RES Serbia 2025 Conference – Green energy capacities growing in Serbia, incentives for biomethane possible

The renewable energy sector in Serbia and the region is growing, agreed the participants in the first panel on the first day of the RES Serbia 2025 conference yesterday in Vrdnik, whose media sponsor is eKapija. The panel titled “What’s on the RES Radar - Serbia and the Rregion” discussed the progress of the region, regulations and conditions for investing in renewable energy sources.

Naida Hausmann, head of the Renewable Energy Task Force within the Energy Community, assessed that there had been enormous progress in that area in Serbia and the region, and stressed that it was important that all countries in the region now had laws on renewable energy sources, including North Macedonia, which had recently adopted it.

– It is also positive that citizens are also increasingly interested in the energy sector, there are a lot of prosumers. However, the implementation of the Energy Community concept is delayed because it has not yet been clearly legally defined. The heating, cooling and transport sectors are also lagging behind in terms of renewable energy sources in all countries – Hausmann stated.

Speaking about the RES auctions, she reminded that most countries had held their first auctions, except for BiH.

– There was already a second auction in Serbia, which we supported, but we hope that some way will be found to have a few more corporate contracts. We have a lot of new capacity from RES, but that mostly comes from incentives. There are not so many private projects, on a market basis. That is why the Energy Community conducted a study in which we tried to analyze and see where countries stood when it came to PPAs, both with power companies and when it came to corporate contracts. The study is available on our website – said Hausmann.

She emphasized that education in this regard was necessary:

– I think that no one has enough information, especially the corporate sector, and we will work on that.

She also touched on the topic of guarantees of origin for electricity from renewable sources, stating that “Serbia is a champion when it comes to issuing guarantees of origin in accordance with EU standards.”

– Unfortunately, guarantees of origin from third countries are not recognized in the European Union unless there is an agreement between the EU and a third country, but the process of defining criteria for each of the countries in the region for guarantees of origin to be recognized in the EU is underway – stated Naida Hausmann.

Serbia reaches 908 MW of green energy from 647 in a year

Rade Mrdak, advisor at the Ministry of Mining and Energy of Serbia, presented data that Serbia had had 647 megawatts of green energy in August last year, and that it now had 908 megawatts.

– Within this growth, solar energy stood out, increasing from 137 to 300 MW. If we put that in a broader context, three years ago we had 12 megawatts of electricity, and now we have 300, and it is clear that the solar industry is recovering and growing. If we put that in an even broader context, in 2009, when feed-in tariffs were introduced, by 2022 we had 410 megawatts of green solar energy, and in the last three years we have exceeded those capacities and reached 600 megawatts from feed-in tariffs. This clearly shows the direction in which renewable energy sources are heading – said Mrdak.

He pointed out that EPS had also joined the RES industry with its capacities, reminding that the Petka solar power plant was on the grid and that the implementation of the Kostolac wind farm was expected to happen not long after.

– This shows that our electricity industry will not lag behind the private sector – said Mrdak.

He also stated that the second round of RES auctions had been very successful:

– 340 projects applied, 10 received incentives, prices were low and competitive. Currently, 1200 MW of the planned 1300 is being developed – said Mrdak, adding that those auctions had also brought benchmark prices for green energy in Serbia, which served as a reference for investors, banks and regulatory bodies.

Mrdak said that the Ministry’s focus would continue to be on completing the legal framework and accelerating permits.

– We are also analyzing the possibility of incentives for biomethane, to see if we can do something for other energy sources, not just wind and solar – concluded Mrdak.

Dusan Zivkovic, General Manager of Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), said that in the next month the first megawatt-hour from the wind farm in the Kostolac wind farm should be on the grid.

He also spoke about global challenges in the sector, particularly emphasizing the problems for companies related to the postponement of deadlines and the increase in costs that threaten the implementation of investments, as well as the inability to finance projects.

– Market prices are what they are, and companies’ income is directly linked to electricity prices on the market, so the big challenge for the Serbian electricity industry in the coming period would be to maintain financial stability and create a situation where projects can be implemented on time in order to achieve goals – said Zivkovic.

He concluded that the goal of EPS in the coming period would be to maintain a large share of the Serbian market when it came to electricity production, but also supply.

