Zijin Mining plans 300 MW solar power plant in Serbia for own needs

Zijin Mining intends to build a photovoltaic system of 300 MW in Serbia to produce electricity for self-consumption. Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Đedović is set to sign a memorandum of understanding in China with the company.

Until recently, Serbia’s biggest exporter planned to install photovoltaic facilities of 100 MW in total by 2033. China-based Zijin Mining, which took over an obsolete mining complex in 2018, is now preparing to invest in the construction of a 300 MW solar power plant, according to a statement from the Ministry of Mining and Energy.

It would be the largest PV project in Serbia’s industrial sector by far. Companies in the country have so far been setting up mostly modest-sized rooftop solar power systems for their own needs. The overall project pipeline is rising rapidly, though.

The announcement adds that Minister Dubravka Đedović is heading to China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT) 2023. There she will sign memorandums of understanding tomorrow on two investments under development by Zijin Mining, the schedule shows.

Zijin’s solar power project is the biggest in Serbia by far in the segment of industrial production facilities

The bigger one, worth USD 3.8 billion, is for the development of the lower zone of the Čukaru Peki copper and gold mine, located in eastern Serbia, the ministry revealed. It added that the future solar power plant would be installed for Zijin’s own needs.

The deals will be signed within the investment conference One China One Serbia. It will be held during CIFIT, where Serbia is one of the three guest countries of honor, in Xiamen in southeastern China.

The company’s subsidiary Serbia Zijin Copper said in April that it intends to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. The plan for 100 MW in solar power was supposed to be implemented in three phases, starting with a 9.9 MW photovoltaic unit.

The company has a poor reputation in the Balkan country when it comes to environmental protection. For instance, the city of Bor, the seat of its operations there, has extremely high concentrations of sulfur dioxide in the air, the highest in entire Serbia.