RES Serbia 2025 – Nuclear energy will not contribute to Serbia's energy independence

Nuclear energy will not contribute to Serbia's energy independence; we are not adopting renewable energy sources fast enough, hydro capacities are not fully utilized; these are the messages from the academic panel at the RES SERBIA 2025 conference in Vrdnik.

Professor Zeljko Djurisic, PhD, head of the Power Plant Laboratory at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade, said that he did not know why Serbia's energy independence was being linked to nuclear energy.

– It seems absurd to me that when we had a highly developed science, several institutes, experts said "we can’t continue with this." Now when we don’t have experts, we say "yes." How will we be energy independent in such an energy mix with nuclear energy? Not to mention the economic aspect – Djurisic emphasized.

According to him, Serbia has not fully utilized its hydro capacities.

– We have a study according to which there are 60 locations for reversible hydropower plants in Serbia. At least 20 are certainly feasible. We built a hydropower plant on the Djetinja in 1900, four years after Niagara. We did not wait for any technologies to mature. We have a lot of technologies – Djurisic emphasized.

Untapped potential for hydropower plants

Retired professor of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and president of the Association of Energy Professionals of Serbia, Nikola Rajakovic, PhD, also emphasizes that hydropower is a significant resource.

– The main counterargument is the price of a megawatt hour from hydropower plants. We brought the project on the Ibar River to the implementation stage, which is about a hundred megawatts. We were supposed to start implementing it, but it has been stalled for 15 years. Today, when I ask why, they say it is too expensive – the professor stated.

According to him, the Drina River has not been exploited either, and there is potential "even on the lower Drina River."

– Serbia has a good opportunity to bridge periods when there is no sun and wind with water reservoirs. There is a real reservoir above Zvornik, we have excellent locations. Investments in hydroelectric power plants are expensive, no doubt, but they make sense. Only investors are impatient, they want their money back quickly – Rajakovic emphasized.

He said that Serbia had to adopt renewable energy sources faster.

– I would like the results to be better, for there to be more megawatts, even gigawatts. We promised 3.5 GW in 2030. But our renewable sources have great prospects. We must encourage education, reduce talk about nuclear energy to a minimum, because the combination of reversible hydroelectric power plants, renewable sources, hydrogen, provides the answer to all future energy needs, and most importantly, Serbia can be energy independent – Rajakovic concluded.

Over the course of two days, the RES SERBIA 2025 conference brought together experts, decision-makers, investors, equipment manufacturers, bankers, and academics to discuss the challenges facing the renewable energy sector in Serbia and the region.

For the fifth time in a row, the conference was organized by the Association of Renewable Energy Sources of Serbia, and the eKapija portal, as before, was a media sponsor.

Obnovljivi izvori energije Srbije

Savez energetičara Srbije Beograd

ETF Beograd

RES Serbia Association

Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade

Nikola Rajaković

Željko Đurišić

RES Serbia 2025 Conference

nuclear energy

hydro energy

hydropower plants on the Ibar