A group spearheaded by Energotehnika Južna Bačka is due to replace outdated equipment in the town in southwest Serbia as works are scheduled to start in the autumn and last one year. KfW and the Swiss government are financing the switch of district heating systems to biomass in Priboj and five other municipal units.
The new heating plant will come online on time before the start of the winter season next year, Deputy Mayor Saša Vasilić said. Germany’s KfW Development Bank and Switzerland’s Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) are funding the switch to biomass in Priboj and five other cities and municipalities in Serbia. Energotehnika Južna Bačka doo from Novi Sad is leading the consortium selected for the construction of the facility.
When the project is complete, the town’s entire system will have abandoned fossil fuels, the same as in Mali Zvornik. The public procurement in Priboj is worth EUR 5.25 million compared to EUR 26.75 million for the entire Promotion of Renewable Energies – Developing the Biomass Market in Serbia, which focuses on heating.
The tendering process was run by the Ministry of Mining and Energy in Belgrade, which Vasilić said informed the local authority about picking the contractor. The district heating plant will have the capacity of 8 MW and it will be backed up by two boilers on heating oil with 15 MW in total.
The project is halving energy consumption and users will be able to have heating on 24 hours a day, according to the official. He noted the contract stipulates payment according to consumption, where heating can be adapted to individual needs or turned off. The switch also means significant savings in the municipal budget, in his words.
Potential users should express interest within a week so new substations can be planned, within the ongoing public procurement, Vasilić underscored. Otherwise, councils in residential buildings will have to finance the connection on their own. He asserted one unit costs up to RSD 2 million or EUR 17,000.
The KfW-funded 8 MW district heating plant on biomass will be the fourth one in the municipality, after facilities of 3 MW have been installed
The works are scheduled to start in the autumn. The remaining obsolete equipment, after three other biomass heating boilers were installed, is from 1977, the deputy mayor pointed out. The new capacities, which include a heating system in an elementary school in Pribojska Banja of 250 kW, is 3 MW.
Vasilić stated the contractor for the reconstruction of the pipe network would be selected soon. He claimed the municipal government would also subsidize the replacement of individual furnaces with 80% helped by funds from the state budget, in parallel to the implementation of energy efficiency measures in residential buildings.
According to the local official, the municipality in Serbia’s southwest aims to expand the district heating system to the right bank of the river Lim.
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