More than 8,300 prosumers in Montenegro

One of the panelists was Milutin Djukanovic, President of the Board of Directors of the Electric Power Company of Montenegro, who stated that the country now had more than 8,300 prosumers with over 80 MW installed.

– Through the prosumer system, we have bought time for large projects. On November 15, the ecological reconstruction of the Pljevlja thermal power plant will be completed, a project worth EUR 75 million. Then, full equipment has arrived at the Port of Bar for the Gvozd wind farm, transport will begin in the next ten days, and the project is worth EUR 82 million. We have all the approvals for the Krupac 50 MW solar power plant, we are planning four power plants on Kapino Polje, we have already installed structures for 20 MW, now it is solar panels’ turn. In the Niksic Steel Plant, we have already built about 15 MW and we can certainly go over 25. The Gracanica solar power plant is almost 30 MW – Djukanovic presented the RES projects in Montenegro.

He also advised that the hydro-energy infrastructure be used to connect solar power plants:

– That is meteorological and technological compatibility, and we see that the biggest problem is how to connect to the grid.

He announced that Montenegro would have 187 MW of installed capacity from renewable sources by the end of this year, 290 MW by June 30 next year, and over 400 MW by the end of December.

– We have completed the public call for the installation of the eighth unit of the Perucica HPP of 58 MW, and an agreement in principle has been reached with the EBRD to finance the Gvozd 2 wind farm. A public call for the procurement of two battery systems of a total of 60 MW and a capacity of 240 megawatt-hours is also underway, and we expect that this will be implemented by the middle of next year. The total planned capacity by 2027 will be approximately 700 MW – said Djukanovic.

He added that the strategy also included strategic partnerships with large investors, private-public partnerships and auctions of up to 250 MW, and the condition for all that to be implemented was the increased implementation of battery systems.

What Serbia’s obligations are under the new EU Directive on Renewable Energy Sources

Advisor to the Slovenian Energy Agency Janez Kopac reminded that the EU had adopted the new Directive on Renewable Energy Sources at the end of 2023.

– It is not yet part of the legal order of the Energy Community and Serbia does not yet have to comply with it, but it will have to transpose certain provisions of the new directive into its legislation – said Kopac, who was hired by the Serbian Ministry of Energy as an advisor for changing the law in this area.

According to him, the new Directive offers solutions to the problem of slow issuance of construction permits for RES:

– The state must create spatial plans for special-purpose areas, which already exists in Serbian law, but it is necessary to create a strategic environmental impact assessment and a set of measures to mitigate the impact of the investment on the environment.

Kopac underlined that it would no longer be necessary to make environmental impact assessments and that this would speed up the issuance of permits.

– In these zones, the state will be obliged to issue a building permit in less than 12 months. Another new feature is that in all other zones, the state must issue a building permit for RES projects, together with an environmental impact assessment, in less than two years, and for solar power plants on and around buildings, there is no longer an obligation to carry out an environmental impact assessment, and the building permit must be issued in a maximum of three months. This is another new feature from the new directive – said Kopac, adding that those obligations would become part of the Serbian legal order the next year.

He also added that the problem would be the so-called tacit consent, which was part of the Directive - if the state authority does not respond within the deadline, the response is considered positive.

– A country can refuse to transpose this provision if it is not already in its legislation, but Serbia has it when it comes to the use permit in the Law on Spatial Planning and Construction, so it will be a dilemma whether to introduce the principle of tacit consent in all phases of issuing a building permit – stated Kopac.

B. P.

Obnovljivi izvori energije Srbije

Elektroprivreda Srbije ad Beograd

Elektroprivreda Crne Gore ad Nikšić

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

RES Srbija

Energy Community

Elektroprivreda Srbije

Elektroprivreda Crne Gore

Energy Agency of Slovenia

Ministry of Mining and Energy of Serbia

Rade Mrdak

Naida Hausmann

Janez Kopač

Dušan Živković

Milutin Đukanović

RES 2025 Conference Vrdnik

renewable energy sources

solar power plants

wind farms

RES auctions

permits for RES projects

environmental impact assessment

EU Directive on Renewable Energy Sources

origin guarantee

prosumers