Serbia is still far behind the results it could have in terms of the strength of the installed capacity in the households of customers of electricity producers.
The suspicion from a year ago, when the idea of introducing buyers of electricity producers appeared in the public, that there is nothing to be gained from this business due to the low price of electricity, but also the long period of return of the invested money, fell into the water. This was also confirmed by the president of the Council of the Energy Agency of Serbia (AERS), Dejan Popović, at the round table on “prosumers”, i.e. buyers of electricity producers who produce and sell electricity themselves.
In just over a year since the signing of the first contract, over 1,300 customers with solar power plants are online. This means that the initial, “children’s diseases” have been overcome, the interest of citizens and businesses is growing, and with the education of all participants, buyers, producers can contribute to the green energy transition in Serbia, this is the conclusion of the participants of the meeting “Prosumers – one year later” organized by the “Energy of the Balkans” portal.
“According to the AERS data, at the beginning of May, there were 985 household consumers, one housing association and 340 companies of buyers of electricity producers in our country. This is not a large number, if compared to Italy, where it is 800,000. We have a huge potential of about 3.5 million meters, and special attention should be paid to residential communities and educating citizens on how to use the prosumer concept for residential buildings, not just for single family houses,” said Popović.
He presented the information that, on average, eight kilowatt panels are installed per household, which is oversized and increases the return period of the investment. He emphasized that the buyer-producer should install production capacities up to the maximum of his annual consumption, because otherwise he cannot charge for this excess energy.
“Elektroprivreda Srbije now has 1,664 signed contracts with electricity producers. That is even 32 times more than a year ago. The increased interest of citizens in the installation of solar power plants indicates that in the near future both the installed power and the production of these power plants will increase significantly”, said Radovan Stanić, executive director for supply at EPS AD.
He stated that EPS recognized the interest of citizens and organized a sector that deals with buyers and producers, and that the number of requests for concluding contracts showed the justification of such a move.
“We try to do our part, concluding contracts with buyers and manufacturers, in the shortest possible time – from 48 hours to three days at the latest,” said Stanić. He noted that every country feels most secure when it has enough energy from its own resources and sources.
The executive director of EPS emphasized that new green megawatts are the strategic commitment of “Elektroprivreda Srbije”. “Creating an environment in which both citizens and the economy, as well as the state, will benefit from the producers’ customers is one of the priorities. EPS will always be at the service of both citizens and producers,” added Stanić.
Serbia is still far behind the results it could have in terms of the strength of the installed capacities of consumer households. “An estimate from a few years ago, based on the experiences of Western countries, shows that in Serbia there could be 120 to 150 megawatts of installed capacity among buyers of manufacturers in the household category, while we currently have around eight megawatts,” said Željko Marković. Leader for energy and industry at Deloitte.
Marković also assessed that the current number of around 1,000 consumer households is not a problem for the distribution network, if one takes into account that there are around 36,000 substations in Serbia and around 3.3 million connected customers.
Sign up for business updates & specials.
