Serbia Planning Construction of Three Wind Farms Worth EUR 3 Billion – 2,000 MW of State Solar Plants to Be Built Too

The state plans to build three wind farms in Serbia, whose total value is around EUR 3 billion. This is said in the Draft Program of Economic Reforms for 2022-2024.

According to this document, published by the Ministry of Finance, in addition to the Wind Farm Kostolac, with a power of 66 MW, which is owned by the PE EPS, and which is already under construction, the potential locations for the realization of projects of state wind farms are also Zabela and Kovin-Dubovac, and there is also the public-private partnership with the company Fintel Energija ad for the construction of the Maestrale Ring wind farm with a power of close to 600 MW.

The total power of these projects is around 3,000 MW.

Let us remind that Maestrale Ring has been announced as the biggest wind farm on land on the entire European continent.

The company Fintel energija ad announced the construction of this wind farm in the Subotica area in early 2019. At the end of 2020, the Detailed Regulation Plan for Maestrale Ring was adopted, followed by the preliminary design, but, until now, it wasn’t mentioned that the partner in the investments worth EUR 700 million would be the Republic of Serbia.

In addition to investments in wind power, according to the Draft Program of Economic Reforms, Serbia is also planning big investments in solar energy in the next two years.

According to the program, state projects of solar power plants would be realized on state land which is dominated by more than 200,000 hectares of infertile agricultural land, where the construction of around 2,000 MW of solar power plants is possible.

It is added that, within this plan, the agreement on cooperation was signed (this August) between the Ministry of Energy and the American company UGT Renewables LLC, with which there are negotiations about the construction of solar panels with a total power of around 1,000 MW, on an area of around 2,000 hectares and around ten locations throughout Serbia, which would make for a capacity of 1 GW of electrical energy and reduce the emission of CO2 by 1.9 million tons a year.

At the time, the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, stated that “the not so easy negotiations about the conditions are upcoming” with this American company and that, following the signing of the agreement, the construction would take around two years.

As in the case of Maestrale Ring, this project was not, until now, mentioned as part of the state plan of solar power plants.

The Draft Program says that solar power plants would also be built on the landfills of thermal power plants, which eKapija has written about before.

– On this land, which belongs to EPS, it is possible to build around 300 MW of solar power plants, with a total value of around EUR 200 million – the document says.

It is also reminded that the realization of the state project of promoting the new institution of a buyer-seller has started, within which an evaluation of the total surface of roofs in Serbia was done, which amounts to around 600 km2.

– The installation of roof solar panels on 10% of this surface would secure installed power of 6,000 MW (70% of the total installed power at the moment), that is, an annual production of 7 TWh (around 20% of the overall current annual production) – says the Draft Program and adds that all the listed state projects of solar power plants combined brought a new 8,300 MW of power, worth EUR 6.2 billion.

The Program reminds that a new investment plan is prepared, with projects in energy and mining worth around EUR 17 billion, of which, as said, around EUR 12 billion is planned for projects pertaining to wind farms, solar power plants and hydro power plants.

In case all the projects from the investment plan are realized, the total CO2 emissions would be reduced by around 23 million tons, according to the document which is available for public review until December 21.

Incentives for central heating per consumption too

The Draft Program also announces that the Department for the Financing and Inciting of Energy Efficiency, whose establishment was announced for June 2021, will start working in early 2022.

It is said that the director has been appointed and that the systematization of the Department is being prepared.

For the establishment of the capacities of the Department in the upcoming year, as said, around EUR 2 million will be invested, whereas the estimate is that, in 2022, EUR 57 million will be needed for investments within the planned reform for the increase of energy efficiency.

Around EUR 20.83 million from the budget and around EUR 13.9 million more from the budgets of local self-governments will be required in 2022 just for subsidies and transfers for the increase of energy efficiency that the Department will allocate.

In 2023, an increase of costs for the operations of the Department by around 20% is planned.

The Department, which has been announced as the key institution for the support to citizens in increasing the energy efficiency in their homes, will give incentives for the energy-repair of residential facilities.

It is interesting that the Program says that, for the multi-residential buildings connected to the central heating system which get incentives for the upgrade of energy efficiency from the Department, a switch to the charging per consumption of heating energy is planned.

Branislava Petrovic

Ministarstvo finansija Republike Srbije

Fintel Energija a.d. Beograd

Akcionarsko društvo Elektroprivreda Srbije Beograd

PE EPS

UGT Renewables LLC

Zabela

Kovin

Dubovac

Draft Program of Economic Reforms for 2022 2024

Kostolac wind farm

wind farms

construction

thermal power plant

landfills

solar power plants

solar panels

energy efficiency

Department for the Financing and Inciting of Energy Efficiency

reform

households

central heating

payment per consumption

CO2 emissions

reduction