Contract signed to build 250 MW solar power plant

The Montenegrin government has signed a contract on the construction of a 250 MW solar power plant at the Briska Gora location with a consortium comprising Finland’s state energy company Fortum, Montenegro’s state power utility Elektroprivreda Crne Gore (EPCG), and Sterling & Wilson International Solar FZCO, according to a press release from the Ministry of Economy.

For its part, Fortum said in a press release that a conditional contract has been signed, with certain conditions that need to be fulfilled before the project to build the Briska Gora solar power plant in the municipality of Ulcinj can move ahead.

“The solar power plant will be the largest of the kind in Europe, representatives of the Fortum-EPCG consortium said today,” the ministry’s December 28 press release reads.

The Ministry of Economy launched tendering for the project based on the government’s authorization on May 19, offering a lease to state land spanning 6,621,121 square meters to design, build, operate, and maintain a solar power plant with an installed capacity of more than 200 MW.

The Fortum-EPCG consortium offered an annual lease fee of EUR 0.33 per square meters and a plan to create 226 jobs during the entire lease period.

The consortium’s offer envisages an overall investment of EUR 178 million. An important bid element is for domestic companies’ participation in the overall investment to be worth EUR 20 million, the Ministry of Economy’s press release reads.

Even though tendering documentation had been purchased by 11 companies, only three bids were filed.

The second-ranked bidder, the IREDL consortium, offered a lease fee of EUR 0.05 per square meter and 25 new jobs, while the Montesolar consortium’s bid was not cleared.

Fortum owns 85 MW solar capacity in India and 35 MW in Russia, and is also developing or has rights to develop another 500 MW of solar in India and 110 MW in Russia.

No incentives envisaged for Briska Gora solar power plant

No incentives are envisaged for the Briska Gora solar power plant.

In its 2018 report on Montenegro, the European Commission advises the country to move to market-based support schemes for renewable energy production given that it overshot its 33% renewables target for 2020 back in 2016, when the share stood at 41.6%.

In the meantime, the Montenegrin government has decided to start gradually reducing feed-in tariffs for renewable energy sources as of January 1, 2020, and announced it will continue to promote the construction of wind farms, solar power plants, and large hydropower plants without guaranteed incentive prices.