Power of Solar Power Plants in Serbia for Households and Companies to Be Limited

Source: Euronews Srbija Friday, 24.03.2023. 09:30
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Illustration (Photo: Pixabay.com/Solarimo)Illustration
Households which want to become prosumers, that is, producers-consumers of electricity in Serbia, will not be able to connect solar power plants of over 6.9 kW, whereas the maximum power for companies will be 150 kW. This is envisaged in the amendments to the Law on the Use of Renewable Energy Sources.

Certain experts believe that the limiting of the power of solar panels which can be installed could seriously slow down the “solar boom” in Serbia. The Ministry of Energy, however, says that the aim of the limiting is to optimize the investment of a household in line with the real annual consumption. The amendment to the regulation should enable an adequate distribution – so that everybody who wants to can connect, without burdening the energy system.

In Serbia, there are currently no limitations to the power of solar panels, so prosumers can connect solar panels whose total power is equal to the power of the connection to the network that has been approved for them by Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) or Elektrodistribucija Srbije (EDS).

According to EDS’s data, over 800 solar panels are installed in Serbia on houses and around 230 more on companies’ facilities. The average power in households is around 8.2 kW, and around 27.5 kW. At the moment, the biggest connected power plant on a household has nearly 47 kW, and on a company nearly 1 MW.

The Ministry of Mining and Energy says for Euronews Serbia that they key change compared to the existing law is that the amendments achieve a balance between two equally important public interests – the integration of renewable energy sources into the system and the ensuring of secure operations of the electrical energy system.

– The existing solution envisages for the prosumers to be able to connect to the electrical energy system without limitations, whereby their responsibility toward it is fully excluded. They have no balance responsibility, they enjoy the right to priority access, they are not obliged to take part in providing side services. In the European practice, the prosumers’ power is limited due to such privileges, mostly to small power amounts (lower than 400 kW). Examples of such practice can also be found in part of the countries of the Energy Community – the ministry says.


The competent ministry points out that this is especially important in the context of the total number of the submitted requests for the connection of variable renewable energy sources at the operators of the transfer and distribution systems, in the amount of 20,000 MW, which exceeds the capacities of the national electrical energy system from the angle of flexibility, that is, the available regulation reserve necessary for secure and smooth operations of the electrical energy system.

– The limiting of the installed power of the prosumers will create the conditions for the implementation of a new concept that exists in the European Union, which will be realized through the next amendments to the Law on Energy this year. By limiting the installed active power of a prosumer to 150 kW, all units with a bigger power become obliged to take part in side services, that is, systemic services, thereby contributing to the overall flexibility of the electrical energy system and increasing the overall level of the technically feasible integration of variable renewable energy sources – they explain at the ministry.

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