The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Law on Amendments to the Law on the Use of Renewable Energy Sources. Thanks to this, it is possible to introduce new capacities for the production of electricity from renewable sources into the power system, in a way that will not jeopardize the safety of its operation.
The adopted amendments to the law resolve the issue of a large number of requests for the connection of new solar and wind power plants, whose required capacity for connection has increased from 4.8 GWh to 20 GWh in the last two years, which is two and a half times more than the total capacity of all power plants in Serbia, announced the Ministry of Mining and Energy.
Such capacity exceeds the possibilities for balancing the electric power system, which caused the concern of the system operator – Elektromreža Srbije, in connection with the operation of the electric power system. Amendments to the law solved the problem so that the system operator will be able to postpone the connection of power plants to the system if it is shown, in the transparent process of developing the transmission system development plan, that there is not enough reserve for balancing. At the same time, investors are given the opportunity to avoid delaying the connection, if they themselves or through another market participant provide additional capacity for balancing.
The changes protected the guaranteed supplier – Elektroprivreda Srbije, from the financial risk of assuming the balance responsibility for all producers from renewable energy sources, it was stated in the announcement. The law retained this obligation of the guaranteed supplier only for privileged producers who entered the incentive system and for a limited period of time, while commercial projects will solve the issue of balance responsibility on a commercial basis, according to the Ministry of Mining and Energy.
The market premium system has been further improved in the interest of citizens because it will allow investors to compete with each other at auctions to obtain incentives who will offer more capacity for the needs of guaranteed supply of citizens and/or direct contracts to end customers, which will allow green energy to remain and be consumed in Serbia, instead of being exported.
Objections to restrictions
There are objections to the fact that the capacity of installed panels in households is limited, but that capacity is quite sufficient for an average household to produce electricity, because the idea of prosumers, that is, producers-consumers, is not for households to be producers, but to produce as much as they need , and not more than that – said Jelica Putniković. She pointed out that the experience of Western European countries can be used in the implementation of these regulations.
Special novelties refer to the capacities of buyers-producers because the limits for households and other end customers are defined in a way that will reconcile the interests of the stability of the power system and the interests of buyers-producers. In the press release, it was pointed out that “households will be able to install solar panels up to 10.8 kW, and other customers up to 150 kW, maintaining the priority of access to the system, without balance responsibility.” In this way, the concept of buyer-producer is oriented towards households and small businesses.
Large industry will realize its rights to self-supply through the concept of an active customer after the amendments to the Law on Energy”. In addition, it is indicated that the transition period was also taken into account, so that it was possible for the industry up to 5 MW to install solar panels until July 1, 2024 according to the old regulations. On the other hand, the new regulations should contribute to the optimization of household investments in accordance with real annual consumption and encourage buyers-producers not to use electricity for heating in periods when it is the most expensive.
According to Jelica Putniković, editor of the Energija Balkana portal, it is certainly a good thing that with these amendments to the law, the production from renewable energy sources will be regulated in more detail so that the operation of the electro-energy system is not jeopardized, while the payment of VAT should be resolved by secondary legal acts. As it has not yet been agreed between the ministries of finance and mining and energy.
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