Serbia, Interest for renewable energy is growing

Published on 6. May 2023., News

The draft law on amendments to the Law on Renewable Energy Sources in Serbia was adopted in March and is currently in the parliamentary procedure, and the Ministry of Mining and Energy explained to EURACTIV what the changes bring.

The key change compared to the existing law brings a balance between two equally important public interests, the integration of renewable energy sources (RES) into the system and ensuring the safe operation of the power system.

“This will make it possible to conduct auctions in a way that will integrate investors more quickly into the market and provide them with much-needed predictability in terms of costs and incentives, with minimal costs for citizens and the state. Also, it will initiate the encouragement of private investments in RES with greater availability of production capacities for our citizens and the economy from green, clean sources,” the ministry said.

These changes will also contribute to resolving the issue of a large number of requests for connection of wind farms and solar farms to the electric power system, which cause concern among system operators through more adequate regulation of responsibility towards the electric power system of commercial projects. According to the data available to the relevant ministry, there is extremely high interest in wind and solar power plants in Serbia.

“There are a total of 20 GW projects that are interested in connection. This is about two and a half times more capacity than the existing one and raises the question of the possibility of networks and balance reserves to integrate such a large number of projects and at the same time ensure the security of system operation.

The amendments will provide a mechanism to protect the power system in the event that the analysis of the adequacy of the power generation and the transmission system shows that there is a high risk that the transmission system operator cannot provide a balancing reserve. In that case, the power plants are subject to connection restrictions, unless they themselves or through another market participant provide additional capacity for balancing and offer it to the System operator,” the ministry underlines.

One of the changes also refers to the limitation of the installed capacity of buyers-producers, in accordance with similar practice in the EU and the Energy Community.

“The proposed solution aims for the existing buyer-producer model, which includes significant advantages and exemptions in relation to the obligations of other market participants towards system operators, to function within clearly defined capacity limits that are acceptable from the aspect of the safety of the power system operation, but also to enable greater participation of citizens and small businesses in the energy transition, encouraging a better balance of production and consumer-producer consumption during the year,” say EURACTIV interlocutors from the ministry.

Serbia is a signatory to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Sofia Declaration on the Green Agenda for the countries of the Western Balkans, and the harmonization of the energy sector with European regulations and policies is an important part of the European integration process, which is realized through negotiations within Cluster Four – Green Agenda and Sustainable Connectivity, which also includes energy.

“In the previous period, Serbia met the goals regarding the participation of renewable energy sources (27 percent was the goal for 2020), and currently, through the process of developing the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan, we are working on defining new targets for increasing the participation of RES in energy mix, reduction of emissions of harmful gases and improvement of energy efficiency”, they emphasize in the Ministry of Mining and Energy.

They conclude that the increase in capacity for energy production from renewable sources, which will be contributed to by the adoption of amendments to the Law on the Use of RES, is one of the key preconditions for the decarbonization of the energy sector, that is, the harmonization of energy development and ensuring a safe energy supply with the requirements of preserving a healthy environment and combating climate change.

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