The state plans to approve the construction of three wind farms in Serbia, with a total value of around three billion euros, according to the Draft Program of Economic Reforms for the period from 2022 to 2024, published by the Ministry of Finance. The document states that a new investment plan in energy and mining worth about 17 billion euros has been prepared, of which 12 billion will be intended for wind farms, solar and hydroelectric power plants.
Apart from the 66 MW Kostolac wind farm owned by the Electric Power Industry of Serbia, which is already under construction, possible locations for state wind farms are Zabela and Kovin-Dubovac, as well as a public-private partnership with Fintel Energija Construction of the Maestrale Ring wind farm with a capacity of about 600 MW.
The total power of all these projects is about 3,000 MW. The Maestrale Ring has been announced as the largest onshore wind farm on the entire European continent, which the New Economy has already written about.
Fintel Energija announced the construction of that wind farm in the Subotica area at the beginning of 2019. At the end of last year, a plan of detailed regulation for Maestrale Ring was adopted, and then a conceptual solution, but so far it has not been mentioned that the partner in this investment worth 700 million euros will be the state of Serbia.
In addition to investments in wind, according to the Draft Program of Economic Reforms for the next two years, Serbia also plans large investments in solar energy.
According to the Program, state projects of solar power plants would be realized on state land where there are more than 200,000 hectares of evaporated agricultural land, on which it is possible to build about 2,000 MW of solar power plants.
It is added that within the framework of this plan, signed in August this year, the Agreement on Cooperation with the American company UGT Renewables LLC was “certified”, with which negotiations are underway on the construction of solar panels with a capacity of about 1,000 MW, at about 2,000 hectares in Serbia.
This would provide a capacity of one gigawatt of electricity and reduce CO2 emissions by 1.9 million tons per year.
The draft program states that solar power plants will also be built on the landfills of thermal power plants. It is also reminded that the realization of the state project of promoting the new buyer-seller institute has begun, within which the assessment of the total roof area in Serbia, which amounts to about 600 km2, has been performed. The goal is for consumers to become producers of electricity.
In the case of the realization of all projects from the investment plan, the total CO2 emission would be reduced by about 23 million tons, according to a document that is on public view until December 21.
Through the draft program, it was announced that the Directorate for Financing and Encouraging Energy Efficiency, the formation of which was announced for June this year, will start working at the beginning of next year. To increase energy efficiency, it is estimated that 57 million euros will be needed during 2022, with the amount of subsidies being 20 million.
The Program states that for apartment buildings that are connected to the district heating system, there will be a transition to payment according to the consumption of thermal energy, Nova Ekonomija reports.
