The largest solar power plant in Serbia will start operating in March

Published on 20. February 2023., News

In Serbia, the first solar power plants were opened more than 10 years ago, but only in the last year has the use of solar energy for production experienced a boom.

This is also confirmed by the new investment in central Serbia, in Lapovo, in the biggest solar power plant in the country so far – DeLasol, in which 8.9 million euros have been invested, and which, according to the director of the companies Delasol and MT-Komex, Miloš Kostić, will start to deliver electricity in March.

“The surface of the land is 12.5 hectares and 17,980 solar panels of the latest generation will be installed on that surface. The capacity of the power plant as installed power is 11.7 megawatts (MW), and the power connected to the distribution network is 9.9. When we translate how much electricity the power plant will produce annually, it will be enough to supply 2,100 houses in the area for the entire year of their consumption,” Kostić said.

He also pointed out that insolation in Serbia is 30 to 40 percent higher than in Germany, which is considered one of the European leaders in the production of energy from solar sources. That is why he believes that the potential for building solar capacity in Serbia has not been fully utilized.

“Our plan is to build four more power plants in the next two years.” One of the new 10 megawatts will be located at the same location in Lapovo, just a plot next to it. Two more power plants, for which we are in the process of development, are located in Vojvodina, and the last one we plan to build, as our own investment, will be located in Vranje,” he pointed out.

The goal of the state of Serbia is to obtain at least 40 percent of energy from renewable sources by 2040. At the same time, experts estimate that Serbia should have at least five gigawatts (GW) from renewable sources by 2030.

“Currently, according to our information, within the solar power sector, there are somewhere between 80 and 90 megawatts (MW) installed on industrial enterprises, as well as on land,” says Kostić.

Serbia strives to transition from fossil to renewable energy sources, so among other things, it simplified the procedure for installing solar panels and promoted the institution of buyer-producer, i.e. prosumer.

In the last few months, households and companies have installed around 360 rooftop photovoltaic power plants, with a total power of 5.7 megawatts (MW), and according to announcements from the Ministry of Mining and Energy, power plants with a power of 100 megawatts (MW) are in the process.

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