Mali Zvornik in Serbia building biomass heating plant in EUR 2.35 million project

Two boilers of 900 kW each fueled by wood chips and a spare one on gas, with a capacity of 2.5 MW, will provide heating for the inhabitants of Mali Zvornik from next October. The project for the switch to biomass from fossil fuels is part of a program worth EUR 26.75 million, involving five municipalities in Serbia and the City of Novi Pazar.

The construction of a biomass heating plant recently begun in a small town on the Drina river. The project worth EUR 2.35 million is financed from a loan, where payment will be deferred for the first two years. The Municipality of Mali Zvornik will get two boilers on wood chips, with a capacity of 900 kW each, and a 2.5 MW gas unit for reserve purposes.

Public utility Drina is in charge of the project, and the funds were secured, with the support of the Government of Serbia, from a loan approved by Germany’s KfW Development Bank. Head of the municipal firm from Mali Zvornik Dragan Čikarić revealed the initial construction works for the boiler room are scheduled to be finished by the end of the year.

Wood chips to cover almost all needs

The site is undergoing preparation for drilling and making concrete stilts while the documentation for the replacement of heating pipes and the future substations is being produced, he said and added hot trials would be conducted next October. Mali Zvornik, located in Serbia’s west, is getting a modern heating plant with automation and regulation in the primary and secondary networks, Čikarić said.

The old boiler room hasn’t been meeting the community’s needs or regulatory standards for a long time, municipality chief Zoran Jevtić said

Wood chips are envisaged to cover 95% of the demand and significantly lower heat production costs, while decreasing carbon dioxide emissions. The existing heating plant runs only on natural gas.

Municipal chief Zoran Jevtić asserted the old boiler room hasn’t been meeting the community’s needs or regulatory standards for a long time. He said the state provided EUR 390,000 and that the heating plant would repay the rest in 20 years in 36 semiannual installments.

Energotehnika Južna Bačka and Konvar to install equipment

Total completion is scheduled for January 2022. A consortium led by Energotehnika Južna Bačka from Novi Sad won the contract for installing the substations and boiler room construction. It is worth EUR 1.62 million. Konvar from Belgrade will reconstruct 1,800 meters of heating pipes.

The project is implemented through a program called Promotion of Renewable Energies – Developing the Biomass Market in Serbia, worth EUR 26.75 million. It covers five municipalities and the City of Novi Pazar. KfW provides a EUR 20 million loan. It also donated EUR 2 million and the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) approved a EUR 4.75 million grant.