price in our country is EUR 0.23 for the period of 12 years.

- However, regardless of insufficient incentives, at the end of the next year, the first solar power plant in Leskovac will deliver the first quantity of the electric energy produced thanks to the sun in the south of Serbia – Kovacevic concludes.

M.K.

Comments
Your comment
Full information is available only to commercial users-subscribers and it is necessary to log in.

Forgot your password? Click here HERE

For free test use, click HERE

Follow the news, tenders, grants, legal regulations and reports on our portal.
Registracija na eKapiji vam omogućava pristup potpunim informacijama i dnevnom biltenu
Naš dnevni ekonomski bilten će stizati na vašu mejl adresu krajem svakog radnog dana. Bilteni su personalizovani prema interesovanjima svakog korisnika zasebno, uz konsultacije sa našim ekspertima